Sustainable Landscaping For Dummies

Sustainable Landscaping For Dummies

Author: Visit Amazon's Owen E. Dell Page | Language: English | ISBN: 047041149X | Format: PDF

Sustainable Landscaping For Dummies Description

From the Back Cover

Create a beautiful, sustainable landscape that's easy on your pocketbook

Want to go green outside your home? This practical, hands-on guide shows you how to design, create, and live with sustainable lawn and garden spaces. You'll see how to eliminate the use of chemicals, reduce energy use, and conserve natural resources, all while you craft an attractive and functional outdoor environment that increases the value and improves the appearance of your home.

Get sustainable savvy — understand what it means, why it matters, and what materials and resources to use
Work with water — evaluate and maintain irrigation systems, explore water harvesting, and manage watering for maximum conservation
Make the most of hardscaping — from patios and walls to fences, steps, and lighting systems, construct and maintain sustainable elements
Add the true green stuff — select, establish, and care for gorgeous climate-appropriate plants that need few resources

Open the book and find:

The essentials of sustainable garden care
Ways to minimize your lawn's impact and keep it healthy
A step-by-step tutorial on designing a great landscape plan
How to grade, plant, and irrigate the sustainable way
Tips for fitting food into your landscape
Cheap (or free) planet-friendly projects
Nonsustainable gardening mistakes to avoid
When and why to call in the pros

About the Author

Owen E. Dell is the owner of County Landscape and Design in Santa Barbara, California. He has nearly 40 years of experience designing and building beautiful, sustainable, and soul-satisfying residential and commercial landscapes.

Product Details
Table of Contents
Reviews

Paperback: 388 pages
Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (February 9, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 047041149X
ISBN-13: 978-0470411490
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Introduction.

Part I: Sustainable Landscaping: The Basics.

Chapter 1: Landscaping the Sustainable Way.

Chapter 2: Making Good Decisions about What to Include in Your Landscape.

Chapter 3: Deciding Whether to Do It Yourself or Call in the Pros.

Part II: Good Design: The Key to Sustainable Landscaping.

Chapter 4: Getting Better Acquainted with Your Property.

Chapter 5: Brushing Up on Design Basics.

Chapter 6: Plotting Your Sustainable Landscape.

Part III: Water, Water, Everywhere: Water-Conserving Irrigation and Drainage.

Chapter 7: Surveying Your Watering Options.

Chapter 8: The Nuts and Bolts of Water Harvesting, Irrigation, and Drainage.

Chapter 9: Managing Water: The Other Half of the Irrigation Equation.

Chapter 10: Maintaining Water-Harvesting and Irrigation Systems.

Part IV: Hardscaping Made Easy: Creating Awesome Features without Wrecking the Environment.

Chapter 11: Preparing Your Site.

Chapter 12: Exploring Basic Hardscape Elements and Outdoor Rooms.

Chapter 13: Spicing Up Your Hardscape with Other Fun and Functional Elements.

Chapter 14: Sustainable Hardscape Construction.

Chapter 15: Hardscape Maintenance.

Part V: Great Greenery for a Green Garden.

Chapter 16: Planting the Seed: Sustainable Plant Basics.

Chapter 17: Introducing Benefi cial Trees and Shrubs to Your Landscape.

Chapter 18: Enhancing Your Landscape’s Sustainability with Smaller Plants.

Chapter 19: Exploring Lower Impact Lawns and Sustainable Lawn Alternatives.

Chapter 20: Examining the Essentials of Sustainable Garden Care.

Chapter 21: Pest and Disease Control the Sustainable Way.

Chapter 22: Opting for Organic Lawn Care.

Part VI: The Par t of Tens.

Chapter 23: Ten Projects That Pay You and the Environment Back Big Time.

Chapter 24: Ten Totally Nonsustainable Landscaping Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.

Appendix: Planning for Special Situations.

Index.

I completely understand why the subject of sustainable landscaping isn't splashed over the media. Unlike Madonna's marital status or how much Paris Hilton's new dog cost, it's not something the general populace craves. No one is braving water cannons to protest people who wash down driveways. And who's losing sleep over the out-of-control non-native plants that gradually displacing native vegetation in the wild?

Well, if there's one person who ignites people's passions about sustainable landscaping, it's Owen Dell. [Required Disclosure - Owen and I are buddies and co-hosts of a sustainable landscaping TV show. We've also spent countless Wednesday nights in our "Billy and Owen Take Over The World" sessions, plotting how to proselytize the masses and convince them to come into the light of sustainable landscaping. So, I might be a bit prejudiced in this review. But he's a mensch and really does deserve the mounds of praise I'm about to bury him in.]

I think Owen's book is very important. It needs to be read, embraced and acted upon by many, many people. Is there any better way to reach the knowledge-hungry masses than with one of those books with the black and yellow cover, and the iconic image of a strange guy with a buzz cut and triangular head? I'm talking about "Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies."

What I've always liked about Dummies books is that they're written by and for really smart people (or those who are about to be much smarter for having read the book). Their authors anticipate what a reader needs to know and gives it to them in a delightful package with all the fat trimmed off. That's just what Owen did in this book.

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