Gardening can help you relax, spark your imagination, and even provide a source of home-grown food. This new edition of Gardening Basics For Dummies is your guide as you discover your green thumb, no matter where you live or how much space you have! From growing the picture-perfect lawn to landscaping masterpieces fit for a palace, this book explains it all. With this reference under your arm and a patch of earth under your feet (or in a pot), you’re ready. Your newfound plant-friends will thank you!

Inside. . .

Gather the right garden gear

Choose annuals and perennials that will thrive

Grow greener, healthier grass

Produce your own produce

Raise colorful flowerbeds

Involve your kids in gardening

Garden with ponds and fish

Cultivate your passion to grow

In a 1625 essay, Francis Bacon called gardens "the purest of human pleasures," and what was true then is even more so today—gardening can give you a serene refuge from the short-lived (and noisy!) distractions of modern life and a fertile basis for satisfaction that will bear fruit long into the future. To help you get started on your own leafy paradise, the new edition of Gardening Basics For Dummies grounds you thoroughly in the fundamentals of soil, flowers, trees, and lawns—and helps you get to know the names of what you're planting along the way!

In a friendly, straightforward style, professional horticulturist Steven A. Frowine distills 50 years of gardening experience to show you how to start growing your expertise—from planning out your own mini-Eden and planting your first annuals, bulbs, and perennials through to laying the perfect lawn, raising tasty crops, and even introducing fish to your landscape! He also digs into the grubbier side of horticultural life, making sure you're as prepared as any seasoned farmer to deal with pests, weeds, and other challenges the earth will throw up at you.

Create your ideal garden plan
Become an expert on common flora with definitions and descriptions
Know how to look after your soil
Get creative with butterfly and children's gardens

Whether you're beginning with a tiny garden in a box, or beautifying your property with tree-lined groves and flowery bowers, this is the ideal introduction to the intense pleasure of gardening and will make you happy to reap what you’ve sown!