Low-maintenance garden

As with every DK title I've ever seen, this one is lusciously photographed and informative. Part of the publisher's "Simple Steps to Success" series, it has chapters covering designing and creating your gardening space as well as planting basics, including identifying and improving your soil. Planting combinations (akin to those suggested by our very own gardening dude, Tom Fischer), watering, and organic and nonorganic fertilizers are also among the topics, along with guidelines for identifying and providing the basics for dozens of easy plants both familiar (e.g., hostas, rhododendron) and unusual (say, the stinking iris). Novice geekdudes-the same ones who might not understand that plants drink but who totally understand how to solder together an Ethernet-ready Twitter gizmo that tells you when to water the plant-will appreciate that the projects are achievable. Experienced gardeners might pick up a thing or two from the photos. A total steal at $10; take a peep at Robert Dolezal's worthy read-alike Care-Free Plants: 200 Beautiful, Low-Maintenance Plants Anyone Can Grow (Reader's Digest, ISBN 978-0-7621-0799-5).-Douglas Lord, Connecticut State Lib., Middletown (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.