Winter Gardening Book

Winter in Steven Bradley's garden is not, as elsewhere, a time of quiescence and seasonal torpor to be ignored by gardeners. It is a time of investment in hard work, preparing for the coming seasons of growth and vigour, a true part of the working garden year. It is also a time when the garden offers its own special, if rather austere, pleasures. Winter Gardening is a comprehensive (and beautifully illustrated) guide to the uses to which this neglected season can be put by the resourceful and dedicated gardener. Surprisingly, perhaps, many jobs usually carried out during the rest of the year are actually better done in winter. Steven Bradley provides a "working winter diary" running from late autumn to early spring. He shows how to carry out general garden jobs as well as those to be done with trees, shrubs and climbers; with bulbs and other roots; with lawns and ponds; in the vegetable and fruit garden and in the conservatory. Slotted into this framework are 23 highly practical and specific projects, designed to highlight the range of tasks required by the winter garden. These range from the ambitious (such as building a root vegetable clamp or installing a soil drainage system) to the simple (making a bird feeder or, delightfully, building a shelter for hibernating hedgehogs). Packed with information, advice, and techniques, and drawing on its author's extensive experience as a gardener or teacher, this is an original and trustworthy guide to this neglected part of the garden year, ideal on one hand for experienced gardeners looking to extend their repertoire or, on the other, for novices looking for basic advice and guidance. --Robin DavidsonRead More