How Does Your Garden Grow?

Your garden will grow with the help of this book--quickly, successfully and enriched with humor as Jones ( Under City Streets: A History of Subterranean New York ) persuades even ``brown thumbs'' and first-time gardeners to take the plunge. A professional gardener, she leads the reader through the maze of gardening terms and tasks that veterans take for granted; makes mention of landscape design and garden history; and gets down to basics. After discussing soils, tools, and composting and siting a garden, Jones moves on to evaluating plants for purchase and planting them (making note of plants in pots, packs or balled and burlapped; flowers, trees, vegetables from plants and seeds). She takes the uncertainty out of watering by suggesting specific amounts of water to apply at planting time. Mulching, weeding, maintenance and propagation each receive a chapter, as do good and bad garden ``pests.'' Jones's love of nature, whether she's pulling up weeds or picking bouquets, is evident throughout. But a chapter recommending further reading is less useful than it should be--far too many informative books are omitted. Illustrations. (Mar.)