The creative gardener

Gardens are set up as spaces for personalization in this clever offering from Frost, host of BBC's Gardeners' World. He lays out how to find inspiration and emphasizes the importance of customizing a garden, then offers up 30 projects for sprucing up an outside space, which require a "basic toolset" consisting of standard gardening goods, plus some woodworking tools and landscaping equipment such as a drill, level, and carpenter's square. Readers will learn how to make their own "woodland container" for flowers and a "green roof log store," as well as a birdbath, a sparrow terrace, and a cute toad house. Furniture projects are the "best opportunity" for individualizing a garden, he posits, and those on offer here include a coffee-table planter and a simple log seat. (For the latter, Frost reminds chainsaw handlers to make sure "you can get to the nearest hospital quickly.") Along the way, he makes a solid case that gardening is important "not only because it's good for the environment and boosts biodiversity, but also because it helps us slow down, be present in the moment, and appreciate the natural world." Gardeners ready to move beyond plants should check this out. (May)