CLICK HERE to download the chapter with "Steps to Extend Your Growing Season" from Cool Season Gardener (Provide us with a little information and we'll send your download directly to your inbox) "Along comes Bill Thorness, beautifully encouraging gardeners to take their edibles to the next level." —Edible Seattle * The first wholly new, focused, and comprehensive guide to growing winter crops in the Pacific Northwest and other maritime climates * Promotes year-round outdoor activity, food and garden sustainability, and a smaller carbon footprint How would you like to serve your own carrots for Thanksgiving next year, or fresh-from-the-garden salad at the winter solstice? Or how about collards for Christmas, leeks on New Year's, and lovely red beets for Valentine's Day, all right from your own garden? You can, without much trouble, by practicing winter, or "cool-season," gardening. Cool Season Gardener is longtime gardening writer Bill Thorness's friendly guide to maintaining your garden year-round even in dark, damp, maritime climates. He shows you how to keep the garden in production in cold months, practice succession planning for sowing and transplanting, plant cover crops, utilize homemade garden structures, and more. Even the most avid gardeners might be surprised to learn all the benefits of cool season gardening—the fact that it is often less work than summer gardening due to slower growth and less maintenance, or the seasonal bonus of having fewer pests. Not to mention that year-round gardening will create substantial savings on your food bill, while at the same time yielding fresh, homegrown produce on your table every month of the year. And Thorness wants you to know it's easier than you think!

Delve into a Cornucopia of Color: Your Guide to Fall Gardening Brilliance Imagine stepping outside to a crisp, autumn breeze whispering through a lush canvas of ochre, ruby, and gold. "The First-Time Gardener: Autumn Edition" is your personal compass to transforming your garden into a fall paradise blooming with possibility. As the leaves begin to turn, allow us to guide your journey through the season's unique gifts to gardeners. With our comprehensive introduction to understanding autumn's fickle climate, you embark on the adventure with confidence. Embrace the changing landscape as your ally, harnessing the cooler weather to cultivate a garden that flourishes. Our thoughtfully curated chapters unfold like the petals of an autumn rose, revealing secrets of selecting plants that paint your garden with the hues of harvest. Design comes to the forefront with our themes that encapsulate the essence of fall. Boost your green thumb with techniques honed for success in the golden season. Discover the soil enrichment strategies that ensure a rich bounty, and unravel the mysteries of bulb planting that promise a spring awakening. Perennials and annuals both find their spotlight in chapters dedicated to their care and selection. Step into the world of cool-season vegetables, extending your harvest far into the sweater-weather months. Troubleshooting becomes effortless with our pest management and disease prevention guide, tailored to meet autumn's unique challenges. Tackle it all with the right tools--our indispensable guide will equip you with essentials that make garden work nothing short of a breeze. Learn the subtle art of watering as we transition to winter, embrace sustainable practices with rainwater harvesting, and generate life through mulching and composting. For those yearning for a green retreat within the confines of their abode or lacking in grand outdoor space, our innovative suggestions for container and small space gardening will ensure that no one is left behind this fall. Add to that family-friendly projects that bond, teach, and entertain, and "The First-Time Gardener: Autumn Edition" stitches harmony into the tapestry of your autumn days. Awaken to an exquisite morning amidst the bounty of your own creation. This is your moment. Cultivate the autumnal sanctuary of your dreams with this indispensable guide whispering the secrets of autumn gardening in your ear.

In this revised and updated 2nd edition of Mid-Atlantic Gardener’s Handbook, gardeners in the mid-Atlantic states are handed all the know-how they’ll need to grow a lush, productive garden. If you live in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Washington DC, Virginia, or West Virginia, the environmentally sound growing info for both edible and ornamental plants found here is your green thumb map to success: Profiles of more than 250 plants proven to thrive in the mid-Atlantic’s climate, including shrubs, perennials, annuals, vegetables, fruits, herbs, vines, and more, you’ll be able to select the best plants to create a beautiful landscape or a high-yielding edible garden. Helpful information highlights sun and shade requirements and offers clear and concise plant variety information. Month-by-month care and cultivation guides are offered for each plant group, guiding your journey—even if you’re a first-time mid-Atlantic gardener. Author Katie Elzer-Peters addresses the many challenges of growing in the mid-Atlantic, including a changing climate and unique soil and pest troubles. The how-to methods for planting, pruning, watering, fertilizing, and much more are rich with information essential to those in the region. This comprehensive and extensive guide is the best resource for growing in the mid-Atlantic states. Whether you live in Pittsburgh, Richmond, Baltimore, NYC, or somewhere in between, Mid-Atlantic Gardener’s Handbook has you covered. Mid-Atlantic Gardener’s Handbook is part of the Gardener’s Handbook series from Cool Springs Press. Other books in the series include Florida Gardener’s Handbook, Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, Northwest Gardener’s Handbook, and many others.

In the tenth book in the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series, lifelong gardeners Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau take on the very prairie subject of grasses. Was ever there a prairie-er subject than grass? Important providers of habitat and food for numerous wildlife species, grasses also serve an integral role in erosion control. For the gardener they can open up a bounty of landscaping options, from the lawn to the pond. In the tenth installment of their popular gardening guide series, lifelong gardeners Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau give you the skinny on everything from sod to sedges and raking to rushes. Following a primer on what exactly defines a grass, Sheryl and Janet take your questions on matters like clumpers vs spreaders, mulching and fertilizers, how to tackle problems like chinch bugs and fairy rings. The pair dedicate a chapter to lawns, providing a wide selection of alternatives to the tried and true commercial lawn species and answer questions on raking, aerating, laying sod, mowing, and dealing with dogs and all the damage they seem hardwired to do. Taking your questions on aquatic grasses, as well as edible species (like wheat, rye, and corn), and finishing up with a hall of fame of the best grasses for your every plan and purpose, the authors are sure to expand your knowledge on this truly homegrown topic!

Texas Gardener’s Handbook is filled with need-to-know information from popular Texas gardening experts. Each includes his or her collective wisdom in a complete guide for Texas gardeners. In addition to hundreds of proven plants, this resource has monthly to-do calendars for each of more than ten plant categories, from annuals to vines. Full-color photos and expert advice assist gardeners with the proper care and timing for everything from planting to watering. Information on gardening with less water addresses the challenges of gardening in Texas.

The most comprehensive book on greenhouse gardening available today. Today, greenhouses and sunrooms are real living spaces where gardeners spend as much time with a book and a cup of coffee as they do with a watering can and a pair of pruning shears. In this fully revised edition of a best-selling classic, veteran gardener Shane Smith embraces this new "lifestyle" approach to greenhouse gardening. Through lively writing that balances wit with commonsense advice, Smith draws on his more than 20 years' experience to cover everything you need to know to establish a charming and productive greenhouse.

Since it was first published in 2002, the California Master Gardener Handbook has been the definitive guide to best practices and advice for gardeners throughout the West. Now the much-anticipated 2nd Edition to the Handbook is here—completely redesigned, with updated tables, graphics, and color photos throughout. Whether you're a beginner double digging your first bed or a University of California Master Gardener, this handbook will be your go-to source for the practical, science-based information you need to sustainably maintain your landscape and garden and become an effective problem solver. Chapters cover soil, fertilizer, and water management, plant propagation, plant physiology; weeds and pests; home vegetable gardening; specific garden crops including grapes, berries temperate fruits and nuts, citrus, and avocados. Also included is information on lawns, woody landscape plants, and landscape design. New to the 2nd Edition is information on invasive plants and principles of designing and maintaining landscapes for fire protection. Inside are updates to the technical information found in each chapter, reorganization of information for better ease of use, and new content on important emerging topics. Useful conversions for many units of measure found in the Handbook or needed in caring for gardens and landscapes are located in Appendix A. A glossary of important technical terms used and an extensive index round out the book.

Even in winter’s coldest months you can harvest fresh, delicious produce. Drawing on insights gained from years of growing vegetables in Nova Scotia, Niki Jabbour shares her simple techniques for gardening throughout the year. Learn how to select the best varieties for each season, the art of succession planting, and how to build inexpensive structures to protect your crops from the elements. No matter where you live, you’ll soon enjoy a thriving vegetable garden year-round.

Master gardener Becky Homan explains in clear, user-friendly terms the different gardening conditions in each part of Missouri, so readers can identify which of the widely varying soils, temperature zones, and precipitation levels they are dealing with. These detailed regional descriptions make this book a standout. Gardeners and horticulturists from across the Show Me State contribute hands-on advice for each region, from when to start plants from seed to when to water in drought or where to get soil samples analyzed. This is the must-have garden bible for Missouri residents.

Gardening experts Georgia Tasker and Tom MacCubbin present advice on choosing plants for the diverse landscape of Florida. More than 160 entries provide information on planting, growing, and caring for a myriad of plants.