The anxious gardener's book of answers

179 Pages·2012·3 MB·English

by  Dunn Chace

THE ANXIOUS GARDENER’S BOOK OF ANSWERS
THE ANXIOUS GARDENER’S BOOK OF
ANSWERS
TERI DUNN CHACE
ILLUSTRATIONS BY COLLEEN COOVER
Copyright © 2012 by Teri Dunn Chace. All rights reserved.
Illustrations © 2012 by Colleen Coover Published in 2012 by Timber Press, Inc.
The Haseltine Building
133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450
Portland, Oregon 97204-3527
timberpress.com
2 The Quadrant
135 Salusbury Road
London NW6 6RJ
timberpress.co.uk
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dunn Chace, Teri.
The anxious gardener’s guide/Teri Dunn Chace; illustrations by Colleen Coover.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60469-236-5
1. Gardening. I. Coover, Colleen. II. Title.
SB450.97.D86 2012
635dc23 2011027108
A catalog record for this book is also available from the British Library.
Heartfelt thanks to Tom Fischer, Roger B. Swain, Kathleen Pyle, Alan
Chace, Wes and Tristan Dunn, Barbara and Heru Lamb-Hall, Elizabeth
Golding, Rosemary Blau and Linda Christie, Larry Levinger, Sarah
Rutledge Gorman, and Cassandra Wilson.
Dedicated to my gardening mentor, the late W. C. (Bill) Frase, who
always advised me to be thorough, constant, neat, and patient—good
advice for gardening, book writing, and living!
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
BULBS
CHEMICAL WARFARE
COMPOSTING
CONTAINERS
DESIGN
FERTILIZING
FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES
GARDEN CONDITIONS
THE GARDENER’S HEALTH AND SAFETY
HERBS
LAWNS
MAINTENANCE AND CLEANUP
PERENNIALS
PESTS IN YOUR GARDEN
PRUNING
ROSES
SHRUBS
SOIL
TOOLS
TREES
VEGETABLES
VINES
WATERING
WEEDS AND PROBLEM PLANTS
ZONE MATTERS
METRIC CONVERSIONS
SUGGESTED READING
INDEX
introduction
Welcome to the uncertain, exciting, fraught, gratifying world of gardening.
Whether you are a complete newbie or have enjoyed some success in your yard
and are now expanding your ambitions, the fact remains that it’s a wide-open
field. There’s so much to do and so much to learn. So many plants, so many
choices, so many creative ideas. So many gardening books, magazines,
catalogs, websites, and chat rooms.
We live in an age of exploding information. The upside is obvious: you can
look up almost anything you might want to know—about plants; about
techniques and projects and design schemes; about care and coping with pests
and diseases and harvesting. The downside is also apparent: so much
information can be downright overwhelming. What if you discover facts that
contradict each other or don’t match what you observe in your own yard?
First, thank you and congratulations for buying this book. A book remains
arguably the best way to educate yourself quietly and contemplatively, at your
own pace. You can thumb through and pause where something catches your
interest, refer to the table of contents, or browse the index. You can set it down
and return later, when you know more or your questions are clearer. The
information here is deliberately brief and pragmatic, so you won’t feel like
you’re drinking it through a fire hose.
Let me also add that because everyone is so busy nowadays, I emphasize
sensible and efficient tactics and advice that save time and heartache. And
because there is an ever-growing interest in—and, to be frank, an urgent need
for—gardening practices that are organic and have a low impact on the
environment, you’ll find that theme as well. My goal is to help you become a
more efficient, savvier gardener, while having fun along the way. That’s how
it should be.
For most of us, the days are gone when older, more experienced gardeners
mentored young or new ones. The loss of this continuum of practical and
inspirational help is a grievous one indeed. The gentle or bossy instructions
and advice of your gardening grandmother or nurturing neighbor were
valuable precisely because they were not overwhelming. They knew what they
were talking about because they had once been in your shoes—gaping at the
disease-ridden rosebush leaves, wondering why the peony wasn’t blooming, or
ruing the weeds. They understood your worries, answered your questions, and
passed on their gardening wisdom in calm and concise tones.
Calm? You know that “oops” or “uh-oh” sinking feeling, but you may not
even trust yourself, never mind navigating your way to answers you can trust.
Something in your garden has gone awry for some unknown reason, or you
could have done this or that differently—right? Today’s smaller yards and
decks or patio container-based gardens mean there is a narrower margin of
error. You don’t want to screw up what little gardening space you have. You
want beautiful, productive, healthy displays. You don’t want to ruin
everything.
Relax. As your gardening grandmother and nurturing neighbor might have
told you if they were here now: plants are fairly forgiving. They want to live.
Everything will be all right. Mistakes can almost always be corrected, or you
can learn good lessons from your errors. Dear anxious gardener: please relax,
regroup, learn as you go—and enjoy your garden.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
Start with the table of contents. Individual chapters address the most common
garden topics in alphabetical order, and within them, the most frequent garden
mistakes or “oh, no” moments. Likely you will recognize familiar issues,
situations, and questions and can get some help and reassurance. You will
pick up ideas and information that show how prevention is key, and you will
become a better steward of your home landscape and a better gardener going
forward. To use this as a reference book, consult the detailed index, which can
send you directly to plants, problems, or projects of specific or immediate
interest.
Be patient as you browse, and feel free to read several entries on topics that
concern you and your garden. A broader picture should emerge: Most
mistakes are not disasters, and it is within your power to right a gardening
wrong.
It is my fervent hope that the nuggets of information and wisdom I share
will lead you to feel less worried. You may be inclined or compelled to
continue your education or search for further information (even returning to
the overwhelming Internet), but do yourself and your garden a favor and walk
that path. Walk, don’t run. Your garden will prosper under the care of a more
patient gardener who is now confident that everything will be all right.