Your Backyard Herb Garden by Miranda Smith (1997, Hardcover)

Who says you can't judge a book by it's cover. I sure did. I bought this book and love it. This book has it all for the Herb lover and is one of my favorites in my home library.
The sections are well thought out, easy to read and have numerous pictures.

In the first chapter: Planning and Preparing your Herb Garden you will learn about: Choosing Your Plants, there is a guide called Herbs at a Glance. An over view of the Herb, life cycle, Hardy to Zone, Light, Soil, and useage of the Herb (4 full pages). Then you move onto Choosing Locations. You learn about Soil Preferences of the Herbs, Light Preferences of the Herbs.

You are given options for Designing Your Garden. There are many layouts to go by or at least give you an idea at a glance. You will learn about tallest to shortest plants, what grows well together meaning color schemes. You are also given ideas on a Formal Garden. There is also ideas on a Kitchen Garden telling you how many herbs you should plant.
Herbs for Fragrance. Most Fragrant Herbs are listed. Then you learn about Color. The best Herbal foliage for most impact.

You will learn about Growing and Caring for your Herbs. Starting off by Breaking Ground, Transplants and Seeds, Herbs to sow where they grow. Caring for your Garden. Propagating Your Herbs, another nice chart to go by. You will learn about taking cuttings or layering and divisions. You will learn how to prepare your Herbs for winter. Speaking of Winter, you will learn how to grow Herbs indoors during the winter.

Pests and Diseases. There is a chart with photos of the various insects that can damage your plants. A nice chart on each insect and how to control them.

Using and storing your Herbs. You will learn how to Harvest Your Herbs, Drying Herbs, Freezing Culinary Herbs, Herbal Seasonings, Dressing up Salads, Brewing Herbal Vinegars, Herb Flavored Oils, Making Tea Herbs, Herbal Jellies and Honeys, Herbal Breads, and you get alot of recipes in this section of the book. Fall and winter is a great time to make items for gift giving.

Herbs for Health and Beauty, Custom Blend Potpourri, Pillows and Sachets, Herb Bouquets, Dried Arrangement, Insect Repellent, also giving great recipes.

Last but not least is the section at the end which is a Herb Directory. This section talks about 51 Herbs everything you need to know on a particular Herb is all here. I would say if you are wanting to buy your first book on Herbs this is the one to buy! It has everything and has the most beautiful photos and illustrations.

You will not be disappointed and I urge you to buy this book for your Library.