How to start a garden: "Beginner's Illustrated Guide to Gardening" can help
Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 11:07AM 
Container gardens should start with potting soil, and not garden soil, for best results, according to the "Beginner's Illustrated Guide to Gardening." An experienced gardener who has done lots of digging and deadheading will know the right tool for the job.
But for the garden novice, it might be difficult to sort out when to use a spade or a shovel, or to understand the various uses for all those snips and shears.
For such challenges, there’s lots of help in the new “Beginner’s Illustrated Guide to Gardening: Techniques to Help You Get Started” (Cool Springs Press, $21.99). Author Katie Elzer-Peters not only shows nearly every implement that can be useful in the garden, she has tips to navigate garden centers, explains how to read seed packets and plant tags, and defines gardening terms.