Beginner Gardening Step by Step: A Visual Guide to Yard and Garden Basics

by DK

Overview

Are you surrounded by weeds? Is your lawn forlorn? Are your bushes diseased? Do you long to create an outdoor space you can enjoy with friends – a garden you can proudly show off?

Beginner Gardening step by step shows you the basics needed to get your green space under control and keep it that way. Drawing on the world-renowned expertise of the Royal Horticultural Society, the book is packed full of creative ideas with lots of simple step-by-step instructions and clear images to help you realize your garden’s potential, no matter the size and scale. 

Get to know your garden and choose plants that will grow well in particular soil types and conditions year after year. From planting and training decorative climbers to designing seasonal hanging basket displays and growing your own tomatoes, these are the small jobs that will make a huge difference to how your garden looks and feels. 

Get your gardening gloves on and dig in to discover:

-Bitesized visual content broken down into sections such as flowers, lawns, shrubs, and herbs, the book contains over 100 photographic step-by-step sequences.
-A gardening book ideal for first-time gardeners looking for guidance and inspiration as they start out on their own gardening 

Take the anxiety out of planting, potting, and pruning, and make the most of your precious patch of land.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780594228783
Publisher:	DK
Publication date:	02/12/2019
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	187,549
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

DK was founded in London in 1974 and is now the world leading illustrated reference publisher and a member of the Penguin Random House division of Bertelsmann. DK publishes highly visual, photographic non-fiction for adults and children. DK produces content for consumers in over 100 countries and over 60 languages, with offices in the UK, India, US, Germany, China, Canada, Spain and Australia.

DK's aim is to inspire, educate and entertain readers of all ages, and everything DK publishes, whether print or digital, embodies the unique DK design approach. DK brings unrivalled clarity to a wide range of topics, with a unique combination of words and pictures, put together to spectacular effect. We have a reputation for innovation in design for both print and digital products.

Our adult range spans travel, including the award-winning DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, history, science, nature, sport, gardening, cookery and parenting. 

DK’s extensive children’s list showcases a fantastic store of information for children, toddlers and babies. DK covers everything from animals and the human body, to homework help and craft activities, together with an impressive list of licensing titles, including the best-selling LEGO® books.

DK acts as the parent company for Alpha Books, publisher of the Idiot's Guides series.

https://www.dk.com/

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

Getting Started

Which way does your garden face? 10

Know your soil 12

Improving your soil 16

Choosing the right potting soil 18

Choosing healthy plants 20

Flowers & Foliage

Sowing seeds outdoors 24

Sowing seeds indoors 26

Growing plants that last 28

Growing sunflowers 30

Preparing pots for planting 34

Plant up a colorful container 36

Make a spring hanging basket 38

Planting a shady window box 40

Planting bulbs in a pot 42

Making a border 44

Making raised beds and edges 50

Choosing flowers and foliage for spring containers 54

Choosing flowers and foliage for summer containers 56

Lawns

Laying sod 60

Sowing grass seed 62

How to make a lawn edging 64

Growing bulbs m grass 68

Caring for your lawn 70

Climbers

Planting a climber 76

Potting up climbers 78

Planting an obelisk 80

Create a tower of climbers 82

Make an ivy topiary ball 84

Build a rose arch 88

Pruning a rose arch 92

Pruning a rose on a wall 94

Pruning wisteria 98

Cutting back ivy 100

Raise new plants by layering 102

Choosing climbers for spring interest 104

Choosing climbers for summer interest 106

Shrubs

Planting a shrub 110

Planting a shrub in a pot 112

Planting a bare-root rose 116

Pruning an early summer-flowering shrub 118

Lightly pruning shrubs 120

Pruning a shrub rose 122

Pruning hydrangea 124

Pruning lavender 128

Pruning for winter stems 130

Planting a hedge 132

Trimming a hedge 134

Making a topiary cone 136

Repotting a shrub 138

Choosing shrubs for year-round interest 140

Choosing shrubs for autumn interest 142

Grasses

Planting grasses in the ground 146

Caring for grasses 148

Cutting back grasses 152

Dividing grasses 154

Choosing grasses 156

Small Trees

Planting a tree 160

Removing a branch 166

Moving a tree or shrub 168

Choosing trees for small gardens 170

Vegetables

Growing seeds in trays 174

Sowing seeds in small pots 178

Growing vegetables from plug plants 180

Raising lettuces on a windowsill 182

Growing tomatoes 184

Growing climbing beans 186

Growing root crops 190

Growing early potatoes 192

Growing potatoes in a trash can 194

Herbs

Growing herbs from seed 198

Planting an herb garden 204

Planting an herb hanging basket 206

Making a lavender hedge 208

Growing herbs from cuttings 210

Dividing herbs 214

Fruit

Planting a basket of strawberries 218

Planting an apple tree in a pot 220

Pruning an apple tree 224

Soft fruit in small spaces 226

Tree fruit in small spaces 228

Practicalities

Watering plants 232

Making your own compost 234

How and when to prune 236

Caring for your tools 238

Troubleshooting weeds 242

Dealing with pests 244

Preventing diseases 246

Know your garden friends 248

Index 250

Acknowledgments 256

Editorial Reviews

…impeccable…Those of us who have been gardening for decades forget how overwhelming it is to confront things in your yard that have a will of their own.

The New York Times Book Review - Dominique Browning

For those wishing to get started growing flowers and foliage, lawns, climbers, shrubs, grasses, small trees, vegetables, herbs, or fruit, this is an excellent and easy-to-use resource.” —Booklist Online

From the Publisher