"This book takes the basic skills that every gardener should know and goes through them simply and clearly (hopefully, even humorously). It covers the main steps of each skill and the classics mistakes many of us have made mastering them. After all, I and a host of other gardeners have already discovered the wrong ways to use the backbone skills of gardening. I want to spare you some of the agony I've been through, to help you feel a little less foolish and garden a good bit more successfully"--Cover description from author.