Beginner’s How-to Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening is a how-to book that was written by organic gardener, Sheri Ann Richerson and greenhouse gardener, Delilah Smittle. Although CIG books are traditionally targeted to beginners, strategies veteran gardeners will value are in this garden book, too.

Flower gardeners and vegetable planters are always looking for how-to information on extending the growing season just beyond what they have at present. Richerson and Smittle satisfy that urge by sharing their ideas on how to garden year round, whether a gardener grows flowers or vegetables, whether the garden climate is mild or harsh.

Soil Nutrients Compost Teas and Worm Castings

In The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening, Richerson and Smittle devote copious amounts of writing to soil nutrients and amendments like compost teas and worm castings and fertilizer components. The authors demonstrate serious organic principles toward developing healthy plants in preparation for growing year round.

Gardeners will find information on what defines adequate soil nutrients and balance of macronutrients and micronutrients. The review of soil pH and textures and the extremes of acid and alkaline soils might be too much science for some. However, the authors quickly redirect readers back to why this information matters, with real-life plant growing dilemmas such as gardeners with clay soil planting acid-loving blueberry plants that thrive in sandy soil.

Garden recipes for mixing brown and green material to make compost and how to make compost teas are part of the narrative. A test for determining good drainage and a short debate on the cultivate-versus- no-cultivate argument are presented.

Information on vermiculture and how to use worm castings year round will help gardeners get started in their own backyard. Gardeners with small planting beds are presented with ideas on how to utilize worm castings, even in container gardens.

Starting Seeds and Transplanting Seedlings Outside

Richerson and Smittle include chapters on starting seeds and transplanting seedlings outside, because there are many more types of seeds available than plants sold at a garden center. Starting plants from seeds gives gardeners more choices and saves money. For some gardeners, growing plants from seeds is their favorite aspect of gardening.

Learning how to time starting seeds to have a succession of plantings is a valuable basic gardening skill. But, there is a difference between cool-loving seeds or plants and their warm-season cousins, the garden writers go beyond setting disposable paper cups of seedlings on a windowsill by offering readers ideas on how to use these characteristics to a gardener’s full advantage.

How to Grow Plants in a Backyard Greenhouse

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year Round Gardening is filled with strategies and techniques on how to extend the growing season with mechanical devices like raised beds, row covers, cold frames and tunnel houses. But, there is nothing more picturesque than gardening in a backyard greenhouse and it truly does allow one to grow plants year round.

There are four chapters devoted to growing plants in a backyard greenhouse. Topics cover siting the freestanding greenhouse, the differences between unheated and heated and what can be grown in each and balancing the ecosystem within. The authors included more recipes, these on potting mixes geared towards the variety of plants gardeners might grow in a greenhouse.

Garden Authors of Year Round Gardening

Sheri Ann Richerson and Delilah Smittle are the garden authors of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening. Each writer gardens, at home all year long, using the principles and techniques found in this book.

Sheri Ann Richerson is an organic gardener living in Indiana. Richerson is a member of the Garden Writers Association where she is the Region III Representative for Plant-a-Row for the Hungry.

Delilah Smittle has been a senior editor and writer and photographer for several publications such as Fine Gardening, Organic Gardening and Old House Journal. At her Pennsylvania home she grows plants year round in greenhouses.

Resource Book for Flower Gardeners and Vegetable Planters

No matter one’s gardening skill level, the climate planting in or type of plants growing, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening is a resource book for flower gardeners or vegetable planters who want to extend their growing season. Written by Sheri Ann Richerson and Delilah Smittle, the garden book was published by Alpha, a trade imprint of Penguin Group, on February 1, 2010. ISBN 978-1-59257-970-9.

The non-glossy paper is perfect for note-taking and highlighting key items. The 317 pages include black and white photographs, some depicting step-by-step instructions. The garden guide, definition and green thumb boxes found throughout the chapters are useful, especially for beginner gardeners. A glossary, index and other garden resources at the back of the book help readers locate specific information as needed.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening is a flexible workbook for outdoor gardeners containing planting techniques and how-to instructions; it has none of the colorful glitz of flower or fruit plant books. But that is alright. Beginner gardeners soon find out and hard-core growers long-ago learned that gardeners find success first from following the unglamorous fingers-in-soil basics of plant growing. And before they realize it, they want to grow plants all year long, no matter where they live.

Vegetable planters will find plant varieties and ideas in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Heirloom Vegetables.