The beginner's introduction to greenhouses: All About Greenhouses (Ortho's All About Gardening) by Ortho Books

All About Greenhouses (Ortho's All About Gardening)

By

Ortho

Product Description

Using this book to plan your greenhouse
your greenhouse will be a practical structure well suited to your needs if you think the project through before buying anything. Think first about how you intend to use the greenhouse. Making a place to start seeds once a year is a much simpler project than designing a greenhouse for a wide selection of palms.The decisions you make now will guide you in choosing a site, the best kind and style of structure for your needs and budget, and its size, covering, and equipment. Planning begins with a consideration of greenhouse plans and kits, and the construction challenges and operating costs of each type. To proceed confidently, you must weigh the challenges of building it yourself or working with a constructor, and resolve any local tax, permit, and code issues.


Using this book to build and manage the structure
This book begins with an explanation of how a greenhouse works and where to locate one to make the most of your site and conditions. That knowledge will help you decide whether to build from scratch or begin with a kit, and answer questions of style and materials. Use this book to walk through each phase of greenhouse building, from construction basics and equipment options to plans for 10 greenhouses. The plans described in this book require a variety of skill levels and represent a range of costs. Each greenhouse plan offers tried-and-true techniques you can depend on and refer to as you build.

Each major component of a greenhouse-from ground to roof's peak, benches, and glowing areas-recieves detailed attention. A range of equipment is discussed for moderating temperature, managing light, and providing water and fertilizer. This book offers information about manual and automated systems as well as solar options.

You'll use the last two chapters to schedule planting and greenhouse maintenance projects, and learn more about favorite plants. Explore the cultural information to anticipate and solve common problems in both growing and management. Refer to the calendar on page 76 and 77 to know what maintenance tasks to do and how to keep them on schedule for good greenhouse health. Use it to remind yourself of fertilizer regimes and seasonal needs for added lighting or shade, and how to prevent pest problems with timely cultural practices. Details about plant groups will make their care easier, and a year's worth of projects will inspire you to use the greenhouse in every season.

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Review

This book provides an excellent understanding of greenhouses and lots of great ideas and designs for locating and building them on your property. I got the book to build a small greenhouse but it is so much more. This book is a good value.

Reviewed by: Gregg Reynolds

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The Hydroponics Bible: Hydroponic Food Production by Howard M. Resh

Hydroponic Food Production: A Definitive Guidebook for the Advanced Home Gardener and the Commercial Hydroponic Grower, Sixth Edition

By

Howard M. Resh

Product Description

This book is a comprehensive and practical guide to soilless growing. It is known as the Bible of the industry. It is a methods book in that it provides detailed information on how to design, set up and operate hydroponic culture systems. It also describes the most successful cultures to use with specific crops.

Hydroponic Food Production provides an immediatereference for those who are presently growing hydroponically as well as a guidebook to get prospective growers started. The sixth edition contains 450 photographs, drawings and tables. It has directories, addresses, references, bibliography and a complete index.

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Review

This is by far the most definitive work I've read on the subject. A co-worker of mine recommended this as the "Bible" of hydroponics and he was absolutely right.

It looks like a textbook right down to the ugly cyan/green cover, but it doesn't matter how a book looks if it's got it where it counts. Whether you're a hobbyist or a commercial hydroponics grower, this book is something you'll have wished you'd read.

Reviewed by: Spektyr

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About the author

Dr. Howard M. Resh (born January 11, 1941 in Canada) is internationally known as a pioneering hydroponics researcher, author and practitioner.

Educational Background:
Ph.D. Plant Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., 1975.
B.S.Ag. Plant Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., 1968.

Dr. Resh is one of the pioneers of development of large-scale hydroponic commercial greenhouse operations. In the 1970’s hydroponics started to make inroads into the greenhouse industry on a large scale.


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Great choice for Newberry: Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Moon Over Manifest

By

Clare Vanderpool

Product Description

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.

Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler.

These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”

Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history.

And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.

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Review

As Abilene Tucker jumps from a train heading toward Manifest, Kansas in 1936 I felt as if I was heading back in time with her as the book intertwines between 1936 and 1917-1918.

The book is based on historical fiction and reveals stories that take place during World War I and the Depression. Abilene is a 12 year old girl who has been sent to Manifest for the summer to live with a Pastor Shady, who is an old friend of her father.

Abilene finds a cigar box of letters and mementos under a board in her new room. This discovery leads to more questions about the town, the people who live there now and those who pasted through years earlier, and the big question which is "How does my father fit into this town".

As the hot, dry summer days drag on Abilene and two new friends start on a quest to unravel the mysteries of the past as they read the letters found in a cigar box between Ned and Jinx. Their "spy hunt" for the "RATTLER" eventually leads Abilene to Mrs. Sadie's house the "diviner" who begins to recall the past.

While Abilene works her debt off the Mrs. Sadie she listens intently to the stories as she realizes that her tales are related to the cigar box full of letters and mementos. What Abilene uncovers helps to bring the town's bright future back as well as the answers to her questions that she spent her entire summer searching for. Abilene's first person narrative is intertwined with Mrs. Sadie's stories, the letters from Ted to Jinx, and a newspaper column.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading historical fiction from fifth grade on because it recounts actual historical events through a fictional aspect. Everything about this book is realistic from the plot to the characters. A very intriguing book, which I would read again and again.

This is why I give Moon Over Manifest five stars.

Reviewed by: Cilla

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About the author

Clare Vanderpool - Wichita author, lives in College Hill with her husband and four children, won the award for her first book, "Moon Over Manifest.

The Newbery, given by the American Library Association, is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

"There are a lot of good books out there, so for mine to be selected in this way is a great honor," said Vanderpool.


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