The Climate Change Garden

Rebel Gardening

Volatile weather patterns and changing climate conditions are proving challenging for landscapers and gardeners across the globe. Certain pests are staying active until much later in the season, plants bloom earlier, soils are eroding and degrading at a rapid pace, unpredictable rainfall is water-logging our gardens, and fiercer storms are uprooting trees and snapping branches.

Not to mention the effects of prolonged drought in many parts of the world and the water rationing that comes with it. What's a gardener to do?

Answer - take time out to read The Climate Change Garden by Sally Morgan and Kim Stoddart. It is a well informed guide to adapting a garden space to create a resilient, climate-wise garden.

The Climate Change Garden is the first book to reveal which types of gardens are better suited to deal with climate extremes and which techniques, practices, and equipment can be put to good use in our gardens to help temper the issues. The book teaches how to adapt plant selections, planting practices, and garden maintenance techniques for the new future from finding ways to select plant varieties that can adapt to climate change to finding ways to manage excess storm water runoff and minimize the heat island effect to fostering wildlife by creating a safe haven for these creatures.

• The Climate Change Garden by Sally Morgan & Kim Stoddart | Published by Cool Springs Press | £18.99

Rebel Gardening is a beginner’s guide to creating an organic urban kitchen garden. Written by Alessandro Vitale this inspiring book teaches that you don’t need a huge garden to reconnect with nature.

Understand how microorganisms do all the work of feeding plants and keeping pests and diseases at bay and learn how to create compost in an odourless composting system that can be kept inside.

Brought up in Italy Vitale took inspiration from his grandpa who taught him the values of natural foods and gardening without the use of chemicals. And now he is passing on his passion – championing the cause of no dig gardening and permaculture and coaxing his readers to grow and eat seasonally, challenging them to embrace their small spaces to grow fruit and veg.

Vitale also introduces the concept of Jadam Organic Farming. Invented by Youngsang Cho from Korea, its main objective is to share a low-cost method of farming while also creating an environment where farmers, consumers and nature are in harmony.

• Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale | Published by Watkins Publishing | £18.99