The Living Jigsaw by Val Bourne

The Living Jigsaw by Val Bourne

The Living Jigsaw is a masterclass in natural gardening. By using tried-and-tested techniques you will be well on the way to developing a healthy garden ecology. This book not only champions natural gardening, but explains why it works and in doing so provides a compelling reason to make your garden chemical-free.

So often, wildlife gardening is seen as something ‘other’ to gardening, to be tolerated rather than desired, something messy rather than pretty, that involves compromise or turning a blind eyeNot so here. This is an all-round book that brings wildlife into gardening and sees wildlife as a key part of the garden. From descriptions of the first Narcissus as the year starts, to tips on how to avoid box blight, the author takes us on a journey through her Cotswold garden at Spring Cottage. Along the journey she introduces the wildlife living there and explains how it fits into the garden’s ecosystem. The book is the perfect mix of blooms and butterflies, hostas and hedgehogs. It includes plant lists for filling gaps and extending the season, to luring butterflies and feeding bees. The author describes her ‘Damascene moment’ when, in the late 1990s, she realised why her former garden thrived without chemicals: it was simply itswildlife. The moment influenced the theme of her book The Natural Gardener (2004) in which she describes the insects, birds and other species that worked as part of the ecosystem to keep the garden healthy. An almost-tragic sequel, The Living Jigsaw describes the staggering decline of the very wildlife helping her gardens work. It need not be tragic. We can all take elements from this book and use them in our own gardens. We can plant for bees and butterflies, tolerate aphids and the wasps that eat them, encourage beetles to eat our slugs. We can have beautiful gardens, for where there is wildlife, there is beauty. -- Kate Bradbury * The Garden | *

Val Bourne is a celebrated garden writer, photographer and lecturer. She has won multiple awards including Journalist of the Year by the Garden Media Guild. She gardens on the wind-swept Cotswolds at Spring Cottage - high above Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire. Val is a hands on gardener and a committed plantaholic. She manages her third of an acre garden without using chemicals - something she has always believed in. Marianne Majerus is renowned for her inspirational garden images and has been awarded the titles International Garden Photographer of the Year and Photographer of the Year by the Garden Media Guild. Her work is regularly published in books and magazines around the world.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781842466261
ISBN 10	1842466267
Title	The Living Jigsaw
Author	Val Bourne
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Royal Botanic Gardens
Year published	2017-03-07
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.