The Lazy Gardener

Do you enjoy natural beauty but dont have the time to cultivate a garden Have you always longed for a beautiful yard, but find the idea of self-imposed yard work downright unpleasant For busy people who want to have a garden but dont have the timeor dont want to spend the time The Lazy Gardener tells us how to decrease the effort and increase the enjoyment of having a garden, in an amusing but practical way. Readers can get right to the heart of their problems by starting with a fun, hands-on quiz called HELP I'm Too Busy to Read This Book, or spend a leisurely afternoon reading the book from cover to cover. The author covers everything from choosing the right plants for your environment to designing a manageable garden and paring down chores. The book is illustrated with beautiful drawings by Vasily Kafanov. Mara Grey has been a professional gardener for over 20 years. Her weekly radio show, The Lazy Gardener, is broadcast in Washington, and she has a newspaper column by the same name. Grey writes for such publications as Horticulture Magazine, and teaches classes on gardening and landscape designthis year she will be teaching a Lazy Gardener course.

Introduction: Are You a Lazy Gardener? vii A Quick Quiz: HELP!! I'm Too Busy Too Read This Book ix Part One: The Big Picture 1 Chapter 1: What's a Garden for, Anyway? 3 Chapter 2: Your Basic Ingredients: Sun, Soil, Water, Air  11 Chapter 3: Trust Your Plants 21 Part Two: Planning For Independence 25 Chapter 4: Designs Creating the Skeletons 27 Chapter 5: Making Choices 35 Chapter 6: Walls, Fences and Other Boundaries 41 Chapter 7: Covering Some Ground: Mulches and Ground Covers 45 Chapter 8: Independent Annuals, Perennials, and Bulbs 53 Chapter 9: Shrubs and Trees: The Flesh on the Bones 63 Chapter 10: Do You Really Want Vegetables? 69 Chapter 11: Welcoming Wildlife 75 Chapter 12: Your Garden as a Sacred Space 81 Part Three: Getting Your Hands in the Dirt 85 Chapter 13: Gardners Guilt (and How to Cure It) 87 Chapter 14: Getting Down to Work 93 Chapter 15: How to Do It... If You Must 99 Chapter 16: Starting a Garden From Scratch 111 Chapter 17: Redoing an Existing Garden 117 Chapter 18: Weeds 123 Chapter 19: Worthy Opponents: Slugs, Rots and Other Natural Disasters 129 Chapter 20: Tools for Pleasure 135 Epilogue: Endings and Conclusions 141 Index: 143