The New England Gardener's Year A Month-by-Month Guide for Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Upstate New York

by Manley, Reeser; Peronto, Marjorie

• ISBN13: 9781937644147
• ISBN10: 1937644146
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-02-22
• Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers

Summary

Gardeners will find advice and photos for adapting to any microclimate or situation including shade; wet soil; coastal landscapes; container, raised-bed, and extended-season gardening; and much more.Gardeners and landscapers will treasure this book for its elegant writing and full-color photography, its photo-essay tours of outstanding owner-maintained gardens throughout New England, its focus on organic methods and native plants, and its guidance on integrating gardens of every variety into their surrounding landscapes.Photo sequences of key techniques enhance the book, which is designed and indexed to provide instant access to the information a gardener needs at hand. In Reeser Manley and Marjorie Peronto’s view, the plots of land on which we live are not our “yards” but our gardens—extensions of the surrounding natural world—and we, as gardeners, are caretakers of that world. They advocate gardening in tune with nature— avoiding pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and invasive plants, while creating a garden that enhances local biodiversity. The New England Gardener’s Year will guide you to a garden of great beauty and bountiful harvests.

Table of Contents

GARDEN PATHS AND THE PATH THROUGH THIS BOOK • Garden Paths • The Path Through This BookGARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE • What Does Garden Biodiversity Look Like? • Synthetic Fertilizers Reduce Soil Biodiversity • Consult the Genius of Your Place • Dropping "Pest" from the Gardener's VocabularyNURTURING HEALTHY GARDEN SOIL • A Nutrient Management Primer • Soil Testing • Would You Like Red Ants or Horsetail with that Loam Order? • the Minimum-Till Garden • Organic Mulches • Compost: The Search for Black Gold • Winter Cover Crops and Green Manures • Wood Ashes in the Garden • Biochar: Part of the Future of Gardening • Breaking New GroundPLANNING THE VEGETABLE GARDEN • Laying Out the Garden • Choosing Vegetable VarietiesTHE GARDEN IN MARCH • Monitoring Growing Degree Days in the Garden • Growing Your Own Transplants • A Moveable Feast: Container Gardening • Stalking the Cultivated Asparagus • Recommended Varieties of June-Bearing Strawberries • March Pruning o Raspberries and Blueberries, by Majorie Peronto • Forcing Branches of Flowering Trees and Shrubs • Get Those Native Bee Nest Boxes Ready • The First Green of Spring: Lichens in the Garden • THE NEW ENGLAND GARDEN IN MARCH, ZONE BY ZONETHE GARDEN IN APRIL • April in the Vegetable Garden • April in the Strawberry Patch • An Old Gardener Discovers Rhubarb • The Compost Pile • Composting Indoors with Worms by Marjorie Peronto • Formative Pruning of Young Trees • Pruning Spring-Flowering Shrubs • The Blooming of Shadblow Serviceberry • Rock Gardening New England Style • Remembering the Trees of Our Youth • THE NEW ENGLAND GARDEN IN APRIL, ZONE BY ZONETHE GARDEN IN MAY • May in the Vegetable Garden • Three Types of Garden Peas • Native Groundcovers • May-Flowering Trees and Shrubs • Planting Trees • Dandelions • THE NEW ENGLAND GARDEN IN MAYTHE GARDEN IN JUNE • June in the Vegetable Garden • June-Flowering Native Shrubs • Bringing Mountain Maple from Woods to Garden • Managing Garden Herbivores • Container Madness • Welcome Garter Snakes into the Garden Food Web • THE NEW ENGLAND GARDEN IN JUNE, ZONE BY ZONETHE GARDEN IN JULY • July in the Vegetable Garden • Converting Lawn to Garden • The Vegetable Garden's Second Season: Planning and Planting for Fall • Raspberries, the Queen of Summer Fruits • Native Shrubs: The Scent of Crushed Leaves • Summer Perennials for Pollinators • Enjoy Nasturtiums - In the Garden and on the Table • Guttation Adorns Even Common Weeds with Early-Morning Jewels • THE NEW ENGLAND GARDEN IN JULY, ZONE BY ZONETHE GARDEN IN AUGUST • A Lesson from a Chipmunk Named Theodore • August in the Vegetable Garden • Exuberant Herbaceous Perennials • August-Flowering Native Shrubs • Ripe Elderberries in August • The Joy of Gardening in Tune with Nature • THE NEW ENGLAND GARDEN IN AUGUST, ZONE BY ZONETHE GARDEN IN SEPTEMBER • September in a Different Sort of Garden • Composting in Autumn • The Vegetable Garden in September • Trees and Shrubs in the September Garden • September Is for Planting Trees and Shrubs • Gardening with Reilly • THE NEW ENGLAND GARDEN IN SEPTEMBER, ZONE BY ZONETHE GARDEN IN OCTOBER • October in the Vegetable Garden • Herbaceous Perennials for the October Garden • Native and Non-Native Trees in the Autumn Garden • New England Native Shrubs: Autumn Color Closer to the Ground • The End of a SeasonGARDENS IN TUNE WITH NATURE • Nate and Berta Atwater's Garden in Little Compton, RI - Zone 7a • Ron and Jennifer Kujawski's Garden in West Stockbridge, MA - Zone 5a • Patricia Crow's Garden on Cape Cod - Zone 7a • Tom and Jan McIntyre's Garden on Mt. Desert Island, ME - Zone 5b • Theresa Guethler's Garden in Bucksport, ME - Zone 5b • Dr. Charles Richards' Seacost Garden - Zone 5b • The Vegetable Gardens of Dorcas Corrow and Eva Eicher - Zone 5bTHE GARDEN IN WINTER • Persistent Winter Fruits • Forcing Paperwhites • Protecting Trees and Shrubs from the Ravages of Winter • Hunkering Down, Waiting for April Index Acknowledgments About the Authors