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A green thumb is not the only tool one needs to garden well—at least that’s what the makers of gardening catalogs and the designers of the dizzying aisle displays in lawn- and-garden stores would have us believe. Need to plant a bulb, aerate some soil, or keep out a hungry critter? Well, there’s a specific tool for almost everything. But this isn’t just a product of today’s consumer era, since the very earliest gardens, people have been developing tools to make planting and harvesting more efficient and to make flora more beautiful and trees more fruitful. In A History of the Garden in Fifty Tools, Bill Laws offers entertaining and colorful anecdotes of implements that have shaped our gardening experience since the beginning. As Laws reveals, gardening tools have coevolved with human society, and the story of these fifty individual tools presents an innovative history of humans and the garden over time. Laws takes us back to the Neolithic age, when the microlith, the first “all-in-one” tool was invented. Consisting of a small sharp stone blade that was set into a handle made of wood, bone, or antler, it was a small spade that could be used to dig, clip, and cut plant material. We find out that wheelbarrows originated in China in the second century BC, and their basic form has not changed much since. He also describes how early images of a pruning knife appear in Roman art, in the form of a scythe that could cut through herbs, vegetables, fruits, and nuts and was believed to be able to tell the gardener when and what to harvest. Organized into five thematic chapters relating to different types of gardens: the flower garden, the kitchen garden, the orchard, the lawn, and ornamental gardens, the book includes a mix of horticulture and history, in addition to stories featuring well-known characters—we learn about Henry David Thoreau’s favorite hoe, for example. A History of the Garden in Fifty Tools will be a beautiful gift for any home gardener and a reassuring reminder that gardeners have always struggled with the same quandaries.
Every tool has a tale to tell. The garden shed shelters some improbable stories, from the Mayan and Mediterranean clay pot makers to the tale of the tailor, trimming the uniforms of English Redcoats, who invented the lawn mower; from the manic evolution of the seventeenth-century Dutch bulb planter to the plant container that created a movable orchard at Versailles; from the back story of Henry David Thoreau's favorite hoe to Gertrude Jekyll's homemade daisy digger...'A History of the Garden in Fifty Tools' is a historical, horticultural journey, told through fifty pieces of garden gear, which also provides some useful and curious insights into their care and preservation.
RHS Tales from the Tool Shed is an historical, horticultural journey told through fifty pieces of garden gear. A treasure trove of garden paraphernalia, it explores the roots and evolution of objects, names and places, covering everything from the humble spade to architectural ornaments. Practical insights into the usage and maintenance of each tool appear throughout, along with dozens of attractive photographs, etchings and botanical illustrations. Written by the author of the bestselling Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History, this is a book to cherish for all gardeners and garden lovers.
The fascinating stories of the plants that changed civilizations.
Mindfulness in the Garden offers simple mindfulness verses (gathas) composed to connect the mind and body and to bring the reader/gardener’s awareness to the details of the present moment as they work in the garden. These gathas are signposts leading to nature, to the present, and ultimately to one’s self through the love and understanding they evoke. The gathas offered with each gardening activity serves to water the seeds of mindfulness within us, and softening and preparing the ground for our ability to be present. Mindfulness in the Garden values weeds as important messengers seeking to bring into close communion our spiritual nature with that of the environment. It likens spiritual practice to cultivating a garden and inspires each person to accept themselves and start where they are, weeds and all. Through the practice of mindful gardening, we invite not only the thriving of the natural world but also the flowering and beauty of the pure land of our true self to emerge. Features black and white botanical illustrations throughout. Introduction by Thich Nhat Hanh, author of Present Moment Wonderful Moment Foreword by Wendy Johnson,author of Gardening at the Dragon's Gate
The earliest record of an enclosed space around a homestead come from 10,000 BC and since then gardens of varying types and ambition have been popular throughout the ages. Whether ornamental patches surrounding wild cottages, container gardens blooming over unforgiving concrete or those turned over for growing produce, gardens exist in all shapes and sizes, in all manner of styles. Today we benefit from centuries of development, be it in the cultivation of desirable blossom or larger fruits, in the technology to keep weeds and lawn at bay or even in the visionaries who tore up rulebooks and cultivated pure creativity in their green spaces. George Drower takes fifty objects that have helped create the gardening scene we know today and explores the history outside spaces in a truly unique fashion. With stunning botanical and archive images, this lavish volume is essential for garden lovers.
See the garden in a whole new way! Gardens across the globe come in many sizes and styles, but they share a remarkable number of similar components. Suzanne Staubach revels in this connection in A Garden Miscellany. In short essays meant to be dipped in and out of, Staubach shares the history, evolution, and contemporary use of all the parts and pieces that make up a home garden—from borders, compost bins, and decks to pergolas, roof gardens, statues, and troughs. You’ll learn that fairy gardens have their roots in the Tang dynasty, the difference between an arbor and a pergola, how geometry plays a role in garden design, what a ha-ha is, and much more. Featuring bold and whimsical illustrations by Julia Yellow and filled with interesting facts and anecdotes, A Garden Miscellany is a must-have for gardeners, plant lovers, and the naturally curious everywhere.
“[A] whimsical book on aging . . . the author mixes art, science, and humor to brew a highly readable concoction, presenting one aging theory after another.” —Publishers Weekly Everything that lives will die. That’s the fundamental fact of life. But not everyone dies at the same age: people vary wildly in their patterns of aging and their life spans—and that variation is nothing compared to what’s found in other animal and plant species. With The Long and the Short of It, biologist and writer Jonathan Silvertown offers readers a witty and fascinating tour through the scientific study of longevity and aging. Dividing his daunting subject by theme—death, life span, aging, heredity, evolution, and more—Silvertown draws on the latest scientific developments to paint a picture of what we know about how life span, senescence, and death vary within and across species. At every turn, he addresses fascinating questions that have far-reaching implications: What causes aging, and what determines the length of an individual life? What changes have caused the average human life span to increase so dramatically—fifteen minutes per hour—in the past two centuries? If evolution favors those who leave the most descendants, why haven’t we evolved to be immortal? The answers to these puzzles and more emerge from close examination of the whole natural history of life span and aging, from fruit flies, nematodes, redwoods, and much more. The Long and the Short of It pairs a perpetually fascinating topic with a wholly engaging writer, and the result is a supremely accessible book that will reward curious readers of all ages. “Captivating and enlightening.” —The New York Times Well Blog