Please welcome Jennifer Benner, co-author with Stephanie Cohen of The Nonstop Garden, published by Timber Press. Jennifer has a horticulture degree from The Ohio State University and is a former associate editor at Fine Gardening magazine. She and her husband, Brent, live in northwest Connecticut.
As part of our celebration of RDR’s first guest post, Timber Press is giving away a copy of the The Nonstop Garden. To enter the contest, please leave a comment below. The winner will be selected at random. The Contest ends on Wednesday, May 26th at Midnight CST.
Is it just me, or is it human nature to wait until the last minute to finally begin tackling a project? I like to think I’m not alone. It seems as though I’m constantly attempting to juggle lots of projects at once, letting a few hit the ground while keeping the most urgent ones going. Unfortunately, one of the ones that hit the ground this season is my garden. With a house addition in the works, my enthusiasm has been about as exciting as a deflated balloon. Many of my plantings are in the line of fire, so the weeds are ahead of me by a mile. I reluctantly concluded “What’s the point?,” since an excavator will be digging up the area to eventually make way for the new foundation later this year.
One project I do wish I had started earlier, however, is rescuing the kids. My diminished motivation (and morning sickness) has put me behind the eight ball in my efforts to get my plants to a safe zone. I should have started at least a month ago, but here I am five months pregnant, and finally dusting off my spade. Better late than never I suppose. My plan is to pot up as many kids as I can to maximize space and commandeer part of my kitchen garden to use as a holding area.
As the rescue mission has gotten underway, I can feel the wind once again filling my gardening sails. I’m actually now excited about being forced to start over, fixing all those wrongs that have forever called to me to make them right. I can’t wait to make heads or tails out of the jumble of plants that have been residing in what I have come to call the giveaway bed—filled with all those freebies from GWA conferences and gardening friends. I’m thinking being under a time crunch is now a blessing in disguise. I’m no longer feeling guilty or compelled to make sure every last plant is saved. I’m finding it much easier to let some of the less desirable plants meet their fate with the excavator.
I’m looking forward to this time next year, when I will be hopefully creating new garden rooms, planning fun textural and color combos, and building the foundation for new plantings with year-round interest. As for the rest of this year, I know at least the prized kids will be saved and I still have lots of container and veg garden juggling to look forward to—as my patio and adjacent kitchen garden are going to remain intact for now.
Please enter me into the contest. Thanks!
I would really enjoy this book. sounds very interesting:)
Our landscape needs a total overhaul. This book would be great.
I need a plan! My husband and built this house new and planted things without any real plan or thought to how they’d look together, or how large they’d grow and what they’d smother out. Now we’re paying the price for not doing our gardening homework. I’d love to have a book to help me figure out how to salvage what I have that’ s useful and what I should look at getting new.
P.S. Love the look of the Achillea ‘Apricot Delight’.
Thanks so much!
Thanks for the giveaway…always looking for new ideas to improve our garden !
I am a beginner at gardening. And I really think this book would help me.. Thanks!
my rescue mission is my yard, i have to reclaim it and plant a garden
I’ve always wanted to know how to keep a year round garden for the wife…the book sounds very informative.
Thank you for the Great giveaway please count me in I love to garden 🙂
I love free books considered me entered Thanks, bob
My “rescue mission” is restoring gardens destroyed during the recent storms. Could use all the inspiration I can get & would love to make it a 4 season garden.
We are buying a new house so we can have a yard and a GARDEN! I would love this book to find out how to get the most out of it. Thanks for the chance!
My gardening skills could use some growth, as could my seasonal growing.
Sun, soil and seed into food!
I would love some inspiration for winter and spring plantings.
I love the concept of year round gardening!
Please enter me in the drawing, I would love to become proud of my gardening instead of ashamed of my weeds!
I just started growing a garden a couple years ago. I am digging it. I have bad allergies, but that doesn’t stop me. This sounds like a great book
jason(at)allworldautomotive(dot)com
I live in Houston, where we have a long growing season. I would love to read this book and learn to stretch it out for the entire year. Thanks.
I would love to win this – we only see our garden in the spring & summer – we get snow here in the winter!
One of the wonderful things about gardening is that it is such a forgiving hobby, encouraging us to be open and experiment, and not get too hung up on things being “just so.”
.-= Christine´s last blog ..Broccoli v. Broccoli Raab… =-.
Oh how I would love to have this book…. I’m just getting started on plantings around here. It’s an empty slate and I get to start writing on it! Sometimes I think it’s almost harder to start with an empty slate? So it will be trial and error, but I am attempting to plant native to keep everything as easy and maintenance free as possible. I am NOT going to fight with the Kansas wind and storms that love to damage plants, esp newbie plants! :-0
I’ve heard Guthrie has a lot of cute lil antique shops?? Is that so? I’ve been dying to make a day trip down.
.-= Oz Girl´s last blog ..Springtime Giveaway Winner{s} =-.
Oz Girl, Guthrie does have a lot of shops nearby which are cute and full of antiques. It is also the bed and breakfast capital of Oklahoma.~~Dee
I’ve been behind the eight ball many times. This year the porches are being redone and I’ve had to move plants away from them.
.-= Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening´s last blog ..CCG Is Runner-Up in 2010 Mouse & Trowel Awards =-.
I too have been ignoring the garden. When I first moved here 6 years ago it was all new and exciting, then it became overwhelming and I lost my care and concern. Thanks to a renewed effort by my DH I am once again looking forward to planning and dreaming.
I’m working towards year-round edibles coming into my kitchen from my garden! I’m almost there, and am now working on adding flowers and color! All help and suggestions welcomed and this book sounds like it would certainly help!
I’ve been working toward year around bloom and fragrance for years. Gardening is easier in a hot climate when the weather turns cold.
If I’m the winner, give the book to someone in a cold climate who gardens as they do in Connecticut, with my compliments.
.-= Nell Jean´s last blog ..The Upper Garden: In the Pink =-.
This is the summer to breathe some new life back into my badly neglected Norman OK garden. Since we are gardening under the same weather conditions, you are helping keep me on track.
We live in deep south Texas where you can garden year round. I want to read more about non-stop gardening!
Please enter me. I am an avid gardener and am sure to find a lot of useful information in this lovely book.
.-= Deci Worland´s last blog ..Sassy Apron Giveaway =-.
I would love to have this book – any help on fighting those winter blahs in the garden is welcome! Thanks!
Gardening is so much fun!
With two “new additions” on the way, I think it takes great discipline to be focusing on the garden.
Wow! How beautiful. I’d love my home to look that beautiful.
I would love to be a 4 season gardener – rather than the 4 season weeder that I am!!
I’m working towards a four season garden, so I’d love to hear what the authors have to say. And best wishes to Jennifer on the upcoming additions to both home & family!
.-= Cindy, MCOK´s last blog ..A Reprieve =-.
That Achillea ‘Apricot Delight’ sure is a keeper!
.-= Brandon´s last blog ..Frog population: At least four =-.
I’m doing the same this spring… rescuing plants that will be in the way when they come in June to expand my patio. I love that I’ll have new beds to plant in this fall and spring!
.-= Carol´s last blog ..A New Family In The Garden =-.
Would love to have a 4-season garden. Sounds like a fantastic book!
Pat, according to the random number generator, you’re the winner!!~~Dee
A four season garden is what I try for and have failed so far. I need this book. Good luck with your construction.
That container is gorgeous! I love anything Timber Press publishes – this book looks like another winner.
.-= Liza´s last blog ..[Friday – Ask the Experts] The Best, Smartest, Funniest and Only Plant Blog Panel of Experts on the Web =-.
Spring was delayed this year to a longer winter and now it seems like summer is already here with not much of a spring. I need to learn 4 Seasons gardening.
I have been putting out our plants slowly, because the weather has been so up and down. I hope this is a summer, but with the volcano erruption, we could end up with a really odd summer.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
My dad uses gardening as a therapy to relieve stress, he also volunteers with local high school seniors from the tech school that are taking horticulture classes. I think he would really love this book.
My roommate loves to garden. It’s his life. He can make anything grow…
I hadn’t heard the expression Behind the Eightball before.
When i decide to dig up a bed to clear out ground elder I pot on the plants making sure there are no ground elder roots in there and they wait down in my nursery area for another day.
Many get passed on to friends and today I was able to supply my daughter with about 25 to fill a new bed we created. So it works out well that way and I don’t feel I have to clear a whole bed and replant the same day.
The only reference to The Eightball I have come across is ‘Under the Eightball’ the trailer can be found at http://www.undertheeightball.com/
It is really rather sobering to watch this trailer but then of couse I come as someone who has suffered with Lyme Disease.
.-= Joanne´s last blog ..WONDERFUL WISTERIA =-.
Love to have a four season garden.
We are moving in the next year, so I am TRYING not to acquire any more plants and come the fall, I’ll be potting up our survivors and carrying them to the new house. Strange when you’re forced to do something that it is always easier to do than when you have all the time in the world.
.-= Melissa´s last blog ..Bad, bad blogger (and garden updates) =-.
I also have a “rescue” mission going – but I am working to bring an old garden back to life. I bought a 1930’s cottage, and have been discovering remnants of a beautiful garden under the weeds. Instead of a “giveaway” bed, I am soliciting plants from my gardening friends. I would love to have The Nonstop Garden as a reference to help me make smart choices! I think a four-season garden in Oklahoma would be perfect.
It’s nice that your home expansion project has presented the perfect opportunity for you to fine-tune your garden design. I am always pained by the prospect of eliminating plants, even those that I’m not really fond of, but in this case you can just let the excavators do the dirty deed. 🙂
Four-Season gardens are definitely a possibility in my climate (Mid-Atlantic), though I’ve yet to achieve that. Would be thrilled to win this book!
.-= Crystal´s last blog ..The Big Picture =-.
I’ll check out that book; the idea of a 4 season garden is really appealing since I spend most of the winter in the garden room looking out.
I’ve long been a fan of achillea, that Achillea ‘Apricot Delight’ is beautiful!
.-= nola at alamo north´s last blog ..Menopause, It’s No Big Deal… =-.
Gardening as therapy, motivation, relaxation, teacher. Great story. I feel motivated to start an experimental/nursery bed. I love your notion of a giveaway bed. What doesn’t work for me may be perfect for a gardening friend.
jennifer, Rescue mission is a perfect phrase when talking about my Nashville garden~It’s been a monsoon season and the weeds are now winning. I potted up my plants in a small plastic swimming pool while excavation was going on…It was so easy to care for them. I would love to have a four season garden and will check out your book, gail
.-= Gail´s last blog ..My First Real English Garden =-.