The Garden Refresh: How to Give Your Yard Big Impact on a Small Budget

Designer Holmes offers suggestions for sprucing up a garden “guided by ecological responsibility, embracing recycled materials and creative salvaged treasures” in her California-cool debut. Writing that “my love of gardening—and my creativity and resourcefulness—started as a child of hippie parents living in Marin County during the funky 1970s,” she makes a case that a successful garden is one that’s personalized and purposeful. She recommends using what one already has, such as upcycling an old shipping pallet into a coffee table, and suggests that projects such as walkways, walls, and irrigation are worth spending money on. As for greenery, she encourages starting with small plants that can quickly adapt to their new surroundings and practicing “social distancing” in the garden to allow room to grow. Holmes also shares some of her favorite plant “power couple” pairings; makes recommendations for special situations (“Gardening with deer requires flexibility in plant choices, experimentation, and a little luck”); and provides recipes for a pest repellent and natural fertilizer. Her best tips are both practical and creative, such as using a coffee filter to cover a pot’s drainage hole and starting seeds in ice cream cones. Holmes’s easygoing style will get any gardener’s creativity sparking. (Apr.)