Cottage Gardens by Geoff Hamilton
The cottage-garden style has been part of British gardening for centuries. The first cottage gardeners had little time, space and money, and designed simple and practical settings for their homes which, in time, developed into more elaborate, and sometimes extravagant, gardens. In this book Geoff Hamilton looks to the superb old cottages of the past and adapts the more popular features to modern gardens. In building ... cottage gardens from scratch at his home in Barnsdale, he sets out to simplify the practical problems of creating a natural rustic look and shows how to build new constructions such as arbours and bowers, arches, seats and boundaries to suit readers' budgets. A diverse selection of planting plans emphasizing colour schemes and perfume, with explanations of how to cultivate cottage-style plants, has also been included. Practical advice covers a variety of subjects such as herbaceous plants, roses, perennials and annuals, climbers, bulbs, containers, herbs, vegetables and fruit. (Source: Amazon UK hardcover)
Geoff Hamilton, Britain's best-loved gardener, had a long and distinguished gardening career. As presenter of Gardeners' World for seventeen years, Geoff was renowned for his practical down-to-earth approach.
In Cottage Gardens Geoff creates two new gardens suitable for today's busy lifestyles and limited finances: the low-budget artisan's garden and the more elaborate gentleman's garden.
Starting with two empty plots, every stage is explained from planning and layout to building and planting. Step-by-step instructions are given for building an arbour, love seat, coldframe or arch, while inspirational photographs show how to plant beautiful borders. Also included is an extensive plant section covering all the traditional favourites as well as many improved modern varieties.
Full of fascinating historical snippets as well as all the essential practical advice you'll need, Geoff Hamilton's Cottage Gardens is an informative and entertaining guide to creating the garden of your dreams. (Source: back cover 1997 paperback reprint)
Chapter list : |
Introduction |
History of the cottage garden |
Creating a cottage garden
* The artisan's garden
... building the garden
... working with wood
* The gentleman's garden
... building the garden
* The Plants
... plants for the back of the border
... plants for the middle of the border
... plants for the front of the border
... propogation |
A cottage economy
... vegetables
... herbs
... tree fruit
... soft fruit |
Cottage garden plants through history |
Credits, useful addresses, index |
Larger pictures ...
| Possible opportunities to buy book or obtain reviews ... (Reviews probably only available on UK link!) |
| Amazon US UK Canada paperback books |
| Other versions which may be available ... |
| Amazon US UK Canada Hardback book |
 |
|
Cottage Gardens by Geoff Hamilton (TV gardeners and gardening books)
Front cover 1997 reprint paperback
|
Cottage Gardens by Geoff Hamilton (TV gardeners and gardening books)
Back cover 1997 reprint paperback
|
| Larger pictures ... |
|
paperback |
|
hardcover |
| Gardening books are always available on Ebay UK ...
|
BBC Books |
