Check Out New “Gardening Complete” Book
February 27th, 2018
My fifth gardening book is done and out – a 376-page, $30 hardcover on 19 of the most important and timely gardening topics.
The cover of “Gardening Complete.”
It’s titled, “Gardening Complete: How to Best Grow Vegetables, Flowers, and Other Outdoor Plants,” and it’s a Cool Springs Press collaboration with seven other authors, each of whom contributed two or three of the book’s chapters.
I wrote chapters on “Botany for Gardeners” (plant names, plant types and other important basics), “Designing Your Gardens” (deciding on goals, pairing plants, laying out gardens, etc.), and “The All-Season Garden” (plants and tips for making the yard look good in all four seasons).
Other authors did chapters on soil and compost; pollinator gardens; container gardening; raised-bed gardening; watering, fertilizing and pruning; native plants; growing fruits and vegetables, and weed and pest control.
See a video that describes the book
The other seven authors are Katie Elzer-Peters, Rhonda Fleming Hayes, Charlie Nardozzi, Tara Nolan, Dr. Jacqueline A. Soule, Lynn Steiner, and Jessica Walliser.
Altogether, it’s a comprehensive look at what I think are the most timely and most important topics that gardeners care about.
The book is a hardcover retailing for $30 and is available in bookstores as well as through online booksellers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
I’ll also be happy to sign a copy if you order one through the Buy Helpful Info page of my website.
Here’s what the publisher says about “Gardening Complete” in its media overview:
“Whether your main interest is in designing landscapes and gardens, ornamental gardening to make your yard more attractive, or gardening to provide nutritious edibles for the family table, this book will become your definitive source of information. It is intended for serious beginning to intermediate gardeners, but even veteran gardeners will be intrigued by what these experts have to say about core gardening skills and common horticultural subjects.
“‘Gardening Complete’ serves not only as a self-contained manual for gardening skills and information in all regions, but also as a sampler that may help you determine where to focus your gardening hobby in the future or even help you identify authors you’d like to explore further.
“Each of the eight authors has an impressively broad background in publishing and lecturing on gardening, and you may discover a new favorite writer in these pages. We haven’t just allowed these authorities to express their individual views – we’ve encouraged them to do so. As is true in a healthy garden, we’ve aimed at diversity for this book.
“The authors of ‘Gardening Complete’ are an august group of eight of the most popular book authors in the Cool Springs family. Together, they represent total coverage of all of the key gardening subjects with a depth and perspective that no single author can offer.”
I’ve written three previous books for Cool Springs: the 2014 “Pennsylvania Getting Started Garden Guide,” which profiles 170 of the best plants for Pennsylvania landscapes; the 2015 “Pennsylvania Month-by-Month Gardening,” which offers a detailed look at what to do when in Pennsylvania gardens throughout the year, and “Mid-Atlantic Month-by-Month Gardening,” also a 2015 what-to-do-when book geared to five states in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Signed copies of all of those also are available on my website.
My fourth gardening book is one I co-authored with Pamela Whitenack, director of the Hershey Community Archives. That one was published in 2017 by Hershey Gardens and is a look at the history, plants, and charm of the 23-acre Hershey Gardens. Titled “Hershey Gardens,” it’s available at the Gardens gift shop.