Gardening for Geeks (Book Review)

I know that for some people gardening is little more than digging holes and sticking plants in them--and it is surprising how much success you can have doing just that. But to my way of thinking, it's hard to separate gardening from the more complex (and, I think, more interesting) issues that surround and bubble through the garden--issues like pollinators, soil health, pest control, disease prevention, microclimates, and on, and on, and on. I think gardening becomes more fascinating and more successful when you start to embrace those other topics--and that, according to Christy Wilhelmi's way of looking at things, is when you officially become a "garden geek."

Wilhelmi is the founder of Gardenerd.com, where she dispenses all kinds of wisdom on organic gardening in the form of blog posts, podcasts, and monthly newsletters. Now she has put it all together in a new book, Gardening for Geeks, an extremely useful and readable guide to some of the issues you might be ignoring that can really affect the health, beauty and productivity of your garden.

Gardening for Geeks helps you to see your garden more as an ecosystem and work to keep it in balance. It is basic enough to be understandable to newbie gardeners (in fact, I would highly recommend it to new gardeners) but seasoned gardeners will also find new (or old) techniques to try. There is a substantial emphasis on edible gardening but much of the information will apply to ornamental gardening as well.

The only thing I didn't like about this book is the title. Depending on how you interpret the word "geek," it can be a little misleading. I confess I was expecting a much more tech sort of book with a lot of information on gardening apps and gadgets, but people looking for that will be disappointed and people who might be scared off by the tech-y sounding title will be missing out on a really good gardening guide. Fear not. This is a book that any gardener can grasp and utilize. Check it out.

Ed Rosenthal's Protect Your Garden: Eco-friendly Solutions for Healthy Plants (Book Review)

It's nice when things you can really use just show up in your mailbox. That was how I felt when I opened up the review copy of the new book Protect Your Garden by Ed Rosenthal, perhaps the best guide I've come across to identifying and dealing with pests, diseases, nutrient deficiencies, and environmental stresses--in other words, all the nasty things that can happen in your garden.

You may know Rosenthal as the leading expert on the cultivation of marijuana. (Don't worry--I won't judge you.) Having written more than a dozen books on one of the greatest cash crops ever grown, Rosenthal is perhaps used to thinking of  garden protection in more interesting terms, but in this book he chose to focus on protection from the kinds of everyday threats that any gardener can come up against: bugs, vermin, viruses, bacteria and fungi.

Protect Your Garden is loaded with full-color photos so it functions first of all as a terrific aid in identifying the problems you may discover. You'll find information on how common the pest or disease is, what kinds of plants it attacks, what kind of damage it does, and how to control or prevent it.

Following the sections on pests and diseases (which comprise about half the book), there are sections on nutrients and environmental stresses so you can diagnose and treat nutritional deficiencies or problems like salt injury, frost damage, or overwatering.

The last section outlines a wide range of eco-friendly and biological controls, filling in more details about how the controls work, how they should be used, and who makes them commercially available.

Protect Your Garden is the kind of book you never want to need, but you will. Seriously, you will. There are only a few books that I would say this about: It should be on every gardener's shelf.

All the Garden's a Stage: Choosing the Best Performing Plants for a Sustainable Garden (Book Review)

By Jane C. Gates

(Schiffer Publishing, 2012, $29.99)

 

It was a sad moment the day I realized that I didn't have the "eye" to be a great, or even good, garden designer. Although I'm comfortable designing interiors (to suit my tastes, at least), I think garden design is much more challenging than interior design. After all, when you pick out living room furniture, you don't have to worry that the sofa will grow so big that it shades out the coffee table until it withers and dies.

So I long ago set aside any dreams I had about designing gardens. But now Jane C. Gates' new book, All the Garden's a Stage, has come along and rekindled the thought that maybe I can put together a pleasingly designed garden after all--or at least one that pleases me. Using the analogy of staging a theater performance, Gates breaks down all the elements involved in garden design. She begins by covering basic plant needs, so that even beginning gardeners will be comfortable moving on through the rest of the production. In the chapter titled "Bringing the Characters Together," she introduces the concept of plant communities--grouping plants that are well-suited for each other and have similar needs. In "The Show Must Go On" she covers maintenance issues like watering, lighting, and sustainable gardening methods. "Putting Together  the Show" really brings design issues into focus and offers simple design tips that even a non-designer like me can grasp. Gates then wraps it all up by introducing the "cast"--profiles of desirable plants grouped by settings such as "Mountaineers," "Tropical Beauties," "Beach Babes" and more.

Compared to so many garden books that present their topics in more or less the same fashion, All the Garden's a Stage is a fresh, new take on planning a garden. It's basic enough for a beginning gardener, but can also guide a gardener who's experienced with growing plants but needs help in putting together a cohesive garden plan. The tone of the book is light-hearted, right down to the charming illustrations by the author, but the information is solid and usable. I'll be referring to this book again and again as I continue to try get my garden show in shape.

Fairy Gardens: A Guide to Growing an Enchanted Miniature World (Book Review)

By Betty Earl

(B. B. Mackey Books, 2012, $21.95)

What is it about miniatures that so capture our interest and imaginations? Seeing tiny settings and landscapes seems to instantly unlock a door to the childmind within all of us, creating a pathway to the kinds of play and whimsy that are so often lacking in adult life.  I have long had a fascination with elaborate dollhouses and in the past year or so I’ve noticed the emergence of a gardening trend that stirs my heart as a gardener and awakens a memory from my past—fairy gardens.

Betty Earl, author of Fairy Gardens: A Guide to Growing an Enchanted Miniature World has written a charming and detailed guide to the world of fairy gardens. The book manages to provide helpful how-to information about creating these gardens without crushing the magic behind them.

Starting with a discussion of the lore and mythology, Earl provides a glimpse of the fairy world, taking no firm stand on the contradictory views of fairies as benevolent vs. mischievous or even malicious, and then goes on to provide tips for attracting fairies to your garden. From there, she moves on to the details of assembling your fairy garden--choosing a location, selecting a fairy house, gathering accessories, and choosing the best plant material. Options are detailed and the book is heavily illustrated with full-color photos that will inspire and delight.

Earl offers tips for creating fairy gardens with children, but she makes it clear that the gardens are for people of all ages to build, plant and enjoy. She also makes it clear that it’s no matter whether you truly believe in fairies or not. Fairy gardens are meant to be taken at face value and appreciated for their charm and style if not their fairy habitability.

I've loved fairy gardens since I was ten years old, when my family moved to an old house with such a garden in the back yard. In the shade of a tall redwood tree the former owner had built a moss-covered hill about 4 feet high with a fairy castle at the top and a stream that ran down the hill to a fishpond moat below. Sprinklers piped throughout the hill created a light mist around it all, keeping the hill mossy and adding to the ambiance. I'm sure the fairies loved it, and I love remembering it. Betty Earl's book brought it all back to life for me and left me itching to create something similar (although perhaps not as grand) in my own garden. That is the best recommendation I can give.

And the Winner Is...

The winner of The Curious Gardener's Almanac book giveaway is bebemiqui! Congratulations!

A Book Review, a Book Giveaway, and a New Book Blog

The Review
The Curious Gardener's Almanac
by Niall Edworthy

For the bookish gardener with ADD, author Niall Edworthy presents The Curious Gardener's Almanac, which is in itself a curious book. It's a nicely illustrated compendium of garden tips, much of which is useful, some of which is already commonly known, and bits of which are downright odd.

First, the useful stuff: The book is organized with chapters on each season as well as on vegetables, garden wildlife, herbs, flowers, fruit, trees and shrubs, and children (as in gardening with children, not growing children). The tips, which are a combination of conventional wisdom, folk practices, and an occasional recipe, are brief, entertaining, and easy enough to put into action.

There is, however, not much new here. The most useful information seemed to be the kind of thing (like companion planting and container growing) that's already been covered in many other places. The section on garden wildlife was interesting with suggestions for pest repellents (ten ways to prevent or treat aphid damage) as well as ideas for attracting wildlife into your garden (nest boxes: ten do's and don'ts). Edworthy loves lists and peppers the book with such items as six ways to conserve water in your garden, twenty cottage garden flowers, and four spinach alternatives in your garden.

Then there are the odd bits, including the most impractical technique for seed scarification that I've ever heard of--carrying the seeds in your pocket for a few weeks with your change. But beyond that, you'll find out, for example, that Samuel Pepys enjoyed nettle porridge for breakfast, and Babe Ruth used to wear a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep his head cool while he played ball. Well . . . OK.

Edworthy subtitled his book "Centuries of Practical Garden Wisdom" and it is mostly practical and mostly wise. It won't replace any other gardening guides already on your bookshelves, but it can be an amusing and informative look at the world of gardening.

The Giveaway

Now that you've read the review, how would you like to have the book? Just leave a comment to this post (sorry, anonymous comments don't count) and on March 4, I'll pull one commenter's name from a random drawing. Check back here on that date for the winner's name.

The Blog

In what can only be described as a shockingly unusual energy burst, I've started a new blog: So Many Pages. This blog will cover all things related to books--reading them, writing them, collecting them, dusting them (should I ever get around to doing that), you name it. I expect that there will occasionally be some crossover between this blog and the new one as I enjoy reading and writing about gardens as much as I enjoy gardening (sometimes more). So if the weather is still preventing you from getting out into the garden, or if you need to take a break from pulling the first flush of spring weeds, come check out So Many Pages. It may not be as productive as gardening, but it's easier on your back.

Note: This post is being post-dated to 3/4/08 in order to keep it at the top of the blog। It was originally posted on 2/26/08.

This and That

I'm still not really up to speed with the garden, but I've been making some minimal efforts. I did some pruning earlier this week, including cutting back the passion flower vine (remember that vine that I was so concerned wouldn't grow at all back in the spring?). It had grown almost as tall as the house and was blocking most of the laundry room window, which is one of only two windows I have into the back yard. I cut it back to the trellis and I'm certain it will regrow just fine.

I also did a little pruning on the Kangaroo Apple shrub along the back fence. It has ripe berries now, although I haven't tasted them yet. The berries are edible when ripe, but poisonous when unripe--I'm not sure how much of a guinea pig I want to be. After pruning the bush, I decided it was the right place to hang a beautiful gourd birdhouse that I bought at the Museum of the American Indian in New York. The gourd is decorated all around with bees and beehive cells--really skilled handiwork.

I also bought some plants and bulbs at the Fall Plant Sale at the Merritt College Landscape-Horticulture Dept. I got three plants and although they're not exactly the best-looking specimens right now, I think they'll do fine when I finally get them placed. I got a flowering cherry tree (for only $8), a really interesting yellow abutilon with variegated leaves, and a cape gooseberry (its papery husks are shown in the photo at the right). I'm waiting for the flowering cherry to go dormant before I transplant it--it badly needs transplanting as it already has roots growing out of the bottom of the pot. I've tucked the potted abutilon away in the back corner of the yard where it will get partial shade. In the winter, when I can finally move the small lilac I stupidly planted there to a sunnier spot, I'll then plant the abutilon in its place. I had to repot the cape gooseberry right away, though. It was clearly root-bound in its one-gallon pot, so I've put it in a five-gallon pot for the time being. I'm not familiar with these plants and I want to watch its growth habits for a while before I place it somewhere permanent. I also picked up 20 more freesia bulbs and ten King Alfred daffodils. I intend to put a lot more bulbs in than that, but there wasn't much of a bulb selection at this sale.

There's still a lot more I want to get done in the garden before the rains start (probably in early November if we're running true to form), but I seem to be suffering from a combination of distractedness and procrastination. I guess it's time to pull together a to-do list and get to it.

And yet, perhaps to give myself one more reason to procrastinate in the garden, I've ordered a copy of Henry Mitchell's The Essential Earthman, the first pick for the Garden Bloggers' Book Club started by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. I'm sure when the wet weather hits, I'll be very happy to stay inside with a good gardening book.