Vegetables Love Flowers

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Title:

Vegetables Love Flowers

Companion Planting for Beauty and Bounty

Author:

Ziegler, Lisa Mason

Subject:

Gardening

Nonfiction

Description:

"Does a marvelous job of taking you down the garden path of the ins and outs of companion planting." —Julie Bawden-Davis, Community Table @ Parade.comFight garden pests and increase your yields the natural way with this tried-and-true technique! Planting vegetables and flowers together is one of the oldest ways to create a healthy, bountiful garden. Adding flowers to your food garden improves biodiversity, enhances pollination, and increases the numbers of beneficial pest-eating insects—with the bonus of providing beautiful bouquets of cut flowers to brighten your home and give to your family and friends. Vegetables Love Flowers explains the benefits of interplanting flowers and vegetables; offers detailed advice on how to add a cutting garden of vibrant annuals to your vegetable garden; gives profiles of a range of pollinators and beneficial predators; and provides plenty of general gardening guidance featuring natural methods. Alongside gorgeous garden photography, you'll learn about: ·Garden planning, seed-starting, growing, and harvesting ·How to make garden flower bouquets, with "recipes" for various arrangements ·How to attract beneficial creatures to pollinate your garden and prey on its pests ·Pesticide-free pest-control measures ·Composting heaps and binsWith the right information and some careful planning, you can help your plants thrive—and beautify your garden in the process."Whether you are a gardener or just enjoy reading about the gardening adventures of others, this book is for you."?Gardening Products Review

Publisher:

Quarto Publishing Group USA

Cool Springs Press

Date:

2018/03/27

Digital Format:

HTML

ADOBE EPUB

KINDLE

Language:

English

Vendor:

Libby

Summary

Fight garden pests and increase your yields the natural way with this tried-and-true technique!

Planting vegetables and flowers together is one of the oldest ways to create a healthy, bountiful garden . Adding flowers to your food garden improves biodiversity, enhances pollination, and increases the numbers of beneficial pest-eating insects--with the bonus of providing beautiful bouquets of cut flowers to brighten your home and give to your family and friends.

Vegetables Love Flowers explains the benefits of interplanting flowers and vegetables; offers detailed advice on how to add a cutting garden of vibrant annuals to your vegetable garden ; gives profiles of a range of pollinators and beneficial predators; and provides plenty of general gardening guidance featuring natural methods.

Alongside gorgeous garden photography , you'll learn about: Garden planning, seed-starting, growing, and harvesting How to make garden flower bouquets, with "recipes" for various arrangements How to attract beneficial creatures to pollinate your garden and prey on its pests Pesticide-free pest-control measures Composting heaps and bins With the right information and some careful planning, you can help your plants thrive --and beautify your garden in the process.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this excellent debut, Ziegler, a florist turned organic farmer, introduces readers to the concept of planting flowers alongside vegetables in the garden as a natural way to fight pests. Operating under the principle that "beneficial creatures are attracted to and happy with the continuous supply of new blossoms [and] then share their benefits with the nearby vegetables," Ziegler argues against the notion that flowers are "a waste of precious space and labor in the vegetable path." She makes a convincing case for the benefits of companion gardening in a folksy narrative that is replete with personal anecdotes about her own struggles and learning curve. The stunning color photographs, along with detailed seasonal garden designs, offer helpful specifics for the best veggie-flower combinations and ways to cultivate them successfully. She suggests planting snapdragons in the tomato patch to attract bumblebees, explaining that bumblebees help speed the process of tomato pollination. Winter annuals, when planted six to eight weeks before the last expected spring frost, help grow cool-season vegetables and herbs such as onions and parsley. Flower growers and organic farmers alike will come away from this book feeling hopeful and ready to give Ziegler's method a try. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Flower gardening tends to be considered distinct from vegetable gardening two categories typically addressed separately but Ziegler asserts that both types of plant benefit from being grown together. In addition to creating more vigorous plants, it also results in healthier soil, a more supportive environment for pollinators and beneficial predators, and less work for the gardener. The book starts with the basics of how to add flowers to a vegetable garden and then moves on to highlight specific annuals and the seasons they grow in, so the gardener can plan for continuous floral blooms throughout the vegetable growing season. For each of the more than 20 plants featured, a list of specs and large color photographs are provided, along with seed-starting instructions, care guidelines, and harvesting tips. Ziegler's business specializes in cut flowers, and she recommends combinations and tips for this use as well. General garden care is also addressed, including soil amendments, organic fertilizers and pest control, garden design, irrigation, and more. An appendix illustrates a variety of bed designs.--Heidemann, Anne Copyright 2018 Booklist