Here is the full reference card for this book...
If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.
The Rookie Gardener: A Practical Guide for Home Gardeners by A Home Gardener
by Alan Callbeck
190 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); ***** AVAILABLE NOW! *****; catalogue #01-0337; ISBN 1-55212-935-7; US$21.00, C$24.95, EUR17.50, £12.00
The Rookie Gardener is the anecdotal, real-life, real garden, "what works" discoveries of an award-winning, busy, informally trained, ex-rookie gardener in a city of gardens - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Read more!
About the book About the author Sample excerpts Catalogue info
About the BookThe Rookie Gardener is about knowing the right things: An "A to B basics" book that explains in words and illustrations not only the "how's", but the "why's, when's and where's" of creating a "naturally" comfortable, functional, attractive and low-maintenance yard.
Click here to visit the author's web site, The Rookie Gardener |
About the Author Alan Callbeck is a busy working guy with too many hobbies and two loves: his wife (and editor), Elaine and gardening! Over the course of 48 years of life, he's lived in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Alberta and Vancouver, British Columbia, ending up in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. A dedicted "tree, rock and water person" and indoor gardener, Al has added "outdoor gardens" since arriving in Victoria. |
 |
Sample Excerpts
Page 25 - A "discussion" on the importance of planning
Gardening is a process: You can't "fix" a yard the way you would a car! Think in terms of completion "down the road" rather than "I'll get my yard out of the shop next Tuesday"...
Page 57 - On when to move plants
Got an existing area with plants in it? Want to move things around? Well, remember a plant's life cycle. There is always the risk that (if you uproot a plant at the wrong time) you'll kill it.
Plants don't mind being moved, split or otherwise disrupted during dormant phases or in the spring (giving them a full growing season to recover), but a mid-summer move can cause problems, especially for deep-rooted plants: You may leave most of the roots behind! (Besides, it's easier on the gardener to work in the cooler late fall or, better, early springtime, rather than in the summer heat. Summertime is enjoyment time and if you must putter around, work on non-living things like painting, ponds, patios and the like.)
Page 74 - A part of the initial landscaping process
Landscaping for the rookie gardener is based on what exists. Use what you have and combine it with what you want and need. Having trees and shrubs and the land itself is all the start you need to create those perfect places.
Page 100 - On plant nutrition and health
Food, water and sunlight are necessities, all according to needs. Air - for "breathing" (to complete a balanced diet) and "breathing space" (to allow for growth and to reduce fungal development/disease spread) - is the final necessary ingredient. Give your plants great soil, the right sun and water conditions - the right nutritional mix - room to grow and breathe, and they will all be happy campers!
This may sound strange, but your job as a "home gardener" is to be more natural than nature! In nature, plants grow in certain areas because they find the right mix of food, water, air and sunlight. And being tough, plants and trees will grow even where survival is questionable, often creating new varieties in the process. With composting, fertilizing and soil enrichment, all gardeners can "out-nature" nature, supplying a garden with a rich soil mix and thus, healthier plants and trees. Soil, then, is where to start in developing an awesome and healthy yard.
Page 165 - On growing your own plants from seeds
Propagation starts with the right conditions, the more important being soil. (Sound familiar?) Soil mixes for propagation tend to be low on soil content (or without it at all) and an average recipe is peat (3 parts), perlite (1 part of that white "beady" stuff that looks like styrofoam) and fine bark or sand or soil (1 part). The reason for this mix is that the tender roots of new growth can be "burned" by "rich" potting soils. (In the garden, leeching - washing the nutrients deeper into the soil by rainfall - reduces this burning near the soil surface.)
Page 172 - On "bugs" and toxic spraying
I've mentioned other "tricks" elsewhere and I'll repeat something I've said earlier: Don't "nuke" the place! It's ineffective, generally, and definitely harmful to your ecosystem! There is a natural world out there in your yard: Predators and prey, all of which you need - just not too many of any one kind! Your "job" is to be caretaker to the ecosystem in your yard. What you deal with is excessive numbers of pests or specific outbreaks of diseases while allowing "Mom" to do her "natural thing". It has taken me a few years to "balance" the yard after many years of chemical overkill... Do not go crazy if a few leaves are being "chewed" by a caterpillar. That "bug" becomes a butterfly later on, so ease up, let it munch away (as long as the plant isn't being killed) and enjoy the fluttering of pretty wings later on...
Page 179 - More on landscaping
What happens as you move from "rookie" gardener struggling with the first year maintenance, to an "old hand" at maintenance, to getting those aggravating areas fixed up, is that, somewhere along the way, what you are doing goes from being gardening and turns into "landscaping". All you need is a nudge or two in the right direction...
Contrary to what you might think, landscaping is not separate from gardening. Landscaping is actually all steps of gardening and gardening is the "process" that makes (great) landscaping possible. Our culture has separated the two: Gardening is considered ongoing and "landscaping" is a "project" which basically represents the "construction" of hard and soft garden elements in a yard, usually in a short time frame. While this may be true to an extent, skipping the basic gardening steps (soil improvement, for example) and going straight to "landscaping" is not a great idea...
