Sustainability: Gardening

Experienced gardeners know the many advantages of gardening up rather than out. Layering plants vertically saves garden space, money, and time which all adds up to a garden that delivers more and better produce for the time and money you put into it. In this work, McLaughlin demonstrates the benefits of vertical gardening and offers secrets to success.

Know your garden -- The edible garden. Vegetable rescue ; Fruit rescue -- The ornamental garden. Tree, shrub, and climber rescue ; Perennials, bulbs, and bedding rescue ; Lawn rescue -- A-Z of common pests and diseases.

In the wild, plants propagate themselves naturally, using all kinds of ingenious techniques. Different plants use their own clever methods; for example, crack willows send snapped-off twigs flying through the air to root in muddy ground, and goosegrass is covered with sticky seed heads that latch on to passing animals. Once you discover how plants reproduce themselves naturally, you can use the same techniques to make copies of your own plants at home.

Gardens for All Seasons is a gardening lifestyle book by bestselling author Mary Horsfall, celebrating the role of gardens in our lives and advising on the timing of jobs in the gardening year throughout Australia. Monthly chapters include topics such as planning, bushfire preparation, watering, pot plant care, mulching, weeding, fertilising, pruning, propagating, pest control, what to plant for different climate zones and what garden venues and events to visit. Mary details her own gardening year, including jobs done, fruits and vegetables harvested, food cooked based on the harvest, what was in flower and wildlife observations – all on a month by month basis.

Perennial vegetables are a joy to grow and require a lot less time and effort than annuals. In this book Martin Crawford gives comprehensive advice on all types of perennial vegetables (edible plants that live longer than three years) including coppiced trees, aquatic plants and edible woodland species. There are many advantages to growing perennial vegetables, for example: they need less tillage than conventionally grown vegetables, so the soil structure is not distrubed in their cultivation and carbon is retailed int he soil. They extend the harvesting season, especially in early spring; they are often of more value to beneficial insects than are annual vegetables; many perennial vegetables contain higher levles of mineral nutrients than annuals.