If you're in the market for an all-around garden guide to get you primed for the planting season, this beautiful, well-organized book will meet all your needs. The cover's floral effusion will brighten your coffee table, and inside you'll find what you need to get started or to grow in your gardening. A guide should be quick and easy to use, and this one is: bold text is sprinkled throughout the index, helping you find your desired topic, and within the chapters, section headings jump right out.

The best thing about New Complete Guide to Gardening is the inclusion of up-to-date research on gardening techniques, lawn and plant care, and landscape plants. The basics of landscaping, use of plants, and color design lead into a chapter on special gardens, like woodland or wildflower, and yard solutions, such as water conservation, privacy, or turning a hill into a garden. A complete sectional encyclopedia for each plant type features not-too-small color pictures.

The importance of healthy soil and its maintenance is becoming more widely recognized, and this guide will acquaint you with the fundamentals, including the benefits of organic fertilizers and composting. The proper selection, use, and maintenance of gardening tools is often neglected by the beginning gardener, so if you've got sticky pruners or rusty spades, check out the "Tools" chapter.