Beautiful Easy Gardens: A Week-By-Week Guide to Planting, Harvesting, and Enjoying Ten Great Gardens

Considering 10 different types of American gardens, Sombke ( The Environmental Gardener ) tells us how to establish and care for them, using organic methods (``you won't need to use any synthetic chemical pesticides or fertilizers''), following the garden's progress with week-by-week guidance--all this instruction culminating in recipes. The types? A salad garden, meant to sate hungry beginners and vegetarians, among others; an herb garden; a ``classic American'' garden, resembling a ``World War II Victory Garden''; a kind dubbed gourmet culinary for its petit pois and Charentais melons; one grown from heirloom seeds; an edible garden, with nothing purely ornamental in it; a cottage orchard; pan-Asian, which takes in Thai basil and Japanese eggplant; a sunny cutting garden; and a ``shady glen.'' Though some are more exotic than others, all seem within reach, as defined by individual taste, in Sombke's capable hands. He leads us with tirelessly practical instructions--plant the beans, pull the weeds--and doesn't try to entertain with too many asides. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Apr.)