You Grow Girlâ„¢

What Grows Here? Favorite Plants for Better Yards
by Jim Hole
©2005 Lone Pine Publishing

I think back in time, three or four years, to my first garden. I didn't even buy the plants or put them in the ground. My roommate did. But then she forgot about them. I didn't…I watered them regularly and discovered how rewarding it is to help a plant grow.

Then I discovered You Grow Girl, and became a little more daring, acquiring some perennials from friends and family and placing them in my little rented yard, which was mostly shade. Let's just say I learned from my newbie mistakes (the hard way).

Last year I had a better understanding of what my plants needed, and moved most of them around to better positions in the garden. I'd peer cautiously into the beds, dismayed at finding the slugs had had their way with my petunias, the raccoons with my tomatoes, the squirrels with my cukes.

This year I moved to a brand new yard that was a blank slate. I hauled almost all of my babies out of their old yard to the new one. But this time, I was armed with a lot more confidence and know-how as a gardener, and I could give them the conditions they'd need to succeed. Instead of stepping out into the yard, my hand over my eyes, peering through my fingers, I now boldly strut out there and inspect every plant regularly for pests and problems.

If I'd taken the time to do some research before I planted my first cell pack of annuals, Jim Hole's book, "What Grows Here? Favorite Plants for Better Yards" would have been a really good place to start. It's unpretentious, practical and easy to read. It is divided into categories of common gardening problems, including Big Trees, Tight Budget and the all-time gardener's favorite, Pests & Diseases. It serves as a reference guide, or can be read cover to cover. What is so user-friendly about this book is that it is written as a series of frequently-asked gardening questions, the perfect format for the gardener who likes to participate in a forum community. The answer comes in a list of plants that will grow in a number of unique situations.

Jim's philosophy seems to be based on preventative medicine. He believes that a gardener should acquire plants according to each garden's unique environment, rather than battling the season out trying to make plants "work" where they just aren't meant to. Live in a new home, with no pre-existing landscape? Try Himalayan Fleece Flower, a "long-blooming evergreen groundcover". Having problems with the rabbit population in your neighbourhood? Try growing plants that the rabbits seem to leave alone, like astilbe. Need to hide your neighbour's ugly fence? Try growing castor beans in front of it.

As a gardener who is moving out of the realm of beginner gardening into more advanced garden dilemmas, practical advice given like this makes me wish I'd had this book awhile ago! - amy holtby