The beginner's guide to building a garden one project at a time: 326 fast, easy, affordable ways to transform your yard

285 Pages·2017·50.745 MB·English

by  Dempsey, Michael;Roth, Sally

THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO
Starting a Garden

THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO
Star ting
a Garden
326
Fast, Easy, Affordable Ways
to Transform Your Yard
One Project at a Time

Sally Roth

Timber Press
Portland, Oregon
Frontispiece: ‘Red Ribbons’ daylily, by Elizabeth McWilliams
Copyright © 2017 by Sally Roth. All rights reserved.
Photography credits appear on page 260.
Illustrations by Karla Beatty and Anna Eshelman
Published in 2017 by Timber Press, Inc.
The Haseltine Building
133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450
Portland, Oregon 97204-3527
timberpress.com
Printed in China
Text design by Julianna Johnson and Kate Giambrone
Cover design by Benjamin Shaykin and Patrick Barber
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Roth, Sally, author.
Title: The beginner’s guide to starting a garden: 326 fast, easy,
affordable ways to transform your yard one project at a time/ Sally Roth.
Description: Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016017920 | ISBN 9781604696745 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Gardens—Design.
Classification: LCC SB473 .R647 2017 | DDC 635—dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017920
IN LOVING MEMORY
my mother
OF
CONTENTS
A LIFETIME OF LEARNING ......................................................................8
A BUILDING BLOCK GARDEN PRIMER ...........................................17
TWELVE EASY, FIRST IMPRESSIONS
SMALL GARDENS At the Lamppost. .................................................................................................56
A WELCOME GARDEN
At the Entrance ...................................................................................................72
A PRETTY FRAME
At the Corners ....................................................................................................86
DRESS UP A TREE
Shady Spots .....................................................................................................102
BETWEEN NEIGHBORS
Private or Pretty? .............................................................................................118
CHEERFUL COLOR
In the Lawn......................................................................................................132
AN EVER-EXPANDING GARDEN
Extending the Edges ........................................................................................146
A BECKONING BENCH
Gathering Places and Sitting Spots ...................................................................159
SIDEWALK STRIP
Creating Curb Appeal ......................................................................................176
LOTS OF POTS
A Can’t-Miss Container Garden .......................................................................192
ARTIST’S CANVAS
Gardening on Slopes ........................................................................................209
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T
Dealing with Eyesores ......................................................................................224
GARDENING SECRETS
Top Ten Ways to Save Time and Money .............................................................236
Resources ........................................................................................................255
Further Reading ..............................................................................................258
Photography Credits ........................................................................................260
Index ...............................................................................................................261
A Lifetime of
Learning
The author in her garden in
the high Rockies of Colorado,
where a combination of frigid
winters, lack of water, and
about two and a half months
between spring thaw and first
snow makes her grateful for
all the gardening tricks that
she’s learned over the years—
and the new ones she’s still
learning.
I learned how to garden at my mother’s knee—literally.
“I’m going outside for a while,” she’d announce, and I’d follow
along, hurrying to get my little red wagon, so I could help haul plants
or weeds or rocks.
Her gardens were gorgeous. And ever changing, as she transplanted things
a few inches left or right, or all the way across the yard. I can still see her
standing back, squinting, to check the look of what she was creating.
“Needs more yellow, right there,” she’d say, pointing. Then she’d reach for
the shovel to move a blooming clump of coreopsis daisies then and there.
Every year, her flower beds got bigger, and the lawn got smaller.
Meanwhile, I absorbed the art of gardening, and the how-tos of transplanting,
My mother could dividing, and otherwise making more of a good thing.
usually be found outside,
Garden centers were almost unheard of back then, so Mom got most of
in her “natural habitat,” as
we joked—her gardens. her plants from friends and neighbors. Oh, you could send away for plants
A LIFETIME OF LEARNING || 9