New BTC Series: Dreams of the Garden

I live in a very small urban apartment where plants fight for space with stacks of books and I've maxed the amount of structural stress of my ceilings with hanging baskets. But I am a died in the wool gardener who begins to suffer from a terrible craving now that the days are longer and the sun is warmly alluring. So I turn my longing to the gardening bookshelves, and this year I'll be sharing my dream inspiring finds with the readers here.

--Jackie


The New American Landscape

Gardeners are the front line of defense in our struggle to tackle the problems of global warming, loss of habitat, water shortages, and shrinking biodiversity. In The New American Landscape, author and editor Thomas Christopher brings together the best thinkers on the topic gardening sustainably, and asks them to describe the future of the sustainable landscape. The discussion unfolds from there, and what results is a collective vision as eloquent as it is diverse. John Greenlee and Neil Diboll on the new American meadow garden. Rick Darke on balancing natives and exotics in the garden. Doug Tallamy on landscapes that welcome wildlife. Eric Toensmeier on the sustainable edible garden. David Wolfe on gardening sustainable with a changing climate. Elaine Ingham on managing soil health. David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth on sustainable pest solutions. Ed Snodgrass and Linda McIntyre on green roofs in the sustainable residential landscape. Thomas Christopher on waterwise gardens. Toby Hemenway on whole system garden design.The Sustainable Site Initiative on the managing the home landscape as a sustainable site.

The New American Landscape offers designers a roadmap to a beautiful garden that improves, not degrades the environment. But this is not just another design manual. It's a provocative manifesto about the important role gardens play in creating a more sustainable future that no professional garden designer can afford to miss.

A Revolutionary Yardscape

Budget-friendly, environmentally sound, and one-of-a-kind, discovering new uses for what you already have or what you discover in the salvage yard is truly living local. It reduces a garden's environmental impact, saves money, and - most importantly - is fun and creative. From making pathways out of scrap wood and metal to creating garden lights from discarded indoor fixtures, The Revolutionary Yardscape features dozens of garden design projects and inspirational ideas for taking advantage of salvaged materials found in the home, junkyard, or thrift store.

A master of using reclaimed items, expert Matthew Levesque covers the basics of hardscaping, garden construction, and outdoor decor using local materials. He includes essential techniques and step-by-step guidance for transforming unconventional salvaged materials into pathways, decking, fences, screens, containers, seating, and more. The Revolutionary Yardscape also shows readers how to see the beauty and possibility in salvaged materials. Levesque gives tips on how to think outside the garden box - from imagining a pile of old keys becoming a rain chain to seeing the infinite possibilities in scrap metal and piping.

This new set of skills embraces the idea of finding an object first and letting the design plan follow. Vividly illustrated with photographs of exciting contemporary projects, The Revolutionary Yardscape will make gardeners think outside the box by designing with unexpected materials.

The Edible Front Yard

People everywhere are turning patches of soil into bountiful vegetable gardens, and each spring a new crop of beginners pick up trowels and plant seeds for the first time. They're planting tomatoes in raised beds, runner beans in small plots, and strawberries in containers. But there is one place that has, until now, been woefully neglected - the front yard.

And there's good reason. The typical veggie garden, with its raised beds and plots, is not the most attractive type of garden, and favorite edible plants like tomatoes and cucumbers have a tendency to look scraggly, even in their prime. But The Edible Front Yard isn't about the typical veggie garden, and author Ivette Soler is passionate about putting edibles up front and creating edible gardens with curb appeal.

Soler offers step-by-step instructions for converting all or part of a lawn into an edible paradise; specific guidelines for selecting and planting the most attractive edible plants; and design advice and plans for the best placement and for combining edibles with ornamentals in pleasing ways. Inspiring and accessible, The Edible Front Yard is a one-stop resource for a front-and-center edible garden that is both beautiful and bountiful year-round.

The Food Lover's Garden

"Makes growing your own into a swashbuckling and delicious adventure-where you travel the world and taste its finest fruits in your own backyard."

For the food-loving gardener, Mark Diacono has a new mantra: Life is too short to grow ordinary food. Head gardener at the famed River Cottage, Diacono wants us all to stop growing onions, potatoes, and carrots, because it's just as easy to cultivate mouthwatering delights such as Chilean guava, kai lan, daylilies, Japanese wineberries and Szechuan pepper. In The Food Lover's Garden he shows how easy it can be to reap extraordinary flavor.

Selected for their deliciousness and ease of growing, the fruits and vegetables in the book come with straightforward gardening advice and detailed information on how and when to harvest. Preparation suggestions plus fifty recipes, such as sweet Blue Honeysuckle Pancakes, stunning and delicate Daylily Fritters, and a rich, double cream Cardoon Gratin, teach readers how to showcase the unusual ingredients in their home cooking. Brimming with practical advice for growing and enjoying 39 of the most remarkable fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, spices, and flowers, The Food Lover's Garden is a sumptuous and lyrical invitation to garden, eat, and live more adventurously.