Mediterranean Gardening: A Practical Handbook

This book should be of interest to those gardening, or contemplating gardening, in a Mediterranean country. It provides a source of quick solutions to almost any horticultural problem. Gardeners familiar with gardening in cooler climates, but unfamiliar with the possibilities and problems of more congenial ones, will find it useful. Yve Menzies, who has herself gardened in several areas of the Mediterranean, describes variations in climate and the character of different kinds of soil found. She explains the particular problems of making a garden from scratch. Individual chapters are devoted to particular garden features or types of gardens – kitchen gardens, rockeries, water gardens, lawns and so on. A whole chapter is devoted to the subject of plants that withstand prolonged periods of drought. Detailed advice (with local names in the major languages) is given on weedkillers, pests and diseases. The final section of the book is an extensive and detailed plant list, illustrated with drawings specially commissioned for the book from Maggie Redfern. It gives details of hardiness, soil requirements and methods of cultivation, and pays particular attention to those tender plants which most gardeners from cooler climates have no experience of growing.