In celebration of the 1st annual National Gardening Day (April 14), we’ve got some gardening goodies for you.
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Dig In & Grow
In celebration of National Gardening Day, Cool Spring Press and Quarto Publishing Group are sponsoring this giveaway of some favourite new gardening books. It’s all about encouraging you to dig in, grow a garden, and—most importantly—love the goodness nature has to offer. There’s healing and happiness in the soil!
The winner will receive 4 fabulous gardening books covering a range of subjects.
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1 Gardening Complete | Authors of Cool Springs Press
How to Best Grow Vegetables, Flowers, and Other Outdoor Plants
- Katie Elzer-Peters on soil and compost
- Rhonda Fleming Hayes on pollinator gardens
- Charlie Nardozzi on container gardening
- Tara Nolan on raised beds
- Dr. Jacqueline A. Soule on watering, fertilizing, and pruning
- Lynn Steiner on native plants
- Jessica Walliser on weed and pest control
- George Weigel on botany
Gardening Complete is the most up-to-date and complete guide to gardening for homeowners. Inside, eight of North America’s top gardening experts—and Cool Springs Press authors—present 19 subjects of critical interest to anyone who wants to learn or broaden gardening skills.
Whether your main interest is in designing landscapes and gardens, ornamental gardening to make your yard more attractive, or gardening to provide nutritious edibles for the family table, this book will become your definitive source of information.
It is intended for serious beginning to intermediate gardeners, but even veteran gardeners will be intrigued by what these experts have to say about core gardening skills and common horticultural subjects.
More from the Authors:
- Raised Garden Bed Options for Your Growing Space | Tara Nolan
- 48 Plants to Grow for Butterflies | Rhonda Fleming Hayes
2 Straw Bale Solutions | Joel Karsten
Creative Tips for Growing Vegetables in Bales at Home, in Community Gardens, and around the World
In backyards and all across the world, Straw Bale Gardening has spread with unprecedented speed. The reason? In any climate and on any continent, you can grow beautiful, fresh vegetables where no food has grown before.
In Straw Bale Solutions, you will meet dozens of Straw Bale Gardeners who inspire and educate. You will recognize your own gardening challenges and you will see how to use their experiences to write your own SBG success story.
3 Vegetables Love Flowers | Lisa Mason Ziegler
Companion Planting for Beauty and Bounty
Fight garden pests and increase your yields the natural way with this tried and true technique!
Planting vegetables and flowers together is one of the oldest ways to create a healthy, bountiful garden, but there’s more to the method than you might think. Vegetables Love Flowers will walk you through the ins and outs of companion planting, from how it works to which plants go together and how to grow the best garden for your climate.
With the right information and some careful planning, you can help your plants thrive–and beautify your garden in the process.
4 Container Gardening Complete | Jessica Walliser
Creative Projects for Growing Vegetables and Flowers in Small Spaces
Container Gardening Complete has everything you need to know to successfully garden in a small space, including step-by-step directions, photographs, and information on more than 125 plants.
The ideal book for urban gardeners, indoor gardeners, and vegetable gardeners, Container Gardening Complete is a thorough visual guide that will get you growing quickly! Whether you are growing vegetables, fruits, or flowers on an apartment balcony; creating a small vegetable garden for personal use; or decorating steps and walkways, this hard-working book is your go-to resource.
See more from Jessica here:
- Growing Veggies in Containers from Spring to Fall
- Make A Trashcan Pollinator Garden | Container Gardening Complete
Sweepstakes Rules
- No purchase necessary.
- Must be 21 years of age or older to enter.
- Open to residents of Canada (excluding Quebec) and the continental United States.
- Entries must be received by April 28, 2018 at 11:59 pm EST.
- One entry per person and/or IP address.
- Prize includes 4 books from The Quarto Publishing Group USA with an approximate total retail value of $85US.
- Titles are subject to availability and may vary from those shown.
- The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
- Winner will be selected randomly from eligible entries and listed on this post after closing. Winner will have seven days to claim their prize.
- Canadian giveaway winners are required to answer a skill-testing question.
- If potential prize winner forfeits or does not claim the prize, prize will be re-awarded, at Empress of Dirt’s sole discretion.
- All prizes will be awarded.
- Void where prohibited by law.
By entering this giveaway, you agree to the terms and confirm you meet the entry requirements.
TO ENTER
1 Read the sweepstakes rules and ensure you meet the requirements.
2 Leave a reply (below) with your US STATE or Canadian PROVINCE and tell us something you want to do with your garden this year.
If this is your first time commenting on this site, your comment will be held for moderation and then published.
~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛
From Fabulous Fairbanks Alaska,
I hope to have drip irrigation added to my Green House this year!
Hello from Montana. I would love to make some raised beds in my veggie garden this year.
Im planting brand new hosta garden on N side of garage. There is a huge hosta farm not far from us in Valparaiso, IN, US…it’s called Fox Hosta Garden locales in Lowell, Indiana. I love this place, you can stroll thru the garden, make note of hosta ID and then the planters dig them up for you!
Planning a modified huglekulture garden and maybe some hay bale gardening so the book by Joel Karsten would come in really handy. So – – the perennial question – has anyone come up with a surefire way that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to keep deer out of the garden? Oops – forgot to say that I’m from Central Texas. Soil is mostly caliche with a few fingerlings of blackland prairie soil so building up the soil or using raised beds or pots is often the best way to go – easier on the knees and back too.
Hi Neighbour! I live in London,ON, and moved to anew house last summer. The backyard previously held a trampoline and playset, set on layers of mulch and sand on top of tarp, and not much else, so I get to pretty much start from scratch. I’m looking forward to creating a (mainly shade) perennial garden with a cottage feel, so I’m looking for inspiration. So exciting now that spring is finally showing its sunny face!
I want to grow acorn squash this year.
I grew it once and it was fun. I want to let it grow up a fence.
start it.
I plan to plant flowers and vegetables where usually weeds grow at the back of my garden.
I just moved to the beautiful Shenandoah valley of Virginia, USA, a few months ago. My big project this winter and spring has been to design my new 24′ x 32′ vegetable garden. I am keeping it local so I purchased soil and compost from a local farmer and my raised beds were built by local guys using native lumber from a lumber yard nearby. I am growing my seedlings in my greenhouse and in the house under lights, and my seeds come from all organic sources, including a seed company here in Virginia. My fencing will be solar-powered electric, as I am out in the countryside and have a lot of 4-footed neighbors! It will truly be a celebration this year when I harvest my first salad!
B.C. Canada
I plan to grow many more vegetables in containers this year. The past few years I have been focused on landscaping with an emphasis on pollinator friendly plants. But this year it is going to be all about veggies, using large containers with the hope of building raised beds in the future.
This summer i would like to create a rustic arch entrance to my garden.
Texas: I want to work on having a garden that blooms all spring and summer
My husband had a stroke a few years ago and I had to neglect my gardens for awhile. Now that I’m retired, I plan on bringing back a front yard hosta garden as well as refurbishing my veggie patch 👍🏻
I’m from central MA…I have not been able to garden for the last 3 years due to major life changes and moving a couple of times. However, my husband and I are purchasing our first house and I can’t wait to start gardening again. I day dream about it often and might start breaking ground before unpacking moving boxes haha! I really enjoy your blog, thank you.
I live in North Central PA – last fall I planted garlic for the first time and this spring I want to try some cold plantings like peas and such – I am also looking at various covers for my container gardens as my chickens are mostly free range and really like climbing into my containers…probably wont aid the peas in growing 🙂
I want to build a bean trellis and expand the size of my garden as well as start a raised bed and container gardening since I am getting older…I also want to introduce my toddler grand daughter to gardening (flower & veggie) and I am NW central Ohio
Buffalo NY Plant some everblooming roses on hedge row
Ontario Canada
I am looking for more shade perennials as the trees are shading most of my yard. I am also going to make more annual planters again. At one time I did 27 planters for my yard.
I saw the Ruth Stout video over 15 years ago en route to the Cincinatti Garden show and wanted to try it. The people who organized never remembered whose it was on and periodically I d google questions I thought would lead me to her name..today it serendipitously led me to you☺ Danville IL…now that I found her I m going to do a Ruth Stout garden
Colorado – I am new to planting a garden. I don’t have a lot of space so I’m trying to figure a way to maximize all the space I can.
Hoping to expand and improve my drought tolerant gardens in the California foothills.
Wisconsin. This year, I hope to make my garden soil better with lots of compost. It’s still a little wintry here, but can’t wait to start planting.
I’m in Wisconsin and we are getting snow this weekend. Hopefully the last one! I want to start succession planting in my vegetable garden.
NW Ohio
I just got a trellis built for the hardy kiwi plants i got last year, and now I’m going to get some heirloom grapes! Also thinking of putting up a screened pipeway/walkway around the top edge of the carport so my kitty boy can keep me company in the garden!
from Ontario
I hope to create a water feature to enhance our garden this year. although today being April 1th and we have more snow coming down than we’ve seen most of late winter…I wonder if we will ever see true Spring.
My flower garden has filled in over the last 18 yrs. and needs a serious thinning! I’m also planning on putting in a pathway to my Greenhouse/shed.
I moved this fall to a rural area in Pennsylvania and hope to get outside to clean and refresh the existing flower beds. Hope to add some native perennials to the beds. I would like to have a larger vegetable garden but am not sure how it will go with all the critters in the area.
I moved to a rural Pennsylvania address this fall so am anxious to get out into the existing flower beds and start a larger, fenced in garden area. I hope to include native perennials and my basic garden items. not sure how much trouble it will be this year with the critters but happy to get moving.
I live in Isle of Palms, South Carolina in a new house to us. I want to my the yard be an a colorful haven for the faries and angels to gather. Thank you!
I live in Maine, and my garden is still covered with snow This year I’m going to try to come up with a new solution to keep the deer out of my garden. They even ate my sunflowers last year.
This year’s garden will get a woven wooden wall to protect it from the fierce hot winds we get here in Arizona. Last year I replanted twice and ended up with very little to show for my efforts. My front garden is partially shaded large pots, which I fill with flowers and herbs. Growing my own herbs to use in cooking is one of my favorite projects. I rotate the crops every couple of years to ensure a lovely variety. Some I plant simply for the pleasure of their scent!
I live in Nebraska ( with is having a snow storm on National Gardening Day) I want to go more vertical in my garden this year.
I live in lower Michigan. Hope to have more veggies and flowers. I always have problems with weeds. I till and pull and till and pull. I do love my garden.
I want to take some gardening risks this year. It isn’t easy to garden in southern Florida, but I love plants and growing things of all kinds and hope to have some successes. I know that in gardening, you can’t be afraid to fail, and I know some of my attempts at growing will likely fail this year. However, I intend to press forward and try, learning new things all the way through the process. This year I set out on a Gardening Adventure.
This year I would like to increase the produce in my raised beds
I live in the Piedmont section of North Carolina. This year I would like to add some height to my beds by growing vines on trellis, etc
I live in Kansas! What great books!
I live here in Florida, Weeki Wachee, Home of the Mermaid. And I started a garden in hopes of involving my family, showing my children that fruits & veggies dont come from a store. And how hard work pays off. But been a rough one, bad storm, then rabbits ate thier favorite but I still have some sprots going, gardening is a wonderful experience for all.
This year I want to use up what I have and not buy much. I have a tendency to get too excited and take on too many projects…and sometimes get overwhelmed. This year I want to use what I have and use THAT as a start for my projects. I want to re-use the straw bail we bought for drainage to make a veggie garden, I want to really make the best use of my worm dirt, I want to share seeds with neighbors. This year I am going to take all of those pots and containers and really use them to plant succulents for decoration and to pass on to friends. I am going to fix that tomato cages rather than buy a new ones. It will take less time to fix them than to go buy new ones and figure out how to fit these into a trash can…I’m going to use up the paint I have in the garage to make things pretty. I am excited to use up what I have and tidy things up and see what I can do with what I have. Oops, I forgot to say that I live on the Central Coast of California, USA. Gardening is my escape from the State of the Union. 🙂
I am in BC, Canada. I plan to try to grow tomatoes this year.
I live in Arkansas and I want to try growing more plants vertically. Bending over hurts my back and legs so I slso want raised beds. I plan to plant cucumbers along a wire fence. I read an article that shows different vertical planting ideas using pallets, clay pots and pvc pipe.
I live in California and I want to grow more flowers this year. Last year was a lean year for wildflowers in garden so I want to make up for that. I also want to continue growing waterlilies and bog plants.
This year, I intend on attracting more bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to my garden! I can’t wait things growing in my containers! *to see things growing, I meant. 🙂 in my Oregon garden…
This year, I’m exploring ways of improving and expanding our little garden area here in NC. My ultimate goal is to create a mid-size cottage garden complete with small shed. Right now, we’re trying an area of raised beds of veggies/fruits/flowers, it’s all a big experiment….but that’s what I love about it!
I live in GA. I want to be able to have a better garden this year than last years. We’ve had a slow start with the weather but we are well on our way. 🙂
Here in my part of Ontario, Canada it seems gardenings season will not arrive. I’ve got my seeds ready and will be trying different varieties of beans this year.
I have been living in a condominium complex and recently retired. I have always enjoyed doing yard work and growing what I can in my surrounding areas. I also do alot of container gradening with the space i have. In last couple years have started helping my neighbors do the same. Now we have several people really getting involved with beautifying their space. We all share ideas and magazines regarding flowers, landscaping ect.I think it’s awesome what they can do.its very therapeutic and make new friends. Thsnks for all the ideas you provided.
This is my year of the weird! I’m going to grow brussells sprouts worthy of a martian landscape, tomatillos for their chinese lantern quality & every crazy chili shape in the world!
We moved to Michigan last Fall and are renting a house while we hunt for a house to purchase. It is interesting to see what is coming up around the house. I am going to do basic yard work on the house but grow a lot of things in pots on the deck so they can move with us when we find a house.
I want to get my perennial yard back up and ‘growing’. After over 25 years of working on/in my yard, in somewhat remote Alaska, I had a house fire and then got divorced. I just haven’t had the motivation to start anew since it really was destroyed during the rebuild. The sun has been out these past few weeks and I’m ready to get herb and veggie seeds started as well as designing perennial beds and surrounding landscape. Thanks, Sharon
~Indian, Alaska 99540 ..I wonder if you are including Alaska. ??
Plant abundantly and mix herbs and flowers among the veggie patch. I also want to create signs of favorite quotes and scriptures to place in unexpected places in the gardens. A good reminder for me while I tend it.
I want a vine yard. There are so many lovely flowering vines. I want my garden wall covered with a wide array flowering at different times.
Hi – We have recently moved to Langley, British Columbia and this will be my first year gardening in our new home. Hubby has built some raised beds for me and our organic soil will be delivered next week. Planning on doing year round veggie gardening in the raised beds. Can’t wait to get started.
Despite the rock hard clay soil in my part of Ontario, I am planning to dig a new garden patch for vegetables or herbs and maybe build a new path along the side of my house.
After being sick for nearly a decade I have been healing myself through my diet. I eat only organic now. I am so excited to have my own organic garden this year so I can easily stay on this healing path. I’m in California and this Spring weather is calling me to dirty my hands!
Hello Empress,
I am in Portland, Oregon! This year I’m building an arbor to train my hop plants (heirloom, organic and we make beer with them) over to another section of my garden, creating a sheltered, shady garden for lettuce, cilantro and other cool weather crops that usually don’t survive past the end of June!
The current arbor will now support roses!
I live in Arkansas & I’m looking forward to gardening with my first grandchild this year.
My desire is to make a raised cutting flower bed here in Kernersville, NC, USA
This year, I want to grow the veggies we love that we cannot get from our CSA. This past winter I prepped two no-till beds and will plant them for the first time this month. Very excited!
Hello from California! My plans this year are too expand my small container garden. I am adding more vegetables and adding edible flowers!
US: Oregon, We just moved into our house last year. This year the garden is the main focus, lots of new plants and companion planting with flowers. Have started a lot of seeds on top of heating pad and things are coming up within 5 days, YAY! Mulch is going down between the raised beds and almost done. Garden art getting done while it is raining. May is just around the corner, can’t wait!!
I have a few garden projects for this year, if it ever stops snowing that is. I plan to finish building the hugelculture bed I started last year. I am also planting a wildflower garden on the border with a neighbor. We have already ordered and received our veggie seeds. We will be receiving two honey berry bushes by the end of the month.
Hi there!
I’m an a zone 2a garden north east of Grande Prairie in Alberta. I’m hoping to establish more perennials this year, along with a new apple tree and the usual annual veggies as well.
Love your articles!
So much to do! More perennials by digging and dividing, starting a worm compost, and educating myself more about taking care of my plants….I learn so much more every year!
Hello! Lots of plans for my garden this year! I’m installing new raised beds, expanding my teeny, tiny CSA, adding lots and lots of plants including at least 10 new rose bushes, and creating a new outdoor space. Love my garden!!! Ohio in the USA
Indiana!! I want to do more container gardening. I also want to grow more bee friendly flowers and a few veggies. I love to grow Herbs and Succulents as well.
New Jersey – I surrender to the bunnies and deer, so this year I will be starting a new raised garden in a newly fenced section of the yard. It will be 1/4 garden and 3/4 doggy playground.
New gardener in southern ARKANSAS has tried my hand at both vegetables and flowers with moderate success. Love digging in the dirt and ready to learn much, much more. So glad I stumbled onto your website! And I can’t wait to try my hand at some of the garden art ideas… I think my granddaughter and I will love these projects when she is spending her summer with me!
Pennsylvania, USA!I would love to build a pollinator garden this year in addition to my veggie garden, not only to help my veggies grow but to help boost the bee population!
I want to grow herbs to use fresh all summer and refresh my dried herbs for use this coming winter
Georgia! This is my first time trying the Hugelkultur gardening method so I hope I have success. I also want to attract beneficial insects and figure out a way to keep my compost pile in a little more attractive way.
Georgia, and have vegetables and flowers. Love native plants and ones for butterflies and birds.
I want to make my garden more user friendly–as I have a ruptured disk and difficulty bending/squatting….but still love to smell the dirt in the early spring–and want to get in there and start planting. We have had to downsize due to health problems, but I still want to plant and enjoy fresh veggies. I do a lot of canning also. I love to try new varieties of tomatoes–but our favorite is the German Lunchbox we purchase seeds from RareSeeds. I would love to work with nursing homes and assisted living homes to help with raised beds so those aging can still enjoy the pleasure of planting and gardening on their level. Tennessee
Washington State. Working on growing more plants from seed saving. Also hoping to have a natural area for attracting more pollinators.
Live in South Dakota. Planning on extending an existing brick path so that it goes up to the back step.
Growing more sunflowers so we have seeds for the birds!
Gardening in Arkansas is always a challenge. Want to add more raised beds this year, have 6 but would like more!
Returning an abandoned garden to its former glory!
Idaho. Added three more garden boxes. Now up to 8!
Missouri weather always has me second guessing myself. Last year we planted in late March with some good success. This year is questionable. Being on a newly acquired (small) farmstead I am ready to get more than a vegetable garden going. I think I will focus on my herb garden this spring.
I now live in Alabama. I’m not too familiar with growing both a vegetable or flower garden in this state or area where I live. I totally appreciate all the tips and information shared on your site and also am willing to accept all other suggestions offered to me concerning gardening and type of products needed for all projects involved in this area to make my projects to look as beautiful as all those shared on your site. Thank you for all you offer and will continue to stay with you to find more information that will help me create the vegetable and flower gardens I will be proud of.
I would like to plant a butterfly garden this year.
Thanks for a chance to win these great looking books.
Central Indiana offers many opportunities for me to apply my Father’s hand me down garden skills. I love working along side of Mother Nature & within the soil in my vegetable/flower garden.
I love in Florida.
I would like to learn how to garden using bales of straw. I tried potatoes one time and was very unsuccessful. So disappointed. I am handicapped so do my gardening in containers on my deck or porch.
Thanks for the chance to win these GREAT books.
New York, USA. I want to build raised gardens in my vegetable garden, and bring in artistry into it also- going to bring in an old rusty chair and put plantar inside it, plan on experimenting with an old tree stump- hollow out the top and plant some herbs inside it! I also can’t wait to seed some zinnia seeds that my friend shared with me in my flower gardens too!
I have a low lying area in my yard and am considering straw bales for this area. It holds water a long time making it difficult to grow anything there after the spring rains in my Michigan zone 5 garden. Will be looking for more articles on this subject. Love your site Melissa!
We moved to Downeast Maine a year and a half ago and into our new home this past September. We will be building the flower beds and vegetable garden from the ground up (no pun intended) so we need all the help we can get. Having relocated from the Gulf Coast of Texas to the Bold Coast of Maine is a complete change in environment for us! We sure would make good use of those books!
Missouri is a tough state to garden in so I use mostly plants native to m area. I will continue to increase the number of pollinator host plants in my garden. The other dream is to find tomato supports that REALLY work.
We are in the process of finding a new home. One of the ‘must have’ for buying is a big garden space. We have grown many veggies, herbs, and flowers, in our past gardens. We miss it!
We will be planting a few fruit trees in our next place.
Thanks for the chance to win!
I’m wanting to add more plants to my shade garden,and building bird houses. Hope to repair garden path this year. I’m in Murfreesboro,Tennessee
Here in Texas along the Gulf Coast, We garden with gusto! I’d love to add these books to my family’s gardening “library”.
Donna Dean
I want to do a lot with my flower garden this year, like separate
I got perrwnilas and adding some annuals for constant color.
Hello from Pennsylvania, USA! This growing season, I want have continuous blooming,so I will be adding more annuals to fill in around my perennials.