The Virgin Gardener

by Jonathan Edwards

In a clear and practical guide to creating a garden from scratch, The Virgin Gardener takes the reader from planning to a month-by-month strategy for year-round maintenance. 400 color photos & illustrations.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670892432
• ISBN13: 9780670892433
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Avery
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.3" x 1.0" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

Good Intro to Gardening from Various Directions

The interest was cultivated slowly. I had cared for indoor bonsai for a few years, then recently decided to try forcing some bulbs indoors in winter, having so much fun with that I thought I'd jump into the world of container gardening outside on my patio. Where to start? A trip to the local bookstore yielded up this book in the bargain section. Nicely presented and glossy, the scope of this work is rather wide, as the author attempted to touch on numerous entry points to the world of gardening. He introduces the new arrival to the jargon of the plant world, so you can know your perennial from your hardy evergreen. This was quite helpful to provide the vocabulary for me to express my plant wants on trips to the local nursery. The various growing zones for the US are described, and case studies are provided for each category and chapter: ground cover, potted plants, climbers, shrubs, and flowers. Sections on what to do for various times of the year, and planting suggestions were welcome additions. From this book I found more specialized works dealing exclusively with container / patio gardening. Overall, an enjoyable, interesting read, not only for a container garden beginner, but also those who come to gardening through inheritance of unruly plots, or those with a desire to build water gardens, bogs, and more freeform designs.

Great gardening how-to

This "beginners'" gardening book contains a wealth of good information and good color illustrations in a well-organized format. Edwards assumes - without condescension - that his reader is just starting out. His tone is calmly instructive. Most of the gardens shown are relatively small (and manageable!) He explains and defines the basics of gardening: a terms glossary, tools, design basics and possibilities, properties of plants, renovating old gardens, growing vegetables, troubleshooting, the how-to's of cuttings, and many more topics. Edwards is a British gardening writer, and his gardening slant is British, too, although the book has been carefully edited for US hardiness zones and climates. (Most of the gardens shown require some shade.) He discusses various methods of weed and insect suppression, both toxic and nontoxic to the environment.This is not "low-maintenance" gardening, although the deliberate wildness of some of the gardens might suggest that - to the "virgin" eye. Not so.One of the handiest sections is "Keeping it Looking Good," which takes one purposefully through spring, early summer, late summer, fall, and winter, with relevant tasks for the maintenance of containers, lawns, beds and borders, and pools (water gardens). This is especially useful because so many gardening books are big on the selecting and planting phases, but fall short on the all-important maintenance piece of the gardening picture, resulting in all too many newly-installed plants looking great this year, and not so great, next year. In addition, there is a humility to the gardens in the photographs that is not only appealing, but downright inspirational. Sculpture, water, and assorted design elements are shown. A novice gardener could easily replicate some of the peaceful and beautiful environments in this book. I've gardened haphazardly for years and, if not a "virgin," am still a novice gardener - and I found this book to be useful, totally approachable, and beautiful to look at. The gardens vary and could be relatively inexpensively accomplished. There's a good index, too. A very nice book.