Victory Garden Companion by Michael Weishan, Laurie Donnelly, Laurie Donnelly

Synopsis

During its thirty years on television, "The Victory Garden's" perennial mission has been to share sensible and sage advice that makes gardening both fun and easy. Now, the nation's oldest and most popular gardening program is proud to present The Victory Garden Companion, an indispensable guide that offers the best in gardening expertise in a straightforward and friendly manner, inviting gardeners of all levels to dig in and get their hands in the soil. Moreover, host Michael Weishan shows budding landscapers how to garden well, providing the technical and aesthetic fundamentals essential to creating a comfortable, beautiful, and rewarding garden.

The Victory Garden Companion begins by showing you how to use pencil and paper to map out the garden of your dreams, and how to factor in all the stylistic, climactic, and environmental elements related to your particular location. From assessing your area's unique microclimate and sun and shade patterns to making your own landscape plan, Michael Weishan and coauthor Laurie Donnelly demonstrate in a clear and understandable fashion how to design an outdoor living space that complements the look and feel of your home.

While setting the foundation for good gardening, The Victory Garden Companion also covers all aspects of landscaping, from creating hedges and designing perennial borders to treating your soil and selecting foundation plants. Michael and Laurie show you how to create a water garden, build a backyard terrace, plant a vegetable garden, and introduce many other amenities to the urban, suburban, or rural garden.

Filled to the brim with creative ideas, weekend projects, andinspired gardens, readers can pick and choose from a myriad of undertakings, whether it's container gardening, laying sod, or creating a flower bed.

With more than 250 lavish illustrations, troubleshooting tips, and informative charts of tried and true species of plants and flowers, The Victory Garden Companion is also an invaluable resource that gardening enthusiasts will turn to again and again throughout the year.

Perfect for both serious landscapers and those who want to focus on smaller projects, The Victory Garden Companion is a must-have for novices and experienced gardeners alike.

Publishers Weekly

PBS's popular, long-running The Victory Garden inspires this work by Weishan, the show's host, and Donnelly, its executive producer/director. Weishan, the first-person voice of the text, doesn't necessarily provide new information, but rather "a triage of the data already out there" with an information-packed overview of the full range of gardening basics. Chapters on design, planning and preparation, the front yard, the back yard, the lawn, the flower garden, the vegetable garden, growing berries and urban gardening combine inspiring ideas with solid, how-to instruction. Weishan's detailed descriptions of relevant features at the Victory Garden itself, informative listings of recommended plants, step-by-step project guides, insights and profiles of outstanding gardens are firmly rooted in the real world. For example, he blames the media (himself included) for tending to "underestimate and downplay the difficulties involved in designing and maintaining large flower borders" and offers alternative schemes that are more manageable but equally attractive. This levelheaded approach is a welcome relief from the breathlessly enthusiastic tone of many other authors. Likewise, the 200 color photographs and 46 b&w illustrations do more than decorate; they illuminate. The real victory here is for gardeners at all skill levels, who will learn to create beautiful, enjoyable, useful outdoor spaces that will enhance their lives and the value of their homes. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Biography

Michael Weishan, host of The Victory Garden, is a principal of Michael Weishan & Associates, a nationally acclaimed landscape design firm, and has authored two other books, The New Traditional Garden and From a Victorian Garden.