Free Downloads California Month-by-Month Gardening: What To Do Each Month To Have A Beautiful Garden All Year
It may be the Golden State, but your garden can be any color you want it to be. California is already famous as one of the world's leading fruit and vegetable producers--but a glance at a valley oak or California buckwheat is just a small glimpse of the native plants the state has to offer the home gardener. Written by Alameda resident and longtime gardening journalist Claire Splan, California Month-by-Month Gardening is the sister manual to our California Getting Started Garden Guide. Inside, Splan dedicates a thoroughly detailed chapter to each month of the year, telling you what species you should consider planting, precisely when you should plant them, and how to care for them for maximum health. Within each month are recommendations for annuals, bulbs, lawns (and lawn alternatives), natives, perennials, roses, shrubs, trees, vines, and groundcovers. An introductory overview of California's microclimates and soil types, along with a primer on general gardening techniques and a color-coded USDA zone map, prepares you to make your best effort as a gardener in California. Splan's instructions go much further than just the basics, as you learn how to plan, plant, care for, water, fertilize, and troubleshoot your diverse garden spaces during every single month of the year. Fully illustrated with beautiful color photography of the "how to" steps and plants, California Month-by-Month Gardening keeps your garden prosperous through all types of California weather and terrain. For our full introduction to gardening in California, we also recommend companion books California Getting Started Garden Guide and California Fruit & Vegetable Gardening.
Series: Month By Month Gardening
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Cool Springs Press (December 4, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 159186609X
ISBN-13: 978-1591866091
Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.6 x 10 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #277,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #27 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > By Region > West #254 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Reference #578 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > By Technique
"California Month-By-Month Gardening: What to Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year" is a marvel. Every gardener – novice or seasoned – should have a copy. I take it with me to gardening centers and I refer to it at home all the time. Ms. Splan clearly knows her subject and the vast amount of information about gardening in general and monthly gardening in California in particular has one grabbing for a highlighter and Post-its. Just a tiny sampling: how to read a fertilizer package (i.e., the N-P-K indicators), the difference between organic nitrogen and synthetic nitrogen, basic gardening tools and how to maintain them (e.g., keep handy disinfectant wipes to clean tools, thereby avoiding the spread of bacteria onto other plants; thrust tools into a bucket of sand mixed with motor oil to keep them clean), pest control management (mechanical controls [e.g., ply slugs and snails with beer], bacterial controls [the microbial control Bacillus thuringiensis], and chemical controls [horticultural oils, insecticidal soaps]), growing vertical plants, finding the best tomato variety (no small feat), how to identify microclimates in your garden, and – probably the most important and pressing topic for me -- soil and what you need to do to make it “friable.” And on and on. Tip after tip – usually set off in a sidebar with explanatory photos or illustrations.The month-by-month chapters follow a clear format with the headings Plan, Plant, Care, Water, Fertilize, Problem-Solve. An organized person could create a detailed planting spreadsheet from the carefully outlined information and suggestions Splan provides for each month. I enjoyed her encouraging words (she is an engaging writer as well as gardener) at the beginning of each month.
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