Gardening From Scratch

Depending on the degree of your gardening lust, the prospect of transforming a barren patch of dirt into a garden will send either thrills or chills down your spine. Excited or frightened, there will be many questions to find answers to and many decisions to make as you plan your garden. With Gardening from Scratch tucked under your arm during trips to nurseries and phone calls to extension services, the chances that you'll get the right answers and make the best decisions are greatly increased.
Ann Lovejoy begins by urging readers to create a detailed map of their land, considering existing plants, incline, "hardscapes," and soil quality. This can prevent disappointing mistakes, such as realizing too late that the spot next to the willow tree is simply too boggy for the poppies you situated there. Then it's time for the planning stage. Allan Mandell's gorgeous color photos give plenty of inspiration, and Lovejoy gets down and dirty with the essentials that are key to any healthy garden: learning about your dirt, making and applying mulch and compost, creating garden beds, and fighting the ever-present war of the weeds (about which Lovejoy says, "One of the best ways to purge a large space like an entire garden bed of wicked weeds is by planting it with a cover crop. Pick something that grows faster than your weeds and the baddies will be crowded out.") The book wraps up with a "Garden Design Ideas" section, with tips and sketches for gardens for an urban condo, a suburban neighborhood, and a rural retreat. Throughout, Lovejoy stresses practicality and functionality, while giving endless ideas for creating a garden that "approximates that inner garden in the garden-maker's heart." --Stefanie Durbin