With the temperatures moving already towards summer levels, many people are thinking about their gardens.  The library has shelves of books on gardening and landscaping that may be just the thing to provide readers with some inspiration and down-to-earth advice.

           

“Seed to Seed” by Suzanne Ashworth is a complete seed-saving guide that describes specific techniques for saving seeds for 160 different vegetables.  She includes all the basic information an enthusiast would want from botanical classifications to the proper methods to grow, harvest, dry, clean, and store the seeds.

           

This second edition of the book also includes additional information on how to start each vegetable from seed.  This guide is widely acknowledged as the best book available for beginners or experienced gardeners to learn the most effective ways of producing, storing and using seeds.

           

Sarah Raven’s “The Cutting Garden” is a big, colorful book for flower lovers; it has also won the “Best Specialist Gardening Book” by the Garden Media Guild.  It is for anyone who wants to grow flowers in their gardens so that they can fill their houses with their beauty. 

 

Ms. Raven shows how a garden of any size can have an area devoted to flowers.  Using detailed planting plans and color photographs, she explains how to plan, plant and maintain a garden that will provide material for beautiful and original flower arrangements.

           

The book also contains sections on flower arranging that range from simple posies to rich table displays for fancy occasions.  All are accompanied by clear and simple step-by-step photographs.  Also included is a fully illustrated flower arranger’s catalog of more than 500 plants with details on what varieties to choose, cultivate, cut and condition.

           

“The Cutting Garden” is a comprehensive handbook for gardeners who want to create from the variety of their garden.

           

“The Suburban Micro-Garden” by Amy Stross is designed for those who want to turn their yards into more than just green grass.  It offers loads of advice on just how to use the land that you have to provide you with a rich micro-farm.  And the author emphasizes that you can get abundant yields from your yard in only 15 minutes a day.

          

She’ll show you how to stop letting your garden overwhelm you, how to develop and nurture healthy soil, and create healthy food for your own table.  “The Suburban Micro-Garden” taps into the tremendous potential of suburban yards.

           

Please take advantage of the depth of gardening advice your library has on its shelves.