Build your vegetable garden on sustainable, eco-friendly foundations from the start with this new guide to growing your own fresh, organic food. Greener Gardening: Vegetables is the perfect handbook for all seasons, helping budding and experienced gardeners alike in their journey towards a greener way of gardening. The book covers: - Setting up a new vegetable garden so it works hard for you and the environment - A wide ranging directory of vegetables organized by harvesting season - Methods for sowing and growing, plus advice on troubleshooting and saving seed - 'Tasks to do' reminders for keeping on top of garden maintenance each season - 'Do It Greener' reminders of quick and easy way to get greener results You will find new ideas on every page to keep your garden productive and sustainable for years to come.

This complete primer on how to make an eco-friendly container garden is dedicated to showing that everyone can have a garden, no matter the size, that can benefit the planet. RHS Greener Gardening: Containers guides you through greener choices when it comes to creating a container garden including materials, design, plant choice and maintenance. A few pots on the patio or a window box can become a dynamic mini eco system. A balcony garden can attract wildlife. With the right plants to choose from, a patio can hold an orchard. It's all a matter of 'thinking green', using recycled materials when possible, being wildlife-friendly, choosing plants that will avoid waste, and gardening sustainably. Featuring an easy-to-follow guide to green techniques as well as a helpful series of plant profiles, this is the perfect handbook for a sustainable container garden. Sections include - Setting up your container garden - Container gardening techniques: sourcing plants, containers & contents, watering, feeding & troubleshooting - Creating containers: growing in groups, choosing a theme, how to create a map or a plan

Discover more than 100 ideas to help you become an eco-friendly gardener. RHS Do Bees Need Weeds is packed with more than 100 practical questions and answers to help you become a more eco-friendly gardener, and show you how to adopt a more sustainable way of gardening. The book includes simple, low-cost ideas, from fun projects such as how to build a wormery or a homemade water butt to advice on which plants suit bees best and how to achieve a zero-waste garden. In these pages you will find dozens of solutions to common garden problems as well as inspiring innovations that reduce your gardening consumption, tackle waste and help the environment. Filled with fascinating facts and ideas that will help you make a real difference to the green credentials of your garden, this book is both informative and entertaining, with plenty of I-never-knew-that mini-features. This is a book you and your family need, and one that you'll all enjoy, too. Includes questions such as: - Which features will make my garden greener? - Are my garden lights harmful? - How can a lawn be wildlife-friendly? - Is it ever OK to have a bonfire? - Are there alternatives to plastic? - Can I grow year-round crops? - Is it OK to buy compost?

Your garden could be even better for you. Discover... How certain plants can form a barrier against air and noise pollution Which birdsong alleviates anxiety How plants can help to save energy Why green is so good for us Learn how connecting with nature can reduce stress and improve wellbeing. You don't even need a garden - even a balcony or houseplants can help to boost your mood. Every recommendation is backed by scientific research, drawn together by the team of RHS scientists and experts. Favourite garden designer at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Matt Keightley then suggests how to translate the science into ideas for your green space. With this groundbreaking book, find out how, in sometimes very simple ways, you can create an outdoor space that nourishes your mind and body, and is good for our planet too.

'RHS Small Garden Handbook...show[s] the process of planning, planting and maintaining an outdoor space that will lift your heart every time you step outside.' - The Independent 'Clear and practical principles of design' - BBC Gardens Illustrated A garden offers invaluable space for relaxing entertaining, and, above all, enjoying the huge pleasure of growing your own flowers, shrubs, trees, and crops. However, a small garden can present challenges to even the most experience gardener: it may be overlooked, which can impact upon your privacy; there may be more shade than you would like; and it may not be immediately obvious how to create a space that is both multifunctional and beautiful. RHS Small Garden Handbook provides an all-in-one guide for small space gardeners and draws on the experience in growing, planting, landscaping and design for which the RHS is world famous. It begins by explaining how to assess your plot so that you are aware of the soil, orientation, microclimate, existing materials and proportions that you have to work with, before revealing the principles of good design. Showing how your decisions on layout, colour and texture will affect the finished design and what tricks can be played to create a greater sense of space - with everything from expert design advice on boundaries, hedges and fences to clever ideas for containers and storage - every gardener will gain confidence in creating a garden to enjoy no matter how big the plot. Each of the nine chapters includes 15 ways to make instant improvements and a real-life case study to inspire change. All the gardens featured in the book's 300 photographs are accessible, achievable and truly inspirational. Contents Include: Basics Design Styles Materials Boundaries Structures Water Planting Upkeep ... and much, much more!

*** This easy Q&A format book is suited to both beginner and more experienced growers, and encompasses a wide range of subjects to take readers beyond the basics of fruit and vegetable growing. Taking into account the popularity for growing food from scratch among newbie gardeners, you'll find advice in this book whether you have a garden, an allotment, or even a balcony or other small space to work with-everyone can get involved with growing delicious edibles no matter what space they have available. Discover: - Which varieties to choose for gourmet home cooking, the most nutritious crops to grow, and how to grow unusual edibles like olives. - Techniques and tips to get the most out of each crop, from how to grow epic-size pumpkins to whether it's worth thinning beetroot. - Troubleshooting tips for pest problems: ways to work with wildlife rather than against it and providing an alternative viewpoint on traditional problems, such as eating the weeds as well! - How to make the most of your fruit and vegetable harvest, with information on the best time to pick produce and how to preserve it.

An updated edition of the best-selling highly illustrated garden plant reference, featuring more than 8,000 plants and 4,000 photographs. Choose the right plants for your garden and find all the inspiration and guidance you need with The RHS Encyclopedia of Plants & Flowers. Drawing on expert advice from the RHS, this best-selling ebook features a photographic catalogue of more than 4,000 plants and flowers, all organised by colour, size, and type, to help you select the right varieties for your outdoor space. Discover perennials, bulbs, shrubs, and trees, succulents, and ornamental shrubs, all showcased in beautiful, full-colour photography. Browse this photographic catalogue to find at-a-glance plant choice inspiration. Or use the extensive plant dictionary to look up more than 8,000 plant varieties and the best growing conditions. This new edition features the latest and most popular cultivars, with more than 1,400 new plants added, as well as updated photography, comprehensive hardiness ratings, and a brand-new introduction. Fully comprehensive yet easy to use, the RHS Encyclopedia of Plants & Flowers is the inspirational, informative guide every gardener needs on their bookshelf.