A guide to the plants offered in the major plant societies' seed exchanges based on the lists from the seed exchanges of the American Rock Garden Society, the Alpine Garden Society (England), and the Scottish Rock Garden Club.

The life of a garden begins and ends with a seed. Explanations of virtually everything that happens in between - including germination, indoor and outdoor cultivation, and seed collection for all types of plants - can be found in Seeds: The Definitive Guide to Growing, History, and Lore. Author Peter Loewer leads the reader on a seed odyssey that spans from the early genetic experiments of Mendel to the growth of large seed companies, as well as tales of intrepid seed collectors who go to extraordinary lengths to procure rare seed specimens. Practical advice is not overlooked as different methods are outlined for starting all types of seeds at home. Detailed instructions are provided for cold frames, sterilizing dirt, seed storage, indoor to outdoor transplanting, and germinating seeds in a range of mediums. Unlike any other book on the subject, Seeds artfully blends a wide scope of hands-on gardening techniques with scientific information and folklore. The result is a comprehensive tome on the subject of seeds replete with listings of seed nurseries, seed exchanges, and even poetry related to seeds.

Set includes revised editions of some issues.

Dealing with information is one of the vital skills in the 21st century. It takes a fair degree of information savvy to create, represent and supply information as well as to search for and retrieve relevant knowledge. How does information (documents, pieces of knowledge) have to be organized in order to be retrievable? What role does metadata play? What are search engines on the Web, or in corporate intranets, and how do they work? How must one deal with natural language processing and tools of knowledge organization, such as thesauri, classification systems, and ontologies? How useful is social tagging? How valuable are intellectually created abstracts and automatically prepared extracts? Which empirical methods allow for user research and which for the evaluation of information systems? This Handbook is a basic work of information science, providing a comprehensive overview of the current state of information retrieval and knowledge representation. It addresses readers from all professions and scientific disciplines, but particularly scholars, practitioners and students of Information Science, Library Science, Computer Science, Information Management, and Knowledge Management. This Handbook is a suitable reference work for Public and Academic Libraries.

Create a thriving garden or allotment that works in harmony with nature and will flourish in the face of ever-changing environmental conditions. In The Resilient Garden and Allotment Handbook, expert organic gardener Sally Morgan shares a wide range of ecological concepts from permaculture, regenerative gardening, agroecology and more to boost your garden’s biodiversity and enrich your soil. This must-have guide will help you: Build your soil so it’s full of healthy organic matter and protect it through no-dig practices, composting, cover crops and mulching Increase resilience through productive plant combinations and polyculture Create wildlife-friendly habitats utilising walls and fences, log piles, water features and wild corners Choose the right plants to attract pollinators and plant defenders Combat disease and keep pests at bay using natural predators, companion planting and trap and barrier crops PLUS The importance of collecting genetically diverse seeds from plants that have adapted to local conditions Sustainably manage water in your garden, especially in times of drought or excessive rainfall Whether you’re a passionate gardener, allotment holder or grower, The Resilient Garden and Allotment Handbook will help you future-proof your garden by giving it everything it needs to adapt and succeed, whatever the climate challenge. (Previously published as The Healthy Vegetable Garden, now updated and revised) 'A must-read for anyone who wants to know how to grow their own zero-food miles, pesticide-free veg, while treading gently upon our planet.' Dave Goulson, author of The Garden Jungle and Silent Earth 'This book could not be better timed, and given Sally’s lifetime experience of organic gardening, it’s bound to inspire all those who want to ‘grow back better’.' Helen Browning, Chief Executive, Soil Association