Newspaper, Pennies, Cardboard & Eggs--For Growing a Better Garden

Book excerpt: Transform a Good Garden into a Great Garden in One Season What's the secret? It's a mix of ingenuity and efficiency, accented with fun! Newspaper, Pennies, Cardboard, and Eggs-For Growing a Better Garden contains more than 400 clever solutions for easing garden troubles, new techniques for turning around an underperforming garden, and innovative ideas that will amaze even long-time gardeners. If you're looking to add more nutrients to garden soil, whip up a kitchen scrap smoothie and pour the juiced-up liquid right in the planting hole. If you need to chase away bulb-hungry voles, a little sharp-edged driveway gravel around the bulb will do the trick. And if digging potatoes is too tiresome, discover the no-dig, no-shovel method that lets you grow potatoes in a heap of straw mulch. You'll also discover: - Intriguing and new plant varieties for sweeter corn, delicate salad greens, and handsome winter squash - How to fill a shady spot with color, find affordable bulbs, rejuvenate peonies and perennials, and enjoy blossoms even when there's snow - A creative arsenal for dealing with backyard weeds, including vinegar, hot water, plastic, and flames - Ways to turn inexpensive items from the garden, closet, and pantry into indispensable yard and garden helpers Filled with usable, earth-conscious, and creative ideas and tips, this lively book will help you discover how to work smarter-not harder-to cultivate a better garden, year after year. Let a few of these suggestions and projects take root, and you'll have the better-looking, more productive, and more rewarding garden in just one year.