Books and Tools

The NEW Sunset Western Garden Book

March 22, 2012 65 comments
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16 years ago, when I took my first horticulture class, The Sunset Western Garden Book was the very first book I bought. Its status in the West is such that I owned three copies by the end of my first year: one old edition which had the best basic gardening tips, one new edition with [...]

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The Worm Factory 360 and The Earth Moved (With Video!)

March 21, 2012 124 comments
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When I first bought my own home years ago, there was one fact that made me particularly happy: as a responsible grownup and a homeowner, I was now allowed to get any pets that I darn well wanted, so long as I could take good care of them. No landlords or reluctant parents to tell [...]

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The Tuff-Guard Hose is Lightweight and Doesn’t Kink

March 20, 2012 81 comments
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One of my most dreaded tasks is when clients have a hose that hasn’t been rolled up properly, so it’s bent and folded and won’t go back into place. Being the responsible horticultural professional I am, if I touch something, I have to leave it perfect. However, rolling up a heavy, kinked hose is a [...]

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The Chicken Encyclopedia by Gail Damerow

March 18, 2012 47 comments
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I grew up a big-city gal, so when I moved to Humboldt County to go to college, I was amazed to find a field of cows just outside the backyard of my apartment complex. Passing by each day, I’d watch them grazing with an odd sense of unreality. Cows! Right there in town! With their [...]

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EZ-Walls Plant Protector Extends the Season and Keeps Chickens Off New Plants

March 13, 2012 44 comments
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When I tell people I live in coastal California, they get this delightful image in their heads of sunshine, warmth, and many opportunities to suntan. Unfortunately for my vitamin D quota, I live at the other end of the state. It’s foggy, rainy, and doesn’t get all that warm, even in the middle of summer. [...]

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Free-Range Chicken Gardens by Jessi Bloom

February 28, 2012 75 comments
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Jessi Bloom‘s new book Free-Range Chicken Gardens seems sure to be a new bestseller, because while the backyard-chicken trend has taken off, nobody has really stepped up to offer guidance on some of the issues common to owners of free-ranging hens, until now. In just four years of keeping my own tiny flock, I’ve had [...]

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Book Review: The Beginner’s Guide to Gardening

February 15, 2012 91 comments
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Katie Elzer-Peters is one of those dynamos of the gardening world who is so busy Getting Things Done that you may not have actually heard of her yet. But she’s been working behind the scenes on so many projects – nursery newsletters, writing articles for sites too numerous to mention, and mentoring authors with Cool [...]

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Lined Goatskin Gloves Keep Hands Warm For Winter Gardening

December 3, 2011 42 comments
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Us pro gardeners are pretty tough. Even so, every year I’m surprised at just how cold winter is. When you go out at 9 am to get a spot of pruning in, and find your breath catching in the cold, you start to appreciate all the little design elements in tools that keep you warm [...]

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Dirr’s Encyclopedia a New Industry Standard

November 29, 2011 5 comments
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***Timber Press is holding a giveaway for the new Dirr book! Details below.*** The internet has removed the need for so many types of book. Between the online nursery descriptions and search engine image searches, you can find basic information on many types of plant, and that’s often good enough. However, things become tricky when [...]

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The Visitor’s Guide to American Gardens

November 21, 2011 43 comments
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If your winter “gardening” is usually comprised of bulb and perennial catalogs, highlighters, and very little in the way of actual outdoor gardening, then I have a new tool to make your winter plotting that much more exciting. Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp has written The Visitor’s Guide to American Gardens, which is a beautifully-organized and [...]

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