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Back To Basics and How-to Books
A collection of books to help you build structures. Plus other do-it-yourself garden projects.
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The Art And Craft of Stonescaping: Setting & Stacking Stone
A great book for learning to dry stack stone for many projects.
From back cover: The Art and Craft of Stonescaping will walk you through every step of dry-stacking and dry-laying stone: gathering tools and materials, selecting and preparing a site, and making almost any stone project you like.
About the Author David Reed has 15 years of experience practicing all aspects of laid and mortared stonework. He has been active with his own stonework business, Circle of Stone, for the past 10 years, and, for the past 6 years has run workshops on the subject through The Folk Arts Center and North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, North Carolina. He has made appearances on several television programs, including ones for PBS and HGTV.
Building Backyard Structures: Sheds, Barns, Bins, Gazebos & Other Outdoor Construction
I certainly have a few projects from this book that is on my "to-do" list. If you like building your own structures this can be a good source of inspiration.
Book Description: Do you need places to keep the things that make outdoor living so enjoyable? Complete instructions cover the basics of small shed building that are common to all the projects, along with tips on planning, selecting materials, and choosing a style and color that looks good, as well as technical aspects of selecting a site, dealing with grade levels, and water runoff. Construction techniques come with hundreds of photos that show exactly how to lay foundations, set up framing, put on roofing, install siding, and finish doors and windows.
Building Stone Walls
Amazon.com says: Well, here it is: Basic tools, basic techniques, illustrations and photographs, and all the planning and safety instructions you will need to build a variety of stone walls. This is a book that can help you beautify your back yard with the grace and texture of natural stone, or launch you on a career of reconstructing the Inca Empire or building a second Great Wall of China if you get carried away. Up to you...
Building Your Own Greenhouse
The fundamentals of assembling a greenhouse and custom designing it to the gardener's needs, from simple cold frames to large free-standing and attached-to-the-house structures.
The Complete Pebble Mosaic Handbook
Book Description: Extensive guidebook to a popular and rapidly growing craft.
Many of us have walked the squares of Venice, Rome and Madrid and admired the geometric pavements of pebble mosaics. Made from found stones, and as beautiful as they are durable, pebble mosaics are a welcome addition to gardens, patios, and public spaces.
The Complete Pebble Mosaic Handbook is the most complete sourcebook for enthusiasts and landscape designers -- an accessible and illustrated guide that covers materials, design, tools and techniques.
The book lists the best sources to find or buy pebbles; how to choose and test pebbles for strength and quality; and which materials to avoid. There are practical instructions for ensuring the mosaic can withstand frost, foot and vehicle traffic, pollutants, and water.
The book explains in detail the principles of creating walkways and patios, precast slabs, fountains, pools, and cascades. Illustrated sample projects are followed step-by-step. Designing is also fully explained whether using simple sketches or professional graphic design software.
A showcase of pebble mosaic from around the world by leading artists demonstrates the craft's vast creative potential. In addition, a section of design ideas features many popular subjects and patterns including animals, heavenly bodies, spirals, borders, floral, fish, flowers, and many more.
Creative Concrete Ornaments for the Garden : Making Pots, Planters, Birdbaths, Sculpture & More
Book Description Book Description Sherri Hunter, author of the best-selling Creating with Concrete, proves once again that concrete isn't just for sidewalks anymore; it's perfect for the garden too. A selection of 30 beautiful designs suggests the range of this increasingly popular material, and the illustrated instructions make the craft's fundamentals easy to learn. Because the simplest projects come first, beginners can work their way through the book progressively, building on their skills. Novices will have fun making the carved trough, sandcast bowl, and elegant relief panel. More sophisticated projects, including a decorative walkway and polished table, come next, and they'll bring charm to any outdoor space. More adventurous artists can unleash their creativity on a "Garden Guardian" sculpture or water feature. A Selection of the Crafters Choice and Homestyle Book Clubs.
Creative Garden Mosaics
How to make mosaics with mirror shards and broken china, turn the mundane into beautiful mosaics for the garden.
Book Description Garden shrines and pillar planters, tabletops and flowerpots: practically anything can become a beautiful mosaic, and these creations will make any garden magnificent. Go beyond the ordinary with imaginative projects that dispense with traditional techniques in favor of more unusual mosaic applications. Some items take only a half-day to complete, others require some skill and time, but all of them open up a range of possibilities and styles. A section on getting started presents the basics on tools, techniques, and materials (tesserae, glass tile, stained glass, mirror). Make your own gold leaf glass; construct bases for projects; build a wire branch and flower. Then, the fun part: 22 projects, from a Looking Glass Garden Stake to an Onion Dome Birdhouse. Your garden will never look so good.
Drip Irrigation for Every Landscape and All Climates: Helping Your Garden Flourish, While Conserving Water!
Garden Paths: Inspiring Designs and Practical Projects
A practical garden design book for the homeowner. The path is where many designers begin to look for answers to such common questions as: How can I connect our house to our garden? The importance of the path in good garden design is the focus of this book
Garden Patterns & Mosaics
Book Description Pattern and texture is one of the most important design elements in any good landscape. In paved surfaces, on fences and walls, and in garden ornaments and accents, pattern and texture creates visual interest and adds a feeling of depth and dimension in the landscape. Depending on the type of design and the nature of the materials used, a pattern can be soothing and restful, or dramatic and eye-catching.
Garden Stone
Book Description: The Garden Writers Association of America awarded Garden Stone a 2003 Garden Globe Award of Achievement for Writing. The Washington Post wrote, "Garden Stone is one of the best idea books on using stones in the landscape that I have seen." And Country Living Gardener said, "While the book is visually stunning . . . diagrams and step-by-step instructions show how gardeners can make their dreams come true."
Garden Stone capitalizes on a hot trend in landscaping: adding stone to bring texture, color, serenity, and strength to the garden. Author Barbara Pleasant offers gardeners more than 40 enchanting designs--from something as simple as a flagstone path to an elaborate Zen-inspired meditation garden. But this is not just a picture book. Each project is packed with practical, down-to-earth installation advice, including clear line-drawings and instructional diagrams. Furthermore, an up-to-date resource list helps do-it-yourselfers find the tools and materials they need.
Pleasant helps gardeners decide which type of stone is best for which kind of design. Limestone, for example, is ideal for stacking to make rock walls. Sandstone is easy to cut for steps and adds warm shades of red, yellow, or chocolate brown to the landscape. Blocks of granite can be used as sturdy paving stones. And an upright piece of marble or basalt adds a decorative touch to any garden.
Pleasant also shows how to create stone water features, such as fountains and natural-looking ponds and streams. And, making this valuable as a gardening book as well as a stone projects book, she provides hundreds of detailed suggestions for plants whose color, texture, and shape will enhance the stone--whether growing in rock gardens, bordering paths and steps, or meandering along water elements. Both practical and inspirational, Garden Stone shows any gardener how stone can add enduring beauty to any landscape.
In the Company of Stone: The Art of the Stone Wall
Book Description "Finding stone, choosing it, and letting go of it are the three things a waller does. I'd miss any one of them too much if I asked someone else to do them for me. I may work by myself, but I'm not alone. I'm in the company of stone."
Daniel Snow is a waller, an artisan who builds walls, terraces, caverns, and the occasional sphere or pool out of dry stone. It's an ancient skill-building with only what the earth provides. No mortar, no nails, nothing to hold his creations together except gravity, an invisible glue he can sense in the stones' "conversations" of squeaks and rumbles. A hollow sound means a void needs to be filled; a solid fit is secured with the sound of a bolt being thrown. Snow's evocative prose and Peter Mauss's richly textured photographs of Snow's work reveal the nuance and beauty of walling-and of one man's relationship with nature. The result is by turns poetic and practical.
Making Arbors & Trellises: 22 Practical & Decorative Projects for Your Garden
Back Cover Copy: Expand your growing space, make your garden more attractive and interesting, and show off your favorite flowers and vegetables in new ways by building beautiful and practical arbors and trellises. Using either standard-dimension lumber or rustic materials, such as logs, branches, and bamboo, you'll be able to make everything from an Arts and Crafts Arbor to a Handy Folding Screen Trellis. These attractive structures introduce variety to your garden, making room for spectacular flowering vines to thrive along with ground covers and hedges.
Making Concrete Garden Ornaments
Book Description Strong, versatile, and amazingly easy to work with, concrete is the ideal medium for outdoor art and long-lasting garden projects. And it doesn't cost a lot or require special equipment; everything you need is right at the local home improvement center. A celebrated teacher has gathered the tried-and-true techniques used by sculptors and folk artists, and tailored them perfectly for low-tech surroundings and personal expression. Work with molds; form over armatures; model or carve with concrete; take advantage of technical advances to develop lighter, stronger structures; and treat concrete surfaces with mosaics, embedded objects, incising, and coloring. For dazzling outdoor embellishments, craft Garden Critter Stepping Stones, a Birdbath, Little Lady Fountain, and a jazzy border. Every project will open up new creative horizons!
Outdoor Mosaic: Original Weather-Proof Designs to Brighten Any Exterior Space
Book Description: Whether a spacious garden or a tiny rooftop terrace, this dazzling collection of ideas and projects shows you how to bring color and style to any outdoor space. Beautifully illustrated and featuring more than a dozen projects, from wall friezes and garden paths to tables, bird baths, and pool surrounds. 100 color photos & 20 color illustrations.
Outdoor Stonework
Book Description: Stonework gives a yard a sense of permanence and distinction. Authors Alan and Gill Bridgewater show readers how to bring the beauty of stone into their gardens with simple but elegant natural features, unique walls, attractive paving, and much more.
Outdoor Stonework is a complete primer on working with stone, including choosing materials, safety considerations, and cutting and fitting techniques. The 16 original stone projects include flagstone steps, retaining walls, a cantilevered seat-shelf, a garden table, a Zen-type stone garden, and more.
Photographed in its garden setting, each project features step-by-step construction methods. Instructions include supply lists, estimates of time for completion, safety tips, and helpful hints from the experts. The clear construction diagrams, cross-section drawings, and concise text make stonework fun and satisfying for do-it-yourselfers of all levels.
Path and Walkways: Simple Projects
Amazon.com says: In this charming, beautifully photographed book, Hazel White has put together a breathtaking group of recipes for decorative paths and walkways. Each plan is explained first in terms of the image, fantasy, and feel that's being created, and is then followed by a list of "ingredients"--the plants, tools, materials list, and step-by-step instructions. Paths and Walkways is suitable for beginners, but is sure to provide ideas for experienced garden planners as well. Each project can be adapted for very large or small areas, and has information on maintenance of the materials and care of the plants. The different paths and walkways are rated individually by expense, difficulty of implementation, and the type of location required in relation to sun and shade. Even if you can't find exactly the garden passage you're looking for, the elements outlined in Paths and Walkways will allow you to improvise a plan of your own.
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