1 comments about The Story of the Apple.

1. A wonderfully written exploration of the story of the apple. The author traces the tale through the botany, history, geology, art, literature, zoology that influenced this important fruit. Extremely readable, and beautifully illustrated with original artwork and photos, the author guides us through thousands of years of history from Adam and Eve through to Johnny Appleseed. Loved the book. Highly recommend.

1 comments about Gardening in the South: Vegetables & Fruits (Gardening in the South with Don Hastings).

1. This book was all I needed to make my garden grow. It gives a specific advice on gardening in the South as well as a lot of common-sense ideas.

No comments about Complete Guide to Vegetables Fruits & Herbs (Miracle Gro).

5 comments about Forest Gardening: Cultivating an Edible Landscape.

1. Since reading Robert Hart's classic book I have seen forest gardens sustaining life in Mexico, Fiji, Australia, South Africa and Britain. Around the world perennial 'home gardens' have been grown for millennia. Yet in temporate climates we seem to have forgotten how. This book has inspired me to increase the diversity and productivity of my own small garden in England, so far with good results. It is inspirational, but it is also practical. The Appendices offer suggestions for a variety of uses and climates. I would recommend as a companion volume, Patrick Whitefield's 'How to Grow a Forest Garden' for further details of the practicalities. But Hart's desciption of his own forest garden at Wenlock Edge stands alone and is an invaluable guide to practical sustainability.



2. If you have not yet read 'Forest Farming' by Douglas and Hart, then you may lack the background to fully appreciate this book. In 'Forest Farming' we are told that civilized man has marched across the face of the earth and left a desert in his footprints primarily because he has ploughed the hills with the loss of top soil. Crop-yielding trees offer the best medium for extending agriculture to hills, steep places, rocky places, and to the lands where rainfall is deficient. Every good Buddhist plants and sees the establishment of one tree at least every five years and this simple act multiplied six billion times would have a greater economic benefit for humankind than traditional development plans. The 'tool' with the greatest potentials for feeding men and animals, for regenerating the soil, for restoring water-systems, for controlling floods and droughts, for creating more benevolent micro-climates and more comfortable and stimulating living conditions for humanity, is the tree. Douglas and Hart point out that the deeper problem is ignorance as many crop-yielding trees and shrubs are currently ignored by farmers because agriculture in most parts of the world is geared to cereal growing and livestock rearing by conventional means, despite the fact that trees offer higher yields per acre. If the tree growing potentialities of city private gardens was fully recognized, suburban areas would not only have purer air and a more benevolent microclimate but a greater degree of self-sufficiency.

   In this book Hart develops the case for the urban dweller to adopt forest gardening to achieve economy of space and labor while producing fruit, nuts, root and perennial vegetables and herbs. He provides the guidelines required for temperate, tropical and sub-tropical climates. "Like the forest it is arranged in seven 'storeys', with the original apple and pear trees constituting the 'canopy' and the other plants occupying the lower tiers. Thus the garden has a well-defined vertical dimension as well as horizontal ones. Now that it has been established for several years, I can affirm that it requires minimal maintenance, as the plants - nearly all perennials - largely look after themselves and are very healthy. The main work involved is that of cutting back plants that try to encroach on others. The wide diversity of species ensures that any small invasions of pests never reach epidemic proportions, as they tend to do under monocultural conditions. The large number of aromatic herbs creates a deliciously fragrant atmosphere, and, I am convinced, contributes to the pest-and-disease-resistance of the other plants. As we eat the herbs and perennial vegetables daily in our salads, the garden makes a significant contribution to our diet throughout the growing season, from the first herbs and wild garlic in March to the last apples in November."

   The author goes on to warn us that we must seek ordered diversity governed by the laws of plant symbiosis but the results can be that a half hectare can support a family of up to ten people. Java has the greatest concentration of forest gardens yet is one of the most densely populated rural areas of the world. Forest gardening is more than a system for supplying mankind's material needs; it is a way of life which addresses man's spiritual needs by its beauty and the wealth of wildlife it attracts. In the early chapters we follow the author's development as he wrestles with the problem, concluding that: "if one could devise an integrated system of land-use consisting mainly of perennial plants - fruit and nut tress and bushes together with perennial vegetables and herbs - as well as a diet based on this mix, the task of achieving self-sufficiency would be vastly simplified. This is how I discovered agroforestry."

   There are plenty of good tips such as this one on potatoes. "The champion exponent of this technique, the aim of which is to grow a colossal crop of potatoes from a single seed, was a Sussex villager, Tom Cooke, known as the Ace of Spuds. This was his procedure: large seed potatoes, well supplied with eyes, were soaked in a solution of liquid seaweed and water for an hour a week for six months, starting in October. During the winter Tom prepared his plot, allowing eight-foot squares for each seed. The site was excavated one-foot deep and filled with wheat straw, to which dry seaweed fertilizer was added after the straw had weathered and was almost black. On top of this came a layer of manure and soil mixed with more seaweed. The tubers were planted at the end of March or early April and covered with a thin dressing of straw. Then, at fortnightly intervals, the growing plants were earthed up with layers of straw, seaweed and soil until they reached a height of some 3-4 feet, sending out numerous side-shoots liberally supplied with tubers. After a series of foliar feeds with liquid seaweed, the harvest was eventually reached: over half a ton of potatoes from just six seeds!"

   If you are an avid gardener there will surely be something new in this book; if you simply want to make your garden more productive and did not know of the seven story concept, you will find this book helpful; if you have been overwhelmed by the work in the garden you should concentrate on perennials as Hart has done; if you have just a small plot this book will help you get the maximum production and help you to eat healthily; if you would like to attract more wildlife to your garden, read this book. It is difficult to imagine anyone not profiting from Hart's theoretical and practical research.




3. Robert Hart's book on Forest Gardening is very inspiring, but more research is needed to start your garden. The list of suppliers in the Appendix is very helpful for those in North America, and the list of cultivars includes little known but very useful varieties. Overall, the book helps one understand the why of forest gardening but not the how to.



4. Perhaps the major problem I had with this book was my expectation that it might actually have something to do with forest gardening. What a silly thing for me to think - its only the title of the work after all.
   
   This book was, if not entirely worthless, perhaps one of the more repugnant things I have read in a while. It is seldom that I can read a book and be so turned off that I can't get through the whole thing - and with this book, I didn't even get through half. "Forest Gardening," is a book that is much more of an inspirational nature, and doesn't have much to do with forest gardening at all (what I wanted). Instead, it is filled with anequdotes about how "primitive" people lived in harmony with their forests and how all of societies ills can be traced to a non-vegan diet.
   
   In short, I came to this book looking for helpful information about forest gardening, and found instead a 233 pg. book of propaganda full of mistruths and out-right lies about the basic biology of the world.
   
   Most of the misconceptions (If I can call them that) centered around biology itself and how individual organisms interact. The author warps facts, and I think deludes himself and possibly his readers, by explaining how everything that happens in an ecosystem is the will of Gaia, a non-real entity which comprises the "concious earth."
   
   I am a died in the wool environmentalist. I practice permaculture, and I grow a very real forest garden. I also have a degree in biology - and all of these things made me object to the way this author defiled what otherwise would be a worthwhile topic by interjecting this deified view of ecology and making biological similarities (convergent evolution) seem like proof that Gaia was working to shape the earth. In this regard, he was as mistakes as creationists are, just on the other extreme and I found that particularly upsetting coming from a book that I had high hopes of actually learning something from.
   
   My recommendation: leave this one on the shelf. If you find it in a free box somewhere, take it out and throw it away when you get home so it won't confuse anyone else. This book is propaganda and anequdote with almost no useful information and even less inspiration (unless you're willing to palate the boxfulls of propaganda the author tries to get you to swallow). Don't buy it. If you want something useful, try purchasing a book by Bill Mollison on Permaculture instead - that will help you get where you want to go much better than this dubious work and without the pseudo-science and mistruths.



5. I absolutely loved this book. I have studied plants and home gardening for 25 years and felt this was an excellent read for anyone interested in complete self-sufficiency or needing the background and impetus for forest gardening. Sure, the author goes into great detail about other civilations' - past and present - forms of forest gardening, and he also touches on the art of craft, and through his own plight, the unnecessary and quite wasteful use of land for modern and/or animal agriculture. A good starter book for permaculturists, as he cites many other authors and books from which one could learn. The author clearly has spent decades developing and researching forest gardens and appreciating nature (Gaia as he calls it) and a return to harmony within it.
   
   Highly recommended!

No comments about The Edible Rainbow Garden (Edible Garden).

1 comments about Wine Growers Guide.

1. This is an entry level book with lots of practical information. If you are considering starting a vineyard (even a few vines)this book is worth the money. Be sure and read it BEFORE you buy & plant...it may keep you from making rookie mistakes.

1 comments about Handy Pocket Guide to Tropical Fruits (Periplus Nature Guide).

1. Did not cover enough tropical fruits to make this book worthwile. It only covered the most common ones

1 comments about Citrus (Sunset Gardening).

1. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK ON CITRUS. THE ILLUSTRATIONS,PICTURES AND OVERALL PRESENTATION MAKES FOR QUICK AND PLEASANT READING. I HAVE MORE THAN 15 CITRUS VARIETIES IN MY FLORIDA GARDEN AND AM ALWAYS INTERESTED IN INDULGING THEM WITH THE BEST CARE POSSIBLE. THIS BOOK PROVIDES STRAIGHTFORWARD ANSWERS TO DISEASES, FERTILISERS, INSECT CONTROL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO FIND IN SEVERAL OTHER BOOKS I HAVE. THIS BOOK ALSO COVERS ALL THE COMMON CITRUS VARIETIES AVAILABLE. THE FIRST TIME HOME GARDENER INTERESTED IN ORANGES AND OTHER CITRUS WILL FIND ALL THE INFORMATION HE NEEDS TO GET GOING AND KEEP GOING!

No comments about Apples for the Twenty-First Century.

1 comments about The Midwest Fruit and Vegetable Book. Missouri Edition. (Midwest Fruit and Vegetables).

1. I live in Oh and bought the book in OH. I have not figured out how to tell which state the book is for. I can tell you that everything matches with what I know. It is excellent! It includes lots of good practical information. I grow Blueberry, Red and Black Raspberries plus the garden vegtable and fruit plants.