GARDEN.jpgIf you’re a first time gardener and looking to get a bit more general knowledge without being overwhelmed by technical detail, then Jennifer Stackhouse’s new gardening book, GARDEN is a great choice.

The book opens with a lesson on watering your garden, a task that many people get wrong, so it’s a great place to start. The next critical subject and topic of the book, is improving the fertility of your soil. These are the fundamentals of gardening and when you get these two things right, you are well on the way to achieving healthy plants. The author has appropriately placed importance on these two topics by addressing them first. The rest is maintenance, from pruning and training to mowing and weeding, it’s all covered in the next few chapters.

The book is easy to read and pictures are beautiful. Adam Woodhams has done a wonderful job with the photography, not only capturing the beauty of the garden but he also provides a step by step visual tutorial for the reader to interpret the written instructions. Whilst the techniques discussed are not all organic, there is a well deserved section on maintaining the organic garden if you prefer a more natural approach to gardening, making compost and handling pest and disease problems.

Gardening in pots and containers is also covered for those gardeners with less space. There are quick tips spread throughout the book for the reader to note and a handy maintenance calendar will keep you on top of all the garden tasks during the year.

GARDEN, is a lovely reference book with a table of plants to best suit your garden and charts to help identify weeds, pests, diseases and nutritional deficiencies. The book would also make a great gift for the new gardener.

GARDEN, by Jennifer Stackhouse, ABC Books, paperback 247 pages. RRP $35.
Due out September 2013.