Garden Alchemy: 80 Recipes and Concoctions for Organic Fertilizers, Plant Elixirs, Potting Mixes, Pest Deterrents, and More

by Stephanie Rose

Overview

Garden Alchemy is a hands-on guide for do-it-yourself gardeners who want to turn their garden into gold using natural recipes and herbal concoctions (while saving both time and money!).

This gardening recipe and project book is packed with over 80 ideas to naturally beautify your garden, using organic methods that regenerate your soil and revitalize your plants. By following the processes that are closest to nature, it brings the gardener in sync with the garden, allowing plants to thrive with less effort and less cost.

Recipes for mixing your own potting soils and homemadeorganic fertilizers give you the freedom to choose what ingredients make their way into your garden. Step-by-step instructions for building a compost pile, concocting soil tests, and constructing inexpensive DIY seed-starting equipment are accompanied by gorgeous, full-color, step-by-step photography. You'll also find recipes for natural pest deterrents and traps, garden teas, and growth-boosting foliar sprays to help your garden grow strong all season long.

Garden Alchemy starts with home experiments to help you get to know your soil and customize recipes for your individual needs. The rest of the chapters share how to decipher and combine natural ingredients to make the best quality amendments and elixirs. Detailed descriptions of earth-based materials demystify common ingredients, such as mycorrhizae, biochar, and greensand, and help you learn how to fix common garden problems with minimal effort. The simple method of making use of what you have available supports plants better than brand-name products.

Dozens of recipes and projects include:

• Homemade seed bombs, disks, and tapes
• Granular and liquid natural fertilizer recipes 
• DIY rooting hormone
• Herbal anti-fungal spray
• Plant propagation instructions
• Soil care recipes to adjust the pH and manage fertility
• 13 specialty potting mixes
• 7 clever traps for common garden pests

Written by Stephanie Rose, the creative gardener, permaculturist, and herbalist behind the popular website Garden Therapy, this fun and beautifully illustrated book is packed with great ideas and inspiration for DIY gardeners who want to embrace their creativity and have more control of the garden's care.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780760367100
Publisher:	Cool Springs Press
Publication date:	02/18/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Stephanie Rose is an award-winning author, freelance writer, instructor, and international speaker who aims to encourage better living through plants. Her books include Garden Alchemy and The Regenerative Garden. As a long-time student and teacher of organic gardening, permaculture design, herbalism, and natural skin care formulation, she enjoys inspiring others to learn how to grow and use plants, with a focus on regenerative practices that are green, healthy, and natural. She is a member of Garden Communicators International, the Permaculture Institute of North America, the International Herb Association, and volunteers to develop children’s gardens as a Vancouver Master Gardener. She shares stories, recipes, and projects on her inspiring website, GardenTherapy.ca.

Stephanie Rose is an award-winning author, freelance writer, instructor, and international speaker who aims to encourage better living through plants. Her books include Garden Alchemy and The Regenerative Garden. As a long-time student and teacher of organic gardening, permaculture design, herbalism, and natural skin care formulation, she enjoys inspiring others to learn how to grow and use plants, with a focus on regenerative practices that are green, healthy, and natural. She is a member of Garden Communicators International, the Permaculture Institute of North America, the International Herb Association, and volunteers to develop children's gardens as a Vancouver Master Gardener. She shares stories, recipes, and projects on her inspiring website, GardenTherapy.ca.

Table of Contents

Introduction 8

What Is Garden Alchemy? 11

Chapter 1 Soils and Mulches 13

Make homemade soil tests, potting soil recipes, and mulches

Chapter 2 Propagation 31

Create your own seed bombs, planting pots, seed tapes, and rooting hormone

Chapter 3 Compost 55

Adjust soil pH, add organic matter, make compost booster, and more ways to improve your soil

Chapter 4 Fertilizers and Garden Teas 77

Boost plant health with recipes for customized fertilizer blends and growth-enhancing sprays

Chapter 5 Birds, Bees, and Bugs 101

Recipes and tips for encouraging beneficial wildlife, plus DIY pest traps, baits, and deterrents

Resources 123

Acknowledgments 124

About the Author 125

Index 126

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/17/2020

Gardener Rose (Home Apothecary) offers up a fruitful assemblage of botanical knowledge, DIY project plans, herbal recipes, and tips for making one’s garden grow. Adopting an attitude that plants are the best teachers any gardener can have, Rose encourages readers to undertake their own course of observation, investigation, and experimentation to better understand their garden’s natural processes and what growing methods will work best in it. Rose introduces soil identification, propagation techniques, composting, fertilizers, and various garden friends and pests, using photos and well-organized charts to complement her concise explanations. Rose includes recipes for various soil mixes, birdseed, and garden “teas”—liquid fertilizers. Her pest repellents, tests for soil composition and pH levels, and other creations rely mostly on inexpensive household products. In the name of making plant propagation fun and easy, Rose provides creative ideas for seed-starting pots and seed bombs. Bursting with down-to-earth advice and imaginative concoctions, Rose’s comprehensive yet compact book will profit beginning and advanced gardeners alike. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Packed with an abundance of fun ideas, simple recipes, and easy DIY’s, Garden Alchemy shows you how to grow a great garden from the ground up. From nourishing the soil with organic amendments to crafting custom fertilizers, foliar sprays, and teas, Stephanie’s recipes are inspired by the bounty of natural ingredients provided by Mother Nature. There are also plenty of fun projects for all levels of gardeners with ideas for crafting handy items like seed tapes and seed bombs to creating habitats for bees and butterflies. This book is ideal for food and flower gardeners, or anyone who wants to grow a greener garden.”—Niki Jabbour, Niki Jabour - 2019 American Horticultural Society Award–winning author and longtime radio host of T

“In her new colorful book, Stephanie Rose nails the simplicity and magic of soil science—making it easy for gardeners to use what’s on hand—from common plants to other biomass to grow in ideal conditions.  Readers will now have the wisdom they need to create healthy and fertile soil for their gardens!”—Jessi Bloom, best-selling author, CPH, ECP, ISA arborist, and owner of NW Bloom Ecological Services

“Garden Alchemy is full of crafty, thrifty, and fun DIY projects that will keep your garden thumb green all year long. I especially appreciate her nod to organics and sustainability throughout the book. Buy this book and get growing!”—Mark Highland, President, Organic Mechanics Soil Company, and author of Practical Organic Gardening

“Stephanie has nailed it with her recipes for growing a healthier garden. The steps for making teas to compost to pest controls are perfect for both the beginner and seasoned gardeners. I can’t wait to cook some up to use on my flower farm!”—Lisa Mason Ziegler, commercial farmer at The Gardeners Workshop, and renowned author, instructor, an

“As someone who's made a career out of growing in small urban spaces, Stephanie’s Garden Alchemy is a treasure trove of creative, DIY recipes to grow healthier, stronger plants, beautify your garden, and cultivate more biodiversity in your yard.”—Kevin Espiritu, founder of Epic Gardening and author of Field Guide to Urban Gardening

“This book needs to be on every gardener’s shelf! In it Stephanie Rose shares recipes for natural soil amendments and fertilizers that will help transform backyards into thriving oases. Using readily available materials—often those that would end up in the landfill—to improve our gardens allows us to close the loop and eliminate the packaging waste that comes with retail solutions. Her recipes for nontoxic solutions to common garden problems take it a step further by replacing harsh pesticides with eco-friendly, healthier alternatives.”
 —Kris Bordessa, author of Attainable Sustainable: The Lost Art of Self-Reliant Living (National Geogr

"Whether an avid gardener or a novice planting your first garden, Garden Alchemy is the definitive guidebook to have on hand.  A virtual ‘cook book’ for the garden, it contains countless recipes, projects, and practical advice for how to create the healthiest plants possible using all natural solutions. A fairly accomplished gardener myself, I was delightfully surprised at how much I learned from Stephanie Rose’s guide to gardening.  Her book includes instructions for creating your own ‘do it yourself’ soil testing kit, self watering containers, butterfly ‘puddlers’ and bee baths, seed bombs, as well as a variety of recipes and concoctions for a wide range of potting mixes, pest deterrents, organic fertilizers, plant elixirs and even lush green ‘garden smoothies’ to fortify your plants.   Along with the wealth of practical advice she shares, the authors loving homage to nature is woven throughout this gorgeous do it yourself gardening guide ~ listen deeply to the plants and learn all you can from observing Mother Nature."
 —Rosemary Gladstar - herbalist, author and gardener

"Rose’s comprehensive yet compact book will profit beginning and advanced gardeners alike."—Publishers Weekly

"As someone who's made a career out of growing in small urban spaces, Stephanie’s Garden Alchemy is a treasure trove of creative, DIY recipes to grow healthier, stronger plants, beautify your garden, and cultivate more biodiversity in your yard.”⠀- Kevin Espiritu, gardener, author of Field Guide to Urban Gardening—Kevin Espiritu, Epic Gardening

"Stephanie empowers the reader to experiment with ways to fix common garden problems with minimal effort — and showing how there are so many things the home gardener can do before deciding to buy a "problem-solving" product at the store."—Frau Zinnie

"Equipped with a copy of Rose’s new book, gardeners will feel confident that they’re ready to tackle any problems that come up. Soil or fertilizer recipes needed? Check. Pest control problem? Double check. Propagation or composting question? She’s got you covered."—Shannon Cowan, EarthEasy.com

"Rose’s rich guide, a mix of recipes and inviting do-it-yourself projects, kept my attention throughout its 128 pages...a thoughtful and informative guide."—Sally Peterson, OregonLive.com

"...chock full of useful and magical recipes and elixirs sure to elevate your garden and garden experience...a delightful and enlightening read."—Julie Bawden Davis, JulieBawdenDavis.com

"...this book is amazing... I see this being a book I am likely going to be referencing a lot in the future for my own garden!"—Budget Earth

"Every page is chock full of tips and tricks for how to create happier growth in your garden and how to use every part of that garden to create new and exciting things."—City Book Review

"...a compact, easy-to-follow, and visually attractive collection of recipes for do-it-yourself garden rejuvenation."—Washington Gardener

"I think this book deserves a spot on the bookshelf, or better yet, in the potting shed, where the recipes will soon be as dog-eared and annotated as any of your favorite cookbooks."—Gardener's Path

From the Publisher