Composting & Mulching

In 1975, Let it Rot! helped start the composting movement and taught gardeners everywhere how to recycle waste to create soil-nourishing compost. Contains advice for starting and maintaining a composting system, building bins, and using compost.

Practical and philosophical discussion about how composting works, and how we use it to work for us. Includes information on large-scale commercial composting. Teaches Malcom Beck's static-pile method of composting without unnecessary labor or expensive equipment.

Back-to-basics gardening that will benefit the earth and your wallet! Want to use ordinary waste to create an extraordinary garden? Composting lets you turn household food waste, yard clippings, and more into free compost and mulch that's chock-full of nutrients. From building and working with traditional compost bins to starting an indoor worm-composting operation, Composting For Dummies makes these often intimidating projects easy, fun, and accessible for anyone!

These days, everyone's talking about compost. Along with backyard chickeners, balcony beekeepers, rooftop farmers, and community gardeners, urban composters are part of a bumper crop of pioneers who are redefining the green space of crowded towns and cities. You may think you need a big yard to compost. Think again. Compost City teaches you how to easily choose and care for a compost system that fits perfectly into your (tiny) space, (busy) schedule, and (multifaceted) lifestyle. Whether you live in a cramped apartment or a sprawling town house, or you dream of composting in a shared space with a group of friends or colleagues, Compost City provides simple and effective indoor and outdoor composting options. Packed with research, expert testimonies, and a healthy dose of humor, Compost City will help you: * compost your food scraps and yard waste with ease * ease your fears of backbreaking labor, obnoxious odors, big messes, and creepy crawlies (hint: you can compost successfully without any of the above!) * convince compost-wary family, friends, neighbors, and community leaders to green-light your compost dreams Compost City serves all eco-curious citizens from casual hobbyists to staunch activists. Put your compost cap on. Whether you compost one tea bag or whole honking barrelfuls of scraps at a time, you're about to have a whole lot of fun.

While most gardeners aren't blessed with ideal soil to start with, it is possible to improve almost any site. This guide provides clear and practical information on making compost, taking soil samples, all-organic methods of feeding plants, dealing with poor drainage, choosing and using mulches effectively, and more.

Compost provides important plant nutrients; offers habitat for beneficial fungi, earthworms, and other creatures; and helps improve soil structure. Composting can be done in urban community and school gardens, pocket backyards and courtyards, and even indoors

Provides the history of muck, discusses the five types of soil, describes how to make a worm bed, and explains how to create and maintain a compost heap

The reasons for composting are gently woven into a simple narrative that follows a little girl and her family through the seasons in this charming picture book about using our resources wisely.

One of the hottest consumer trends is the new importance on outdoor living, and nothing brings the outdoor home to life like a greenhouse and other accessories to help grow and nurture landscape greenery. This book has plans and step by step for constructing and appointing greenhouses of several varieties, from glass-wall to hoophouse; some from kits, some from scratch; also includes plans and steps for other garden structures and accessories. Includes projects suitable to homes and landscapes of all types--urban, suburban, and rural.

Make your garden more productive, your garden chores easier, and your outdoor spaces more enjoyable! With a little time and a few tools, you can create handsome, handcrafted items for your garden at a fraction of the cost of buying them in stores. The Vegetable Gardener's Book of Building Projects offers 39 simple projects, from cold frames to compost bins, planters to picnic tables, trellises to tool storage. Each project was selected by Storey's editors to be functional, attractive, and easy to complete. For each one, you'll find step-by-step instructions, detailed illustrations, complete materials and lumber lists, and a four-color photo of the finished product. Many of the projects can be done by beginners, and most can be completed in a few hours. Whether you need support for your beans and peas or a comfortable chair to relax in when the work is done, these projects are just what you're looking for.