Have you always wanted to fill your summer with flowers, herbs and vegetables, but feel cursed with a brown thumb? Do you think about turning that empty corner of your yard into a cultivated delight, but don't know where to start? Clueless in the Garden will help you quickly reap the rewards and pleasures of gardening. Clueless in the Garden is a simple and easy-to-follow introduction to the growing arts for the horticulturally challenged or the time-pressed, weekend gardener. Whether your interest is flowers, herbs, vegetables or trees, a balcony flower-box or a walking garden, everything you need to know is here. Flush with illustrations, diagrams, easy-to-follow charts, and numerous tips, Clueless in the Garden is your first reference for preparing the soil, choosing your plants, watering wisely, weeding effortlessly, the handiest tools, composting, fertilizing, and more. Written by gardening expert and enthusiast Yvonne Cunnington, Clueless in the Garden will help you understand balancing shade and sun, taking care of perennials, bulbs, and seeds, what to do and when through the gardening calendar, and how to turn the 'chore' of keeping your garden beautiful into a healthy, rewarding pasttime.
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Yvonne Cunnington is a gardener, writer, and photographer. She also leads workshops and frequently speaks on gardening. Her garden writing appears regularly in Chatelaine and Gardening Life and on Icangarden.com. She has gardened small, on a thirty-foot-wide patch, and is now gardening large on ten acres in southwestern Ontario.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Beginning of Chapter 1
You look out the window and there it is: Your bare, neglected, overgrown (circle the one that applies) yard yawns before you. Visions of perennial borders, sun-ripened tomatoes, and fragrant flowering shrubs tempt you, but you know that anything you plant is doomed – you weren’t around the day they passed out the green thumbs.
Even if you knew what to plant – and that’s a big enough hurdle – you wouldn’t know where, how, or when. And as for that weedy, compacted, tree-root-infested, muddy – or dusty – dirt you’ve got, won’t any plant just turn up its toes anyway? Besides, isn’t it a lot of work?
Well, yes, work is a four letter-word – but you can have a garden and a life too, and no, it’s not too late to grow a green thumb. Actually, as one of my favorite garden wits, the acerbic Henry Mitchell, once put it, "There are no green thumbs or black thumbs. There are only gardeners and non-gardeners. Gardeners are the ones who ruin after ruin get on with the high defiance of nature herself, creating, in the very face of her chaos and tornado, the bower of roses and the pride of irises."
So relax, take a deep breath; help has arrived. No, I’m not coming over to help you dig your flower beds – I’ve got my own garden, thank you very much – but this book is the next best thing. Stay with it to find out what you need to know. But don’t get too hung up on to-do lists. The main reason starter gardeners fail has less to do with being clueless than with the fact that they don’t pay enough attention to their gardens. Yes, you need to know the how, why, and when stuff – but even more important, you need to get outside. That way, you’re more likely to notice if the seedlings are getting parched or something’s been chewing your favorite shrub or that Vigorous New Perennial is overtaking everything in sight. Noticing these things while there’s still time to do something about them is one of the keys to success. And the more time you spend in the garden, the sooner you’ll figure out what works for you and what doesn’t.
No, this doesn’t mean moving into the garden shed during the growing season. Just pay your garden a visit several times a week and really look at what’s going on – what’s growing well, what needs a nip and a tuck, and, oh, better pull out that weed right now before it goes to seed.
As for the work part, I call it "playing in the garden." Self-deception? I don’t think so. Gardening should be fun – it’s really creative play. There’s enormous pleasure to be had growing things and putting good-looking plants together- gardening is a bit like matchmaking, you know. And what’s wrong with losing a few pounds digging? I’d rather burn calories while getting a chance to smell the flowers and watch robins splash in the bird bath than on a dreary treadmill at the gym.
So you want to turn your boring yard into a garden? Great, let’s get started. First you’re going to need some tools.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
All the basics,
By
This review is from: Clueless in the Garden: A Guide for the Horticulturally Helpless (Paperback)
This is a great book for the new gardener. It covers just about all the bases with a light and witty touch. It makes gardening seem so straightforward that no-one will be put off thinking it's too difficult or too complex. While the writer focusses mostly on gardening in cooler climates, the principles are much the same for gardening in most climate zones. Her information is really up-to-date on recent studies, especially in the area of lawn maintenance. This book covers the basics of gardening, from soil and climate to understanding botanical names, weeds, shade plants and veggies. The information is presented in small, easily digested chunks, often in point form, much like the "For Dummies" books, but with a lighter touch. It's packed with good, solid information; a down-to-earth guide written by an enthusiastic gardener.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple, Informative Fun to Read Gardening Guide,
By A Customer
This review is from: Clueless in the Garden: A Guide for the Horticulturally Helpless (Paperback)
This is the first gardening book I've encountered that's easy and fun to read, yet just as educational is your garden-variety how-to garden book. You'll see yourself in the many humorous personal anecdotes about learning by trial and error to become a confident gardener. This book is geared to beginners but is also a great, handy up-to-date gardening reference for the experienced gardener. I recommend it for people who want an attractive yard but who don't have time for exhaustive research or a lot of work to make it look that way. The book presents useful information about working with the climate, soil and yard that you have instead of fighting Mother Nature. There are lots of tips for plant selection, watering, lawn care, planting tricks, composting, etc. A great gift for someone about to start their very first garden.
4.0 out of 5 stars
All the basics,
By
This review is from: Clueless in the Garden: A Guide for the Horticulturally Helpless (Paperback)
This is a great book for the new gardener. It covers just about all the bases with a light and witty touch. It makes gardening seem so straightforward that no-one will be put off thinking it's too difficult or too complex. While the writer focusses mostly on gardening in cooler climates, the principles are much the same for gardening in most climate zones. Her information is really up-to-date on recent studies, especially in the area of lawn maintenance. This book covers the basics of gardening, from soil and climate to understanding botanical names, weeds, shade plants and veggies. The information is presented in small, easily digested chunks, often in point form, much like the "For Dummies" books, but with a lighter touch. It's packed with good, solid information; a down-to-earth guide written by an enthusiastic gardener.
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