The money-saving garden year A month-by-month guide to a great garden that costs less

This helpful manual from Lautenbach (The Money-Saving Gardener) details how to grow flowers and other flora year-round. Listing which plants bloom each month, she notes that crocuses and snowdrops flower in February and that hydrangeas and helenium blossom in August. She discusses when to sow seeds, recommending readers plant bishop's flower and cupid's dart in March, and rockcress and Canterbury bells in June. Money-saving tips show how to make biodegradable seed pots from cardboard or large leaves and how to keep harmful aphid populations in check by attracting birds with berry-producing shrubs. To reduce the number of seeds one needs to buy, Lautenbach provides detailed guidance on numerous propagation techniques. For instance, she discusses how to take softwood cuttings by lopping off a non-flowering shoot, removing lower leaves to reduce the shoot's water needs, and placing it in a pot with moist soil. Lautenbach also provides instructions for how to propagate roses from a bouquet; find seedlings in the wild for replanting; and create a hanging basket featuring thyme, oregano, and other herbs. There's not much guidance on how to sow seeds or care for plants, but the extensive background on propagating cuttings makes up for that oversight. Gardeners will take to this. (Dec.)

Self-taught gardener Lautenbach (The Money-Saving Gardener), with 35 years of gardening experience, shares her ideas on growing an ecofriendly garden. Arranged by month, beginning in January, her book covers what's in bloom, mentions mindful moments and wildlife one might experience, lists what to grow and propagate, and offers maintenance tips. There are also money-saving ideas and favorite cultivars. A small sampling of the detailed instructions includes sowing perennials from seed, taking softwood cuttings, dividing bulbs, and growing amaryllises. The book also includes projects such as a hanging basket containing mixed herbs. Lautenbach concludes with an extensive plant propagation guide in table format, arranged by scientific name, including the best ways to propagate each plant and the time to do so, referring readers to a page where the method is explained in detail. The book is illustrated with lovely color photos, but it doesn't list USDA hardiness zones, and recommendations are tied to the author's Buckinghamshire, UK, garden climate, so readers elsewhere will have to determine that information for themselves. VERDICT The sound, money-saving ideas boil down to planting seeds, whether collected or purchased, dividing plants, and making cuttings using numerous methods.--Sue O'Brien