The ultimate guide for a first time gardener

Do you remember when you were young how your parents would spend the whole weekend gardening and it never occurred to you to enquire what gardening actually entailed - or, more importantly, how they actually knew how to do it? As a child, didn’t it just seem that with the responsibility of marriage and children one was mysteriously enlightened with the knowledge of how to garden?

Now that adult hood has suddenly crept up on you and you realise that the words mortgage and interest rates are actually part of the English language, it is becoming apparent that the moment of wanting to swap Sunday afternoons in the pub for a trawl through the garden centre isn’t going to happen by itself and that one of the hardships of growing up is understanding that as we stop rolling and gather more moss, so must we water and mow that moss to keep it looking respectable.

Planning and Creating Your first Garden by Paul Power published by How to Books, is the ultimate handbook for all those new gardeners budding with interest - or burdened with duty. Despite being a knowledgeable gardener, Power writes for the layman and answers all those questions we never thought to ask and are now too embarrassed to. For those who don’t want to get their hands dirty, he supplies information about how to source the best gardener; for those who do, the guide offers easy-to-understand instructions based on the courses and workshops he leads and is carries no pictures or photos so as not to set unrealistic expectations.

Power’s passion for the environment influences his writing and encourages a return to a real garden with bird song and insects. The decrease of these over the years affects produce so he advises on methods that are better for fruit and veg and sustainable for wildlife.

Commenting on the book, Paul says, “Often when you buy your first house these days there is a bare garden or plot of land attached. Unless gardening has been a keen hobby most people do not know where to start. They certainly don’t have lots of money to spend on it. So Planning and Creating Your first Garden is for them. No frills, no fancy and expensive tricks - just the basics of how to create and look after your garden.”

Paul Power is the author of the bestselling Starting Your Own Gardening Business. An ex policeman, he is an experienced, practising gardener who hung up his truncheon for a wheelbarrow and spade in 1998, and left the big smoke for Brighton to run his own Do-it-yourself Garden Design Workshops.

Planning and Creating Your First Garden is published in June 2007 by How To Books Ltd howtobooks.co.uk. and is available at £10.99 in major bookshops and online retailers across the country. ISBN 978-184528-187.