Learn how to use twenty-eight popular, easy-to-grow herbs to treat everyday ailments and maintain good health. From selecting plants to harvesting and storing them to making remedies and savories of all sorts, The Herb Gardener's Essential Guide presents an abundance of practical and satisfying ways to incorporate herbs into a healthier lifestyle and diet. Utilizing both herbs and essential oils, this beautifully illustrated guide explains how to choose and make the ideal herbal mixture for a wide variety of medicinal and culinary uses. Need help getting to sleep? Try a cup of Thyme to Settle Tea. Add a sweet, spicy flavor to roast meat or vegetables with Coriander Spiced Butter. Ease muscle pain and stiffness with soothing Rosemary Warming Massage Oil. Featuring an ailments-and-issues guide, instructions for creating a personalized apothecary garden, and detailed profiles for each of the herbs, this accessible book belongs on every gardener's shelf.

The American Horticultural Society Essential Guide to Organic Vegetable Gardening is a comprehensive yet beginner-friendly handbook for growing edible gardens from the foremost authority in American gardening.

"Society does not generally expect its farmers to be visionaries." Perhaps not, but longtime Maine farmer and homesteader Will Bonsall does possess a unique clarity of vision that extends all the way from the finer points of soil fertility and seed saving to exploring how we can transform civilization and make our world a better, more resilient place. In Will Bonsall's Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening, Bonsall maintains that to achieve real wealth we first need to understand the economy of the land, to realize that things that might make sense economically don't always make sense ecologically, and vice versa. The marketplace distorts our values, and our modern dependence on petroleum in particular presents a serious barrier to creating a truly sustainable agriculture. For him the solution is, first and foremost, greater self-reliance, especially in the areas of food and energy. By avoiding any off-farm inputs (fertilizers, minerals, and animal manures), Bonsall has learned how to practice a purely veganic, or plant-based, agriculture--not from a strictly moralistic or philosophical perspective, but because it makes good business sense: spend less instead of making more. What this means in practical terms is that Bonsall draws upon the fertility of on-farm plant materials: compost, green manures, perennial grasses, and forest products like leaves and ramial wood chips. And he grows and harvests a diversity of crops from both cultivated and perennial plants: vegetables, grains, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and nuts--even uncommon but useful permaculture plants like groundnut (Apios). In a friendly, almost conversational way, Bonsall imparts a wealth of knowledge drawn from his more than forty years of farming experience. "My goal," he writes, "is not to feed the world, but to feed myself and let others feed themselves. If we all did that, it might be a good beginning."

Six containers of heirloom tomatoes, miniature squashes, and herbs on your back patio or six acres of beets, cabbages, and strawberries? Five chickens and a honey bee hive or a small farm with three dozen sheep and a couple of quarter horses? Regardless of the size of your “field of dreams,” Essential Guide to Hobby Farming is your best first step to making that hobby-farm aspiration a pleasurable and profitable reality. A hobby farmer for the past thirty years, Carol Ekarius shares the joys, challenges, and rewards of living the rural life. Hobby farming is as much a state of mind as it is an address in the country, and this instructive, beautifully photographed manual addresses every topic beginning hobby farmers need to know, from purchasing the right land and equipment to choosing and maintaining crops and livestock to marketing and selling your hobby farm’s yield. TOPICS DISCUSSED INSIDE: -Assessing finances and resources—land, water, tools of the trade (trucks, tractors, various implements) -Choosing the best crops for your land, climate, hardiness, and profitability -Selecting and caring for the livestock—chickens, goats, cows, sheep, etc.—that best fits your hobby farm -Protecting crops and livestock against predators, pests, and disease -Business and marketing options for selling your “local food” directly to restaurants and farmers’ markets and through CSA programs -Preserving the harvest, through canning, drying, and freezing, plus over two dozen original recipes for your homegrown produce NEW FOR THE SECOND EDITION: Expanded section on chickens, including urban and suburban accommodations; honey bee keeping; adding a barn or annex building to the farm; trends in planting, including miniature vegetables, heirloom varieties, and “hot” new vegetables and hybrids; adding flower beds to the property; getting involved with a CSA

Table of Contents Introduction Choosing the Right Pots Potting Season Why Re-Pot a Plant Potting Operations Preparing your Pot How to Do the Potting Best Soil Natural Manures Fish Scrap Green Manure Compost Leaf Mold Using Turf Using Old Mortar Liquid Manures Soapsuds Traditional Quick Composting Formula Rules of Manuring Watering of Your Potted Plants Washing of Leaves Drainage of Your Potted Plants Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction Once upon a time, human beings were fortunate enough to have huge rolling miles of land in which to build their gardens and to cultivate their farms. However, in the last two millenniums of civilization, the wide-open spaces have become congested into concrete jungles and the open gardens have been shrunk into pocket handkerchiefs – sized backyards. So is it a surprise that more and more people who are interested in gardening are looking for alternative ways and places in which they can grow flowers, trees, shrubs, and herbs of their own choice. And that is why container gardening, especially gardens grown in pots and containers have been a godsend for a majority of people down the ages.

Gardening is not only beautiful but also a very useful hobby. Nothing quite feels you up with a sense of pride like when you see your first plants growing and thriving. And just imagine picking up fresh tomatoes and having them for dinner! Certified organic and delicious, straight from your very own garden. Greenhouse gardening allows you to control the growing circumstances and have plants that yield crops all year round. Want to know how to build one of those yourself? This is the one and only book you will ever need to learn all about greenhouse gardening! Inside, you'll discover: • Fundamental techniques for setting up and maintaining your greenhouse, from structure selection to climate control mastery • In-depth guidance on soil management, watering strategies, and nutrient optimization • Effective approaches to pest and disease management that prioritize plant health naturally • Expert insights on plant selection and care, covering a spectrum from everyday vegetables to exotic ornamentals • Innovative methods for maximizing space and yield, including vertical gardening and succession planting The best solution is the greenhouse, which keeps your plants sheltered from the elements even when temperatures drop. Greenhouse gardening, until a few years ago, was the only possibility for producers of plants and vegetables who needed a protected and controlled environment to grow them even out of season. Recently, thanks to modern materials and new construction techniques, many types of greenhouses have become available for sale to anyone interested in the practice of gardening.

The books in this bite-sized new series contain no complicated techniques or tricky materials, making them ideal for the busy, the time-pressured or the merely curious. Essential Tips for Great Allotments: Flash is a short, simple and to-the-point guide that will teach you all the fundamentals for your allotment, from what tools to use to which crops to grow in just 96 pages. For those new to allotments, this is an ideal starting point for growing your own produce organically.

Quick and Easy Remedies for Holistic Health This impressive book contains almost 200 recipes for herbal remedies that anyone can use, even if you've never worked with herbs. Expert Sandra Kynes shows how herbal remedies can treat everything from the flu to kidney stones and can be made from ingredients commonly stocked in your kitchen. Herbal Remedies for Beginners is cleverly organized and cross-referenced so you can look up remedies by ailment or by herb, making it easy to find what you need. You'll discover how to make the remedies and a wide variety of application methods from teas and oils to balms and gels. With everything from a basil and lemongrass salve for soothing insect bites to a ginger and turmeric syrup for alleviating motion sickness, this is the perfect beginner's guide to natural wellness.

Llewellyn's 2023 Witches' Companion explores the leading edge of Witchcraft and Pagan lifestyles with more than two dozen articles featuring new insights and hands-on magical practices. Ari and Jason Mankey reveal how to renew your magical self through cleaning up and letting go. Najah Lightfoot explores some of the most important movies to include in your witchy film library. Michelle Skye walks you through creating your own full moon altar that changes throughout the year. Stephanie Rose Bird discusses the importance of acknowledging magic from the African diaspora. You will also discover how to create your own Book of Shadows (Deborah Blake), use the laws of magic to increase prosperity (Diana Rajchel), make mundane moments magical (Phoenix LeFae), and increase your confidence as a witch (Melanie Marquis).

Table of Contents Essential Guide to Orchids Introduction Collecting Orchids Natural Conditions Division of Species Terrestrial orchids – Epiphytic Orchids – Cultivation of Orchids Cultivation of Orchids at High Altitudes Propagation of Orchids Blossoming Orchids Making an Orchid House Types of Popular Orchids Varieties Dendrobium Epidendrum Cattleya Bletia Vanda Phalaenopsis Vanilla Odontoglossum Cypripedium – Lady Slipper Orchid genus Appendix Why Re-Pot a Plant Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction The moment you hear the word “orchid”, you have an immediate vision of an exotic exquisite flower being presented to a dainty young maiden, getting ready for her first prom. This particular word has become synonymous with grace, class, and luxury. And they are not as rare as they are supposed to be, even if they come in the “expensive desirable item” category. There are 20,000+ species of orchids growing all over the world. Most of them have not been classified at all and many species are still being discovered in remote corners of the earth, and their classification being debated by botanists all over the world today! Ever since orchids became a rage in the 19th century, with horticulturists growing them in hothouses and experimenting with them, more than hundred thousand cultivars and hybrids have sprung up from the original 20,000 varieties and species. So that is how Vanda, Cattleya, Dendrobium, and other popular orchid specimens came into the public eye and social usage. Apart from the colorful and fragrant flowers, the leaves of many varieties are also considered to be ornamental. These leaves are perennial and they are going to live for a number of years. On the other hand, there are other varieties which are going to develop new leafy outgrowths, after shedding the old leaves every year. The ornamental leaves of Macodes sanderiana, which is a species which can be found clinging to rocks instead of growing on the branches of trees has thin veins of gold and silver on the green leafy background. This is quite an unusual natural phenomena, and other orchid varieties also have mottled leaves due to the uneven distribution of pigmentation and chlorophyll.