52 Weekend Garden Projects

A collection of quick and easy year-round garden projects includes easy projects for vegetable, fruit, flower, nut, and herb gardens; weekend gardening activities; and discussions of selection, design, and more. Original. Organic Gardening Main. Practical Homeowners.

The key word here is "garden," not "weekend." For Country Journal columnist Bubel's eighth book could as easily--and more straightforwardly--be titled 50 Garden Projects ; the weekend, that two-day stretch of time that is never long enough, has little to do with the projects prescribed here. The projects are, however, engaging and diverse, from planting a shady herb garden and an "edible flower" patch to starting a midsummer vegetable garden and crafting cornhusk dolls. Appropriately divided among the seasons, tasks vary in experience required; even children may tackle some of them (weeding, growing peanuts, making a scarecrow, gathering the makings of a pod-and-cone wreath). The lists of plants, which crop up in virtually all gardening books, take on more meaning due to the author's expertise in the areas she discusses. Bubel literally practices what she preaches--and the reader knows it. A list of resources, organized by chapter, aids and abets. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bubel, a prolific garden writer and coauthor of Root Cellaring (Storey Comm., 1991), offers a very interesting and practical collection of weekend projects and ideas for exploring new directions in gardening. Some of her suggestions involve growing special plants such as nut trees, wisteria, gooseberries, grapes, and Oriental vegetables. Her projects include building cold frames, planting flats, and window boxes; making brooms, wreaths, and scarecrows; forcing bulbs; brewing teas; layering shrubs; and designing gardens for birds, butterflies, and herbs. Each chapter provides detailed instructions to insure success and offers a great deal of encouragement and good advice. Recommended for public library collections. (Illustrations not seen.)-- Beth Clewis, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Coll. Lib . , Richmond, Va.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.