No comments about Lemon Herbs: How to Grow and Use 18 Great Plants.

1 comments about Culinary Herbs for Short-Season Gardeners.

1. The collaborative effort of Ernest Small and Grace Deutsch, Culinary Herbs For Short-season Gardeners is a beautifully and colorfully illustrated instructional and reference guide which is ideal for non-specialist general readers seeking to cultivate and make the most of fresh herbs from their gardens. More than fifty annual and perennial herbs are listed, along with descriptions, cultivation and harvesting notes, medicinal uses, trivia, and a great deal more. From gardening, to garnish, to medicinal usages, Culinary Herbs For Short-season Gardeners is an excellent enhancement to personal and community library gardening reference collections.

No comments about The Catnip Kit (Mini Kit).

No comments about The Herb and Spice Companion.

5 comments about From Seed To Bloom: How to Grow over 500 Annuals, Perennials & Herbs.

1. This is an indispensable book for the home seed-starter. I teach plant propagation classes in addition to starting a thousand seedlings in my basement every year and this is the book I recommend. An encyclopedic format with plant-by-plant listings of both indoor and outdoor sowing requirements, transplanting and care information, plus line drawings of each plant make this an invaluable reference guide!



2. This is a great reference book for gardeners who are interested in starting plants from seed rather than buying the same old stuff from their local garden centers each year. This best thing about this book is that it rates each plant on its degree of difficulty when it comes to growing that plant from seed. Unlike the seed catalogs which imply that all plants are easy to grow from seed, this book breaks it down into detailed instructions as to how to get the seeds to germinate and what conditions they require once germination takes place. It is a great reference when browsing through the seed catalogs as to which plants are worth trying to start from seed and those whose needs may be way too much time, money or environmentally demanding to even bother with.



3. I am a plant propagator, both at work and at home, and I have access to all the seed starting handbooks. This is the one I turn to the most often. It's comprehensive and easy to use. In fact, if it included vegetables, it could pretty much stand alone. The only thing that would make it a little better would be illustrations of the seedlings.



4. I have been planting flowers from seed in my home for almost 5 years now. Last year I had over 1400 seedlings on multi-level shelves under flourescent and natural light in my dining room. (Boy do I need a greenhouse!) So this book was not a lot of new information to me. A lot of what is listed can be found on the back of a seed packet, but it's not practical to sit on the floor of my favorite garden supply store and read every seed package for suggestions before I buy it. (This is important, because I'm not interested in refrigerating my seeds 3 weeks before I plant them or doing other such preparations required for some seeds.) One major thing missing from this book was photography. There were drawings, but I'm sorry to say that they were mostly a way of breaking up the monotony of the text rather than a reference tool. On the good side, this book did an excellent job of providing the proper germination environment, and each plant had a quick reference in a shaded box that listed the type of plant (annual, perennial, etc), its hardiness zone, and its flowering season. This allowed me to quickly eliminate the plants that were inappropriate for my zone. The regular index wasn't very useful, but one wonderful addition was an index of the common & latin names. I refer to this when looking at some of my books that include the full color photography I was missing. (Almost makes up for it....almost!) Of course, there is the standard hardiness zone map, but they also added a map each for the probable first and last frost dates. (Nice!) Also included was a directory of seed companies and their addresses. All in all, this book does a good job of covering the seed part, but a poor job of covering the bloom part.



5. Do not purchase this book if you are looking for advice on starting vegetables, because even though veggies are annuals that bloom, they are not covered in this guide. If you prefer to reference your plants by the common names (e.g. Lilly of the Valley - not Convallaria) or a color photo, then this book will be hard to use, because the plants are ordered by their taxanomic/latin names and all of the drawings are black and white sketches.

   If you are able to find the plant that you are looking for, then the propogation/seed starting information is pretty good.

   Bottomline, probably not the best book if you are just beginnig to experiment with the hobby of growing your annuals from seed.

No comments about The Complete Book of Herbs.

1 comments about Ancient Healing Secrets.

1. This is a good compilation of natural remedies collected from around the world. The book is organized by a list of common complaints (digestive disorders, women's complaints, simple wounds, for example) and then there is a list of various healing treatments in the tradition of various peoples, from the British Isles to the ancient Egyptians. So the book is interesting to read from a cultural standpoint (how do different cultures treat the same ailment) or from the standpoint of different herbal or massage remedies for various problems. Unusual herbal remedy book, in this regard, and fascinating reading.

1 comments about Herbs (Little Guides (San Francisco, Calif.).).

1. Great little book for either the avid or novice herb gardener. Great photos and drawings of each herb, as well as best climates, common uses of herb, common pests, best harvest time, and more.

No comments about Herbs: Their Culture and Uses.

1 comments about The Kitchen Gardener's Companion: An A-Z Encyclopedia for Using the Food That You Grow.

1. With The Kitchen Gardener's Companion: An A-Z Encyclopedia For Using The Food That You Grew, avid gardener and cook Pat Katz provides the reader with an informative, authoritative guide to harvesting, preparing and preserving garden fruits, vegetables, and herbs. All of the basics of canning, pickling, and freezing garden produce are offered, as are tips for cooking common and uncommon fruits and vegetables. The Kitchen Gardener's Companion is a "user friendly" compendium showcasing hundreds of tips, tricks and techniques ranging from braiding garlic, to removing bitterness from eggplants, to making herb seasonings, and more. The Kitchen Gardener's Companion is very highly recommended for anyone seeking to make the best use of their garden's produce, whether they have a family garden plot in the back yard or simply frequent their local farmer's market.