We are more than halfway through November on Down the Garden Path, and this month we're speaking with gardening authors. In this episode, we head to our bookshelves to take a closer look at The New Gardener's Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Grow a Beautiful and Bountiful Garden by author Daryl Beyers.

Daryl Beyers is the gardening program coordinator at the New York Botanical Garden. He was a staff writer, photographer, and editor for Fine Gardening and a contributing garden editor for Martha Stewart Living.

The New Gardener's Handbook is a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of gardening, based on the introductory gardening class that Beyers teaches at New York Botanical Gardens. Readers will learn about soil, plant selection, propagation, planting and mulching, watering and feeding, pruning, and weeds, pests, and diseases. The information applies to both ornamental and edible plants. Additionally, the book features inspiring photography and helpful illustrations. The New Gardener's Handbook gives home gardeners a foundation upon which they can grow, and encourages them to apply the lessons they've learned in an intuitive, natural way.

This week: Author Daryl Beyers discusses his book The New Gardener's Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Grow a Beautiful and Bountiful Garden.

Daryl answers a few of our questions:

• What inspired you to write The New Gardener's Handbook?
• What advice in 'The New Gardener's Handbook' do you feel most new gardeners, and maybe even some old veterans, need to hear?
• Tell us a bit more about your work at New York Botanical Gardens.
• Describe the types of topics you tackle in your "weekly garden chat."

Find Daryl online at www.thenewgardenershandbook.com and on Instagram @newgardenershandbook.

Join us in the coming weeks:

• November 30th: Solar Power with Ray Jarvis of Solar Direct Canada
• December 7th: Lessons from 2020: A Look Back
• January 25th: Welcome back! A look towards a new year.

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade.

And Matthew Dressing is a horticulturist and landscape designer. He owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, Joanne and Matthew do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics. Their goal is to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.