(Part 2) Best garden design books according to redditors

Just search Amazon for books on homesteading. There are many. This is one of the best — Homesteading: A Backyard Guide to Growing Your Own Food, Canning, Keeping Chickens, Generating Your Own Energy, Crafting, Herbal Medicine, and More (Back to Basics Guides) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1629143669/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_KEySAbEDTDFBP

Lowe's has a planting plan for an evergreen screen:https://www.lowes.com/creative-ideas/lawn-and-garden/evergreen-screen-landscape-plan/article

There are also books available on landscaping for privacy-here are a couple-https://www.amazon.com/Landscaping-Privacy-Innovative-Outdoor-Peaceful/dp/1604691239/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492397426&sr=1-1&keywords=landscaping+for+privacy

https://www.amazon.com/Landscaping-Privacy-Sunset-Books/dp/0376034750/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492397543&sr=1-2&keywords=landscaping+for+privacy

I can't recommend Practical Permaculture by Jessi Bloom & Dave Boehlein enough. It's a great book that is very thorough in scope, without being dry or overly dense. On top of that, the illustrations are amazing.

Hellstrip Gardening: Create a Paradise between the Sidewalk and the Curb

You're in luck! A gardener from PA wrote a book on this topic just last year, called The Layered Garden.

Here's the Amazon link

These cards are so neat! I was introduced to permaculture about a year ago, when I took an Ecological Psychology class as an undergrad. We read a book called Urban Homesteading (I'll try to find a link to it), that covers a range of ecological/organic/homesteading topics and instructions. I'm a renter and haven't been able to implement it much in my life, but I love learning more about it and how to implement in my future planning!

Edit: Here it is on Amazon. If you're interested in permaculture and related topics (there's a section on permaculture but that's not the focus), I really recommend it! Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living https://www.amazon.com/dp/161608054X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_gfPQwbPHSP8MK

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

> I did a 20 year tropical permacultute project based on these concepts... its a mature food forest now.

Any opinions on Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening? If you had to choose just one book on the subject, what would you consider to be the definitive guide? Thanks for sharing the recommendation!

There are a lot of books about lawn-free yards, like this one. Just fyi some of these are geared toward xeric landscaping in the western states.

I love The Weekend Homesteader by Anna Hess, and all her other books as well.

She also has a blog about homesteading with her husband in the mountains of Virginia. She has tons of enthusiasm and writes about homesteading in a way that inspires, and she explains how to do things in a way that is thorough without being patronizing.

Good luck with your homestead!

I think there's a reason why this book is free: it's really short with very little useful information. It feels like a couple of blog posts with some clip art. If you look up the author's other work, it's all just regurgitation on different subjects, hardly worth any money.

Pat Welsh's book is a lot better with tons of useful info: http://www.amazon.com/Welshs-Southern-California-Gardening-Month--ebook/dp/B00G0J7MN8/

The truth is, unless you're buying the book as a gift, most everything you need to know about fruit trees can be found for free online. Or simply talking to the people you buy your trees from.

This would be perfect, seeing as how we're making a trip later this week to our land in the boonies!

Something nice... I can't narrow it down to just one thing... I'll borrow a few words from the legendary Al Yankovic:

• Girl, you smell like Fritos, That's why I'm giving you this hungry stare
  
• I wish that I was cross-eyed, girl, So I could see you twice
  
• My love for you is like diarrhea, I just can't hold it in
  
• Well, how'd you get through security? 'Cause, baby, you're the bomb
  
• Girl, you must be Jamaican, Because Jamaican me crazy
  
  Thank you for the contest!!
  

Second the "Square Foot Gardening" book. Also check out "Earthly Delights", "Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces", and "Vertical Gardening".

You're going to have a hard time growing grass because of all the shade and tree roots. Get your fences repaired, trees trimmed and lay down several bales of straw or wood chips to prevent weed growth.

Then go to the library or Amazon and look for some good basic books about gardening in your area and spend the winter planning.

Something like this ought to be a good start:https://www.amazon.com/Gardening-Pacific-Northwest-Complete-Homeowners/dp/1604693339/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1506476365&sr=1-2

I really liked the book by Anna Hess -- I'm not homesteading yet, but as I read the book I could really see how things fit together step by step. When I got to the end of the book, I actually started reading it again, and was blown away how you could just keep cycling through it and each time around (once per year) you could keep building.

There are lots of different methods, but when we do start, this is how I intend on approaching it. I'm planning on starting small, using that book as a rough guide of what to do (seasonally, what makes sense to tackle), and each year the different elements will probably be mostly the same, but the scope of the element will grow on what was done the past year.

The book is set up for each month, so for example, you could read it now (starting at the beginning to get the context of the whole picture) and then if you finish your house in February, you could open the book to March and start working on "March Stuff".

Thanks Riotroom... found a book at the library today from the 70s, but it is suiting my purposes quite well. They talk about choosing certain low-maintenance trees and shrubs, bulbs; and mulching around trees, walkways, etc. to minimize mowing area. They talk about using ground cover plants like English ivy, for example. It has lots of lists of certain species of landscaping plants that are low-maintenance. Just thought I'd post this: http://www.amazon.com/The-low-upkeep-book-lawns-landscape/dp/B0006C0ID6

Edit: If you do decide to do a kill off of grass, I can give you some tips, for that also. I replaced the lawn, on one side of the house, because it was a next to impossible slope to mow for an old fart like me. I didn't want to use herbicide, so I baked the root structure of the grass and weeds, under cardboard and a tarp for one entire summer and winter. The next sping it was all mostly dead. You would be surprised how resilient some weeds and vines are. If you do use herbicide, I would still bake the stuff under a tarp, for a month or two. That is after the herbicide has dissipated. A good book for more info is: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1607743140/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1462883718&sr=8-1&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=lawn+be+gone

Hey ans744, congrats on attempting a rain garden! It is difficult for me to comment on your design specific to planting type and density, without knowing the plan of your rain garden.
Here are some starter questions:
What is your base soil (sandy, silty, clay, sand on top of limestone, etc)?
How deep is your rain garden?
What is the size of your intended rain garden?
How much water is going into it (catchment area)?

These elements all determine what plants go where inside your rain garden.

If you're still looking for resources, I recommend you check out the following if you haven't yet:

• "Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond" Volume 2 (book), by Brad Lancaster. http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/books/orders/ or on Amazon. A comprehensive guide on earthworks design for rainwater harvesting, with very succesful examples from Tucson, AZ.
  
• "Creating Rain Gardens" (book) by Cleo Woelfle Erskine and Apryl Uncapher. https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Rain-Gardens-Capturing-Water-Efficient/dp/1604692405 A step-by-step guide for planning and designing a rain garden. Good for covering all the basics you need.
  
• http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/rainwater-harvesting-inforesources/ Same site as author Brad Lancaster's book. Good info.

Link for the lazy.