What’s the secret? It’s a mix of ingenuity and efficiency, accented with fun! Newspaper, Pennies, Cardboard, and Eggs—For Growing a Better Garden contains more than 400 clever solutions for easing garden troubles, new techniques for turning around an underperforming garden, and innovative ideas that will amaze even long-time gardeners.

If you’re looking to add more nutrients to garden soil, whip up a kitchen scrap smoothie and pour the juiced-up liquid right in the planting hole. If you need to chase away bulb-hungry voles, a little sharp-edged driveway gravel around the bulb will do the trick. And if digging potatoes is too tiresome, discover the no-dig, no-shovel method that lets you grow potatoes in a heap of straw mulch.

You’ll also discover:

• Intriguing and new plant varieties for sweeter corn, delicate salad greens, and handsome winter squash

• How to fill a shady spot with color, find affordable bulbs, rejuvenate peonies and perennials, and enjoy blossoms even when there’s snow

• A creative arsenal for dealing with backyard weeds, including vinegar, hot water, plastic, and flames

• Ways to turn inexpensive items from the garden, closet, and pantry into indispensable yard and garden helpers

ROGER YEPSEN has written and illustrated many books on gardening, home hints, and health, and won an American Horticultural Society Book Award for his work. He is the author of Apples; Berries; and A Celebration of Heirloom Vegetables, three books that reflect his passion for heirloom crops.