Plant the garden of your dreams! Even if you’ve never sowed a seed nor pulled a weed, Gardening Basics For Dummies contains everything you need to know about flowers, beds, borders, trees, shrubs, and lawns to create your own private paradise. This friendly and informative guide also covers all of the tools and additives available to make gardening easier. You’ll discover: Clear definitions and descriptions of the different types of plants Tips on choosing the type of garden you want How to create a garden plan Easy-to-follow instructions for soil preparation Advice on planting, growing and caring for annuals and perennials Step-by-step plans for organic and edible gardens Plans for butterfly and children's gardens Packed with helpful tips on controlling pests safely, managing weeds, and correcting common gardening problems, Gardening for Dummies turns your brown thumb green in a hurry.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 What You’re Not to Read 2 Foolish Assumptions 3 How This Book Is Organized 3 Part I: Preparing Yourself (And Your Garden) for Planting 3 Part II: Flowers and Foliage: Growing for Color 4 Part III: Stretching Your Garden Beyond Its Boundaries: The Permanent Landscape 4 Part IV: Producing Your Own Produce 4 Part V: Designing Special and Fun Gardens 5 Part VI: The Part of Tens 5 Icons Used in This Book 5 Where to Go from Here 6 Part I: Preparing Yourself (And Your Garden) for Planting 7 Chapter 1: Getting Ready for Gardening 9 Playing the Name Game 10 “Hello, my name is ”: Getting used to plant nomenclature 10 Anatomy 101: Naming plant parts 11 Bringing in Beauty with Flowers (and Foliage) 12 Amazing annuals 13 Perennial plants 17 Bulbs and roses 19 Gardening for Your Dining Pleasure 20 Working with Woody (or Viney) Plants 20 Shrubs 21 Trees 22 Vines 23 The World Is Flat: Caring for Your Lawn 24 Chapter 2: Planning Your Own Eden 25 Taking Stock: Evaluating What You Already Have 25 Identifying problems and restrictions 27 Taking advantage of your yard’s assets 30 Getting Ideas for Your Garden Space 31 Gardening with the kids in mind 32 Establishing a good garden for pets 32 Creating space for entertainment 34 Designing a sanctuary: The quiet garden retreat 35 Cooking up an edible garden: Gardening for your kitchen 36 Zeroing In on Your Ideal Garden Style 37 Gardening around a theme 38 An inspired idea: Perusing books, magazines, and local gardens 41 Making Sure Costs Don’t Outgrow Your Budget 42 Bringing Your Garden Ideas to Reality 43 Sketching out the yard you have now 44 Making your drawing match your dream garden 44 Defining key areas so you know where to start 45 Getting Professional Help for Your Garden Plans 47 Landscape architects, landscape designers, and garden designers 48 Landscape or general contractors 49 Master gardeners 49 Chapter 3: Getting into the Zone — Your Garden’s Zone 51 Different Hardiness Zone Maps for Different Folks 51 Taking a look at the world’s plant hardiness zone maps 52 Warming up to the heat-zone map 53 Savoring the Sunset zones 54 Reading plant hardiness zone maps 54 Fathoming Frost Zones and Growing Seasons 56 Zoning Out: Breaking the Zone and Growing Season Rules 57 Managing your microclimates 58 Cheating the system: Creating microclimates 60 Stretching your growing season 61 Chapter 4: Live Long and Prosper: Giving Plants What They Need 63 Let There Be Light! 64 Facing the Fertilizer Facts 65 What to feed: The great natural versus chemical debate 67 When to feed your garden 68 Compost: More than Just a Fertilizer 69 Demystifying Soil pH 71 Finding out your soil’s pH 72 Adjusting your soil’s pH 72 Much Ado about Mulch 73 Knowing your mulches 73 How to apply mulch — and how much 75 Water, Water Everywhere: Tackling Watering Issues 76 Providing plants with the right amount of moisture 76 Determining which watering system to use 77 Cutting back on watering 79 Dealing with drainage problems 80 Air! Air! Plants Need Air! 81 Chapter 5: Gathering Your Gardening Gear 83 Digging Those, Er, Digging Tools 83 Getting down with shovels and spades 84 Trowels: More than just little shovels 86 Garden forks: Not for dining! 87 Dabbling in dibbles (or dibbers) for poking holes 88 Clues to Quality Cultivating Tools 89 Ho, ho, hoes 89 Weeding out poor weeders to get to the best 90 Making the Right Cut with Cutting Tools 92 Getting a handle on hand pruners 92 Hedging your bets on hedge shears 93 Branching out with loppers 94 Moving up to pruning saws 95 Putting Power Tools to Use 96 Safety first: Controlling your power tools (so they don’t control you) 96 Chewing through chores with chainsaws 97 Working with weed trimmers and weed whackers 97 Tilling soil with rototillers 98 Wading through Wondrous Watering Tools 99 Hoses 99 Nozzles 101 Hose-end sprinklers 102 Water timers 103 Part II: Flowers and Foliage: Growing for Color 105 Chapter 6: Growing Annuals: Adding Yearly Variety to Your Garden 107 Finding Flowers that Fit Your Garden 107 Some like it hot: Warm weather annuals 108 Some annuals like it cool 109 Mixing and Matching Annuals 109 Good habits: Taking advantage of shape, height, and structure 110 Combining colors 113 Buying Annuals 114 Starting with seed packets 114 Starting with nursery, well, starts 114 An Annual Event: The Whens, Wheres, and Hows of Planting 115 Filling in the garden after the last frost 116 Deciding where to plant annuals 117 Getting annuals in the ground 117 Feeding the Flower Power: Taking Care of Annuals 118 Watering 118 Fertilizing 118 Mulching 119 Grooming 119 Dealing with annual pests 119 Chapter 7: Growing Perennials: Plants That Make a Comeback 121 Looking at Perennials, the Repeat Performers 122 Hardy perennials 122 Tender perennials 122 Planning Long-Term Strategy for Your Perennial Garden 123 Choreography: Timing perennial blooming 124 The living palette: Keeping colors in mind 125 Designing perennial beds and borders 125 Finding and Buying Perennials 128 To the market: Getting perennials in containers 128 Buying perennials through mail-order 129 Acquiring free divisions from other gardeners 130 Planting Perennials 131 Figuring out where to plant perennials 131 Deciding when to plant perennials 134 Preparing for the actual planting 137 Show the Love: Taking Care of Your Perennials 138 Supporting with stakes or rings 138 Practicing good grooming habits 139 Dividing perennials 141 Preparing perennials for winter 142 Dealing with perennial pests and diseases 142 Chapter 8: Brightening Up the Garden with Bulbs 145 Shedding Light on Bulbs 145 Defining terms: Bulbs aren’t always, well, bulbs 146 The time of the season: Looking at early and late bloomers 149 Getting acquainted with the most popular bulbs 150 Social Mixers: Choosing to Combine Your Bulbs 151 Combining various types of tulips 151 Mixing up your daffodils 152 Combining different kinds of bulbs 153 The Search: Where to Get Your Bulbs 155 Buying bulbs from home stores and nurseries 156 Purchasing bulbs through mail-order 157 Getting Down and Dirty: Planting Bulbs 158 When to plant bulbs 158 Where to plant bulbs 160 How to plant bulbs 161 Taking Care of Bulbs 163 Watering your bulbs 164 Fertilizing bulbs 164 Mulching 165 Fighting bulb pests 165 Chapter 9: Coming Up Roses 167 What Makes a Rose Be a Rose Be a Rose 167 Checking out blooming habits 168 Looking at hardiness 169 Identifying the various rose types 169 Deciding Where to Put Your Roses 173 Planning your beds and borders 173 Using roses as groundcovers 175 Screening with roses 176 Using roses as vines 177 Buying the Best Roses 178 Getting a potted rose 178 Purchasing a bareroot rose 179 Planting Your Roses 182 Putting containerized roses in the ground 182 Planting bareroot roses 183 Taking Care of Your Roses 185 Watering 185 Fertilizing 185 Keeping roses in shape 186 Maximizing winter hardiness 188 War of the roses: Tackling rose pests 189 Part III: Stretching Your Garden Beyond Its Boundaries: The Permanent Landscape 191 Chapter 10: Growing a Perfect Lawn 193 In the Beginning: Getting Ready to Make a Lawn from Scratch 193 Preparing your yard for a lawn 194 Designing the lawn 195 Seeding and Sodding: Adding the Grass 196 Determining the kind of grass you want or need 196 Cool-season and warm-season grasses 197 Growing lawns from seed 201 Your own turf: Growing lawns from sod 204 Watering a Thirsty Lawn 207 Getting the water balance right 207 Boosting watering efficiency 208 Feeding and Fertilizing 209 What’s your type? Deciding on the kind of fertilizer 209 Knowing your serving sizes: How much fertilizer is enough 211 Checking out the feeding schedule 211 Mowing the Lawn, Cutting the Grass, and Otherwise Giving the Yard a Shave 212 Warring with Weeds 214 Preventing lawn weeds 215 Treating already-weedy lawns 215 Chapter 11: Reaching New Heights with Trees and Shrubs 217 Knowing Your Trees 218 Exploring evergreen trees 218 Falling for deciduous trees 220 Choosing the Right Tree for Where You Live 222 Getting Treed! Planting Trees 223 Not just for Arbor Day: Deciding when to plant your tree 223 Finding a suitable location 224 Planting your tree 226 Taking Care of Your Tree 229 Giving trees a tall drink of water 229 Fertilizing trees 231 Life and limb: Pruning judiciously 231 Raising the stakes: Offering some support 235 Knowing Your Shrubs 236 Nonflowering shrubs 236 Flowering shrubs 237 Planning Practical Uses for Bushes 237 Planting Shrubs 238 Deciding when to plant your shrubs 239 Situating your shrubs 239 Perfecting your shrub-planting skills 240 Caring for Your Shrubs 241 Watering 242 Fertilizing your shrubs 242 Pruning for shape and rejuvenation 243 Chapter 12: Climbers and Crawlers: Growing Vines and Groundcovers 245 Looking at How Vines Hold On 245 Twining 247 Tendrils 247 Adhesive discs 247 Holdfasts 248 Sprawling 248 Choosing the Right Vines for Your Garden 248 Considering your basic options 249 Love me tender? Deciding whether you need cold-hardy vines 250 Sizing up your vines 251 Examining site considerations for vines 252 Planting and Supporting Vines 253 Giving vines a little backup: Trellises, fences, and arbors 254 Using trees and shrubs as living supports 255 Maintaining Perennial Vines through Pruning 256 Looking at Groundcovers, a Living Carpet 257 Examining groundcover varieties 257 Reaching out: How the groundcover spreads 259 Spacing out: Considering the room the groundcover takes up 260 Exploring site considerations for groundcovers 261 Planting and Maintaining Groundcovers 262 Watering 263 Fertilizing 263 Mulching 263 Keeping groundcovers in shape: Pruning and pegging 264 Getting weeds out (and keeping them out) 264 Part IV: Producing Your Own Produce 265 Chapter 13: Food, Glorious Food! Growing Your Own Veggies 267 Varieties of Veggies 268 Growing vegetables by seasons 268 Defining hybrids 271 Appreciating heirlooms 272 Designing for Dining and Getting Your Vegetable Garden Ready 274 Sketching out your plan 274 Working with the sun: Where to plant vegetables 276 Using planting patterns and systems 277 Prepping your soil 278 Finding Your Vegetables 280 Planting Your Vegetables 282 Deciding when to plant your veggies 282 Sowing and planting your veggies 283 Composting for Vegetable Gardens 288 Fertilizing Your Vegetable Garden 290 Using Frames and Supports for Veggies 292 Dealing with Vegetable Pests 295 Rodents, rabbits, and other miscreants 296 Deer 296 Birds 297 Bugs 297 Chapter 14: Adding Spice to Your Garden: Growing Herbs 301 Planting Herbs: A Lesson in Adaptation 302 Getting the timing right 302 Helping herbs find their place in the world 303 Putting herbs in their place: How to plant 306 Raising herbs from seed 307 Taking Care of Your Herbs 308 Providing an herb’s basic needs 308 Dealing with herb pests 309 Chapter 15: Sweet and Crunchy: Growing Fruits, Berries, and Nuts 313 Fruit Basics: Knowing and Choosing the Right Fruits for Your Garden 314 Examining the types of fruits 314 Getting the lowdown on chill factors 315 Studying your size accommodations 317 Going solo or in pairs: Looking at pollination 321 Finding and Buying Your Fruit Bearers 321 Planting Your Fruit 322 Making the prepared soil deep and wide enough 323 Choosing the best time to plant fruits 323 Deciding where to plant your fruits 324 Getting your fruit in the ground 325 Taking Care of Fruits 329 Watering 329 Fertilizing 329 Cutting back on mulch 330 Supporting and training your fruit 330 Pruning 332 Dealing with fruit pests 336 Part V: Designing Special and Fun Gardens 339 Chapter 16: Mini Gardens and Microcosms: Gardening in Containers 341 Exploring Different Kinds of Containers 341 Examining standard container materials 342 Thinking outside the pot: Alternative choices and offbeat containers 344 The Inside Track: Getting the Container Soil Right 346 Purchasing a soil mix 346 Whipping up your own soil mix 347 Picking the Best Plants for Your Containers 349 Up close and personal displays 350 Tucked in attention-grabbers 351 Containers of mixed company 351 Arranging Containers for a Container Garden 352 Taking Care of Your Container Plants 353 Gauging your container garden’s water needs 354 Fertilizing your container plants 355 Chapter 17: Taking the Plunge: Gardening with Ponds and Fish 357 Planning Your Water Garden 357 Looking at location 358 On the level: Deciding between aboveground and in-ground gardens 359 Choosing the best lining 362 Picking Out Your Water Garden Parts and Supplies 363 Pumps 366 Bubblers and fountains 366 Filters 367 Installing and Filling Your Pond 368 Choosing Plants for Water Gardens 368 Waterlilies 369 Lotus 370 So-called marginal plants 371 Floaters and submerged plants 371 Adding Fish to Your Water Garden 372 Maintaining Your Water Garden 374 Taking care of the plants 375 Winterizing your plants and fish 375 A sea of green: Controlling algae in troubled waters 376 Part VI: The Part of Tens 379 Chapter 18: Ten Common Questions from (and Ten Common Answers for) Gardening Beginners 381 What’s the Difference between an Annual and a Perennial? 381 What’s Organic Matter? 382 Why Does Everything I Plant in My Flower Bed Die? 382 How Do I Prepare the Ground for a Brand-New Bed? 382 Do I Have to Spray Chemicals on My Rosebushes? 383 Do Any Vegetables Grow in the Shade? 383 It’s Hot and Dry Here and I Don’t Want Cacti What Are My Options? 383 What Can I Plant on a Steep Bank to Prevent Erosion? 384 How Do I Remove the Weeds from the Lawn without Pulling Them One by One? 384 Is There Anything Deer Don’t Eat? 385 Chapter 19: Ten Quick, Fun, or Handy Garden Projects 387 Set Up a Hammock 387 Put Up a Rubber Tire Swing 387 Install Stepping Stones 388 Set Up a Trellis 388 Plant a Teepee 388 Create Whimsical Garden Art from Castoffs 389 Decorate the Front Steps with Potted Plants 389 Make Some Plant Labels 389 Make a Simple Compost Bin for Your Own Organic Matter 390 Combat Garden Pests with Homemade Pepper Spray 390 Chapter 20: Ten Garden Projects for Children 391 Create a Dinosaur Garden 391 Grow a Sunflower Fort 391 Make Sunprints 392 Plant Mini-Pumpkins 392 Write with Seeds 392 Trap a Zucchini 392 Make a Home-Grown Salad 393 Grow Paperwhites 393 Set Up a Birdbath 393 Attract Butterflies to the Garden 394 Appendix: Basic Gardening Resources 395 Index 401