5 comments about The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Without Chemicals.

1. Have referred to this book numerous times for specific problems that I've have in my garden and find it to be very helpful. It covers many plants and every pest and disease that you can imagine. It has separate sections on plants and pest/diseases.



2. Living in the tropics, I have had frequent failures starting up my organic garden due to pests taking it over. This year I have used some tips and "natural pesticide" recipies from this book with great success. It has also helped me identify "good" versus "bad" insects so I can better assess what treatment, if any, to use. I strongly recommend this book to anyone trying to start an organic vegetable garden!



3. I wish I had this book before I ever started a garden. You can look up info by plant or by insect. It will tell you how to grow a certain plant, what kind of soil you need. It tells you about any problems you may have and how to deal with them. It tells you how to water each type of plant and what insects you should attract for a plant type. All and all an excellent book.



4. The book was very good from a technical standpoint but more than I wanted or needed. I was looking more for the home remedies to my garden problems. Things that I would normally have in the kitchen, such as soap, garlic, pepper, etc. It did have some of those remedies but there were many more technically more complex and commercially available fixes to my garden problems. I could have gotten this information from reading the backs of compound containers at the the garden supply store.
   A good and well researched book but not what I was looking because the title led me to believe it was solutions without chemicals and most of the solutions are what I consider to be chemical.



5. As a Master Gardener, I get a lot of questions about insects and plant diseases in the home/backyard setting. Unfortunately, bugs have always been my weakest knowledge area, so it used to take me forever to figure out just who the culprit was and the damage it could inflict. This book has been invaluable in providing excellent pictures so that I can quickly identify the critter in question, and understandable text to know what, if anything, to do next. I highly recommend this book for novices as well as accomplished bug people.

5 comments about Western Garden Book (Sunset Western Garden Book).

1. This book has been a mainstay of gardening information for many years. There have been positive changes/updates through the years and it is a great reference.



2. My latest obsessive interest is gardening, specifically vegetable & fruit gardening. So I've been in info-gathering mode: going to the library to scope out books, obsessively cross-referencing blurbs about the same plant across 5-10 books at a time, being some of the things I've done. So I'm drowning in a sea of gardening books as I write this.
   
   This is a book that I would not buy for substantive gardening because it does not measure up to what else is available. Many of the blurbs are less substantive than a seed envelope. I looked at it because of Amazon's high ratings, but here's why I think this book is an unwise investment for that purpose:
   
   1) It's hard to read. For most of the plants listed, the header is accompanied by a single tiny (~1inch size) representative pastel-colored illustration followed by 1-10 short paragraphs of generic text. I'm only in my 20s and I feel like I have to crack out reading glasses.
   
   2) The meat of the book is like a dictionary, alphabetically listed by scientific name or common name. To find something, you have to thumb through pages of tiny print with nothing to grab your attention. It's boring, having neither anecdotes (if you like those) nor the utility of bullets. Too bad Sunset magazine didn't include some of their big, eye-popping, full-page colorful photo spreads.
   
   3) And like a dictionary, the blurbs are short and generic. For all the bountiful garden greens available in California & along the west coast, there is a 7 paragraph generic description of "lettuce". The strains are mentioned not to describe their look or taste, but to just list their names so they've been covered. Some of the fruits and trees are accompanined by tables, so their descriptions are better.
   
   4) This book tries to have the scope of American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening while being the local expert, but falls very very short because it is not detailed enough and also passes the buck. True, there's a huge list of plants, but it's more like a cheap catalog with generic, cursory tips and zero visual stimulation. The worst is the passing of the responsibility. For example: (a small blurb on tomato problems) "If certain diseases or nematodes cause trouble locally, you may be able to grow varieties that resist one or more problems. Keys to resistance you may see on plant labels or in catalog descriptions..." Thanks. My all-in-one West Coast compendium tells me to look for local info in other resources.
   
   5) With such generic, short descriptions, you'd think there'd be plenty of space on the page. But the margins are about 1/2 inch, so if you plan on jotting down notes, crack out your reading glasses.
   
   6) There's almost zero visualization because not only are there so few pictures, a lot of times the strains are not even described, merely mentioned by name only. There is a short chapter in the beginning with 1-2inch color photos, but it is organized by scientific name. It wasn't useful because I didn't know the scientific names of strains I was trying to learn about. The seed catalogs that I've gotten from online companies do a much better job.
   
   7) Because I was impressed by how bad I thought this book was (given it's high ratings), I checked the library for older editions to see how it had "improved" over time. Unfortunately, they only had the 7th ed and it was same as the 8th, minus different cover art.
   
   
   For better, encyclopedia-like gardening books that have gorgeous color photos and insightful, detailed writing, try:
   American Horticultural Society A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants and The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers (American Horticultural Society Practical Guides) and American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening
   -- has it all including photos and sequential drawings when plants need specific instructions. Fat, heavy books (You may pull a muscle, but together, these are the books that comprise a full reference.)
   
   New Illustrated Guide to Gardening
   -- succeeds where Western Garden fails; big coffee-table photos with substantive, practical writing; not as heavy cause it doesn't list everything like the book above, but it comes close
   
   The Random House Book of Vegetables (Random House Garden)
   -- I put this one in because in an ideal world, I want to see pictures of the varieties alongside good text in an all-inclusive gardening compendium. If anyone knows of any current book like this, please let me know! Thanks!



3. As Master Gardeners my wife and I are often asked questions, and while we have a lot of gardening books, this is the book that most often answers our questions.



4. A good reference book to replace my 40th Anniversary edition (1998) hoping to get more information on draught tolerant landscape (not much more than the 40th edition). What's missing though is the Index with scientific and common names. My 1998 edition had a 12 page index the new one has 3 pages. All in all, I like the old one better.



5. The Western Garden Book Western Garden Book (Sunset Western Garden Book)is THE standard reference work for gardening from California to the Pacific Northwest, the desert Southwest up to western Montana. Includes descriptions and scientific names for plants that will grow in various climate zones. Plant descriptions include growing conditions, when to prune, and dealing responsibly with diseases and insect pests. It has been produced for over 40 years with many editions. Used editions are still good. Get a new one every ten years or so if you are a serious gardener. Makes great holiday/birthday gift for the new homeowner in the West.

5 comments about Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible.

1. Jorge gives all the details and excellent explanations to help you with whatever type of grow you want to use. Very comprehensive and well researched. Best book I've seen if its' kind. You won't regret getting this book.



2. In addition to the Grow Bible this book is an absolute necessity. Although if you had to pick one I would suggest the Grow Bible. However, this book has many in depth details to nutrient defencies, various tips, picture illustrated guidelines, what to do, what not to do..I would consider this an illustrated guide more then anything..if that makes sense. MANY tips I have never heard of I came across in this book, and this is to say the least. Jorge Cervantes...two thumbs up (three if I had em)



3. I can't grow the divine weed where I live; I bought this book because it is absolutely the most in-depth, easy-to-understand book in the gardening world! I use it constantly for advice about soil, water, diseases, pests, growth stages, light requirements, etc.--for my tomatoes! Best book out there for weed *or* tomato gardening!



4. If you want to know anything and everything about growing, this is your book. Seriously, this guy goes in depth to explain things without making it overly complicated.
   
   It's simple, thorough, worth the buy.



5. Way too much info on how to grow 100 plants a month. I feel illegal just thinking about it.
   I am just a normal person, Card Carrying Medical Marijuana Pt, who can't afford the $300 - $500 a month for Med grade Cannabis. ( My Pharm Meds are $1200... but my insurance Co. pays that scam! ). The Cannabis works ALLOT better!
   I want to grow 1 plant every 3 months, like 99% of the legit patients. I would destroy any excess I overproduced... personally.
   
   Obviously, this Author is beyond expert and is an authority on the subject. I would love a Medical Growers Bible for your "PERSONAL" Med crop. With a strict recommendation for personal use only. If you sell ANY, you are just a dealer... so, keep it clean... is the book " I " want. My personal opinion.
   Regardless of your personal view.... respect the spirit of the law and intent of the society and community you live in. It is the flow.
   Freedom Rocks!
   215 and 420 set the rules. Just follow them and every one is happy.

5 comments about The Encyclopedia of Country Living.

1. definitely has a bunch of homesteading info. probably could use some editing, but overall a very good resource to learn from. should not read from start to finish, pick a chapter about something you want to learn and read that.



2. I cannot beleive the amount of information this book contains! The author makes no pretenses. She doesn't claim to know everything. She bases her knowledge on her experiences, letters, & information gathered over the years from others. This massive book is many many years worth of information! It has been updated many times. I'm pretty sure she doesn't leave anything out from the older versions, explaining why the book gets larger and larger. One thing that I'm aware of being left out because she mentions it is raw egg recipes. She says she was requested to leave them out for food saftey reasons. This was very dissapointing to me. No Egg Nog, No Mayonaise. :o( Anyone country living can usually trust that their backyard eggs are safe.
   Just about anything you can think of regarding the "simple life" is noted in this book. She gives TONS of information for outside sources so you can further your knowledge in the vast areas. This books makes a fantastic starting point or reference point to whatever it is you are looking for more information on. Look it up in her book, learn the basics (or sometimes much more than the basics), & then use her references to guide you.
   From farm animals, to gardening, to canning, to flowers, to recipes, to you name it! It's here! Even giving birth alone! Outhouses, water issues...on and on it goes!
   This truly is a must have! You will find yourself picking it up often. It's like curling up to read the letter of a long distance friend...sort of!



3. I am very happy I purchased this book. It is very informative, and I will be honest I have not been able to read all the way through yet. The foundation of information is just what I need to determine my country needs and where I want to focus more (buy more books, sign up for newsletters etc...) and in what areas I have an interest. I would suggest it to anyone that wants to know more about country living. This is a very in depth foundation of information and personal experiences (not just the authors) to build on when planning to move or if you are already in the country living lifestyle.



4. This book is the most informative, easy-to-use book of its kind that I've found. It's laid out like a true encyclopedia -- just look up "tomatoes" or "goats" or whatever interests you, and learn everything there is to know about growing, keeping, and using them in the home/farm. The author has spent 30 years collecting local rural knowledge and writing about her own trials and errors -- truly an irreplaceable collection of knowledge.



5. The Encyclopedia of Country Living is very interesting to reading, but when it comes to looking up information it is really not written like an encyclopedia. Though it's very informative and the information is very useful, the writing style is more conversational.
   I am enjoying and using the information, but have found myself seeking more in depth books on a few topics, understandable though, to be in depth on all topics this book would need to be thousands of pages long.

5 comments about Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series).

1. Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series)Good information. Easy to read. Glad I purchased this book



2. I've read so many gardening books, but this is the only one you really need. It is full of useful information you'll never see anywhere else. However, much of the important information is buried in the narrative and is not easy to find again, so mark those pages as you read.



3. I would give this book zero stars if I could. I am so surprised this book has such high ratings. First, the author can not stop himself from talking down to his readers, and making himself appear as he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Half the book is about how great he is and how "Everybody Else" is stupid and worthless. This is the most negative book on gardening I have ever read. I do not recommend this book at all.



4. This is a serious manual for subsistence gardeners. Steve Solomon differentiates himself from "everybody else" and the result is a no nonsense guide delineating the right way to get maximum yield from a piece of land using organic methods. He has no time for hobbyists, so this book is meant for those who are really trying to feed themselves from their gardens. I really appreciate the advice here, but for a light read, I would stick with Barbara Damrosch, who provides good advice in a more light-hearted way.



5. Gardening When It Counts is truly a book for our times. There's already a well-deserved buzz about this book among home gardeners I know. For one thing, it firmly refutes the supposed advantages of mulch gardening. In the burgeoning nationwide return to growing our own vegetables, it's important to produce the most food for the least amount of effort and expense, and this book offers the very advice we need. The author is a Master Gardener from whom beginners and experienced gardeners alike can learn much. Steve Solomon has provided full details on everything from soil preparation to harvesting, and the illustrator Muriel Chen has contributed helpful drawings for even further clarification.

4 comments about The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World's Most Beautiful Fruit.

1. Amy Goldman's passion for fruits and vegetable will certainly gain new enthusiasts who will share that passion after viewing the wonderful pictures taken by Victor Schrager and reading all the well researched histories of selected heirloom tomato varieties which Amy has gathered.
   
   This reviewer is obviously enthralled with the book. Some of my more notable tomato variety creations such as Green Zebra are featured in this new publication. I feel like I am a living Heirloom Tomato Breeder! Amy has listed 200 varieties in the index and my breeding work has contributed directly or indirectly to about 10% of those! So as you read through the book, you just might see why I feel she has partly written a book about me! I just wish I could find a way for folks to see my hundreds of new tomato varieties in my current breeding work.
   
   However much I feel like I am part of the book, Amy is the real heroine. She actually grew these tomatoes and matches the varieties to fantastic recipes!
   
   This is a book that can be read many times over. Leave in on your coffee table for your guests to marvel over! This is the book to give you Spring Fever in all seasons! Thank Amy by buying this book.
   
   Tom Wagner



2. Amy Goldman so captures the magic of heirloom tomatoes the reader almost inhales that distinct summer fragrance with every turn of the page. Each tomato has a carefully researched history and sometimes even a romance shared with the reader. I especially value the detailed notes on each variety for sweetness, flavor, texture and general growing information.
   Victor Schrager's tomato photographs are extraordinary and used lavishly throughout the book. This is a book to share and show every friend who gardens or enjoys good food. And, yes, there are some fine recipes included.



3. The Heirloom Tomato, Amy Goldman's new book on everyone's favorite fruit-vegetable, is an eye-popping , mouth-watering delight. On page after delicious page, the 258-page book provides offers up a cornucopia of history, etymology, botanical description and elegant, taste-teasing recipes, all of it served up through elegant writing and erudite scholarship, and ornamented richly with Victor Schrager's magnificent photographs.
   
   My only regret is that the book is so pretty that it is hard to imagine abusing it in the two settings - the kitchen, and the garden -- in which it will surely find its highest and best use. Despite all the elegance, the publisher (Bloomsbury) has managed to keep the base price of the book at a very modest $35.
   
   Robin Anthony Elliott, Tomatophile
   New York City
   
   August 26, 2008



4. To say that Amy Goldman's The Heirloom Tomato is a stunningly beautiful book is, for anyone familiar with Goldman's earlier masterworks on squash and melons, merely to state the obvious. But the tomato which is, as the subtitle indicates, "the world's most beautiful fruit," turns out to be an incomparable seductress of the camera. Any reader who settles, however, for making this a coffee-table book and neglects a serious engagement with the text will have missed at least half the delight. The pleasure begins with photographer Victor Schrager's loving description of how these luscious photos were set up and Amy's surprising story of her life-long link to tomatoes including a cousin Tillie who brought Italy's famous San Mazano (see page 137) to America. Then--after the instructions for growing them yourself, and some help in understanding shapes, colors, flavors, textures, foliage and the like--come the tomato portraits, each accompanied by any technical detail you might need to know, plus a bit of absorbing history personal or otherwise. The recipes that end the book are, as you would expect, about celebrating these fruits for their versatility and flavor as well as their looks. A glorious book. Joan Dye Gussow

5 comments about Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long.

1. This book has been a help, we are new to the garden scene and this is easy to understand and also has illistrations to actually see what to do.



2. Eliot Coleman is a superb author and teacher. This little book would inspire anybody to grow their own, stash and enjoy the larder of their labor and give humor along with it all! I also bought his other book on Organic Gardening and it's also very informative.....they go hand in hand and I feel like I've taken a biological study in the basics - right down to the tools! A great read...



3. Everything you need to know to grown your own. Harvest into the winter.
   It's becoming a necessity not a luxury to have family gardens; this gets you well on your way.



4. This book will take you to the next level of vegetable gardening.A very enjoyable read.



5. Very complete and clear on growing in the winter. Focuses more on northern climates, but still great for us in the south.

5 comments about Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables.

1. Well researched and considered. Thorough, yet practical and attainable. I appreciated learning about all the different types of root cellars and how to build them. Previous to reading this book, a root cellar to me was and expensive underground project with stairs and cement walls and electricity. Until I can afford that we can inexpensively create/build/dig the other options.



2. Excellent product, I am really enjoying this book! Also very prompt postage and arrived in good condition



3. Lots of alternatives to canning and freezing. A very interesting read while you dream of your very own root cellar!



4. This book was very educational. Gave me information on foods I didn't think could be cellared. A lot of insight. Again, I checked this out of the library and liked it enough to purchase it.



5. I am happy I bought the book, but it is a bit wordy. Good lists, but no good cellers that can be build from the book. Just lots of examples. A good starter to make you think hard if Root Cellering is for you.

5 comments about All New Square Foot Gardening.

1. This book helps the novice not to make many the mistakes a novice will do. I like gleaning from other's experience.



2. All New Square Foot Gardening
   
   The best value garden book I have purchased. I am in the process of setting up a limited site vegetable garden and Mel Bartholomew's SFG is the ideal answer. While conversions have to be made for the northern hemisphere seasons as to those 'down under', it is informative and entertaining notwithstanding the author's excess description of his history and early program implementation.
   
   I have no doubt using this method of gardening is the way of the future. It saves water, fertilisers, insecticides and time. Bartholomew has put together an easy to read "do it yourself" compact and productive gardening program for the oldest/infirmed to the youngest gardener. The book is a must for any serious gardener wanting to save resources while improving productivity. I regret SFG has not been promoted in Australia earlier.



3. Have the original. This is a great book. If you want to qarden this is the way.



4. This is a fantastic concept and ideal for Australian conditions.
   As we have no snow where I live we grow veg's all year round.
   The concept is great fun, effective and we are growing heaps of veg's.
   Looks good to the eye and creates heaps of interest for visitors.
   My square foot garden now consumes most of my free time as I enjoy it so much.
   The book is very easy to read and you don't put it down once you start reading.



5. I had been burned out from the work in my last garden and have not gardened in years. Now I am ready to try again. This method was recommended by a friend who has gardened successfully for years. When she switched to this method, she got 3-4 times the harvest she got before!

5 comments about Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.).

1. I enjoyed reading this book as a story about a family and how they chose to eat for a year. It certainly inspired me to cook more often, and to head to the farmer's market up the street a little more often. The sections I didn't like were those by Kingsolver and her husband broached bigger societal issues like subsidies for big agriculture companies, problems with feed lot animals, etc. These are all very real problems, but I wish the book had given more details, some statistics, references and footnotes from where her info came from, etc. Also, as a well-informed vegetarian of 17 years, I found the section about how vegetarians are all delusional to be very demeaning and her arguments weak.
   
   Anyhow, read it for the family and farming story. But also pick up "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan for a much better explanation of the bigger issues.



2. Barbara Kingsolver's lyric prose is so fun to read, and it's good for you too! It's heartening to see the locavore movement get such attention on a national scale. Maybe American food culture isn't doomed after all. The inserts from her family are entertaining, but sometimes awkwardly placed. I can't wait to lend this out to my friends.



3. I love the message of this book but found the stream of consciousness writing style was a bit distracting. It was hard with all the side tracks to read this for more then short sessions although I was really pulling for the turkeys at the end. Barbara was also a bit heavy handed in her promotion of her friends who so happen to be offering this book on their web sites. I would have loved to found the reference for the source of the statement that is take 1.2 acres to grow food for one person today and in the year 2050 we will only have .6. That is a startling fact that I have found nothing to back it up. Barbara is pretty good for the most part in providing back up for statements. The other major puzzle was why the heck did she not buy her husband a flour mill so they could grind their own flour. They are not that expensive and fresh ground flour is so much more nutritious. Once milled wheat starts to break down as soon as oxygen and light to the expose kernel, plus all the driving around to find flour seems to be a serous waste of time.



4. I found this story fascinating and inspiring! I originally listened to this book as a download but had to buy a hard copy to loan out because I keep recommending it. If you are interested in learning more about the local food movement, sustainable farming/gardening, seasonal eating, etc... this book is for you. I have always been a city girl but six months after I read this book I was blessed with the opportunity to move to a nearby organic family farm and I love it!
   Reading this book also caused me to check out Kingsolver's novels and I have really enjoyed those as well, especially The Bean Trees.



5. I should have read reviews of this book before buying it. I've been a member of a local, organic, community supported farm for 2 summers BEFORE I read this book. The first couple of chapters were very hard to get through, and I kept thinking, OK she's going to get into the specifics soon... But they never came. I assumed that she'd be writing to an audience that already knew of the importance of eating locally, and was going to give good advice on how to apply it practically for a whole year. WRONG. I'm a little more than halfway through and I can't wait to be done with it. There are no details about the variety in her garden, pest control, planting times for different produce. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is the fact that they didn't really only eat local food! Rice, olives, sugar, sardines! What a ripoff. The tone is preachy, she hits you over the head with themes again and again, and there are only a handful of recipes, most of which have one or more nonlocal ingredient. Just. Disappointing. And a total waste of money.