5 comments about How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine.

1. The people who are disappointed with this book are the ones who bought it without understanding what it was. This book isn't a "gardening for the soul" book of fluff, nor is it a typical "how to get bigger tomatoes" text.
   
   What this book is is a compendium of information on growing as much food as possible for real, live people to eat.
   Yes, it delves into the science and discusses the big, scary numbers involved. For you 'visual types' who find yourselves having to use your fingers to complete a single digit multiplication problem, don't bother. If you want purpler plumbs or redder radishes, look elsewhere.
   
   Assuming your IQ is above 100 and you're looking for a book to tech you some of the skills required to feed your family under all circumstances, I can hardly think of a better book than this one. It is exactly what it says.
   
   If I had to put my family on a fertile island and give them one book on gardening, it would unquestionably be this one.



2. I am fairly new to vegetable gardening and had no clue how much to plant for my wife and I in a Fall/Winter Garden. The book contains many charts and diagrams, which show how many square feet of space to alot for each vegetable. I currently use a hybrid method with 4x4 square foot gardening instead of the large rectangles as suggested in the book since my garden is in my backyard and I do like to have some lawn. A square foot is a square foot, so it really doesn't matter shape/size. There is also some good general gardening advice in the first few chapters. It is a good reference book for the library.



3. I found this book a bore to read at best. It is full of omissions and confusing charts that don't explain what they are showing. I also found it constantly trying to convince you of this political dogma and to join the society that supports this. There are much better books on intensive planting that actually explain a syetem to do it that this.



4. while the idea of growing more vegetables is a noble (and highly marketable) title, the actual book didn't have much information that i didn't already read in 'square foot gardening' or 'four-season harvest'. a key difference is that an artificial soil mix isn't used, but rather using organic methods to improve existing soil - is that a new concept? while both books do a comparison of intensive methods, Jeavons recommends a hexagonal inter-planting pattern (similar to the spacing in chicken wire) to plant intensively, vs. the square foot method of rigidly planting only one kind of vegetable in each square. Jeavons also advocates the use companion plants whereever possible to increase yields and reduce pests. however, the sections devoted to double-digging and composting seem to make up a disproportionately large section of the book, and relatively little is said about what exactly increases yields except for treating the soil well (e.g., use good compost, raised beds, add organic matter, etc). for anyone interested in organic gardening, there isn't a lot of unique information in this book that couldn't be found on a good website.



5. In my honest opinion, this is the best how to garden book out there. Probably not for beginners, but for those who want more. It debunks the normal vegetable spacing on the seed packets, so you can get more that you can imagine......

5 comments about Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use--Includes How to Make Ferrocement Water Tanks.

1. This book is well written and complete. I feel that after reading this book I can safely capture rainwater and I know all the details to think about when designing our system, specific reasons to place pipes etc in specific places ... an excellent detailed referrence book and enjoyable read; I read the entire book and enjoyed it. If you are seriously considering to have a rainwater catchment system this is a must read.



2. I Built a 10,000 Gal tank straight out of this book for US$ 1,500.
   It looks good & it doesn't leak.
   What more can you ask for ?



3. This book can help you for how to planning the different water systems in rural and urban areas, the best is how to make ferrocement water tanks.



4. I love all those oasis manuals. Once again Art Ludwig surprises us with a manual full of info reagarding water catchment and storage. Although I'm working in this field for more than 10 years, I always find something new and interesting in Oasis manuals and ther are a fundamental part of my permaculture-libary



5. I purchased this book mainly due to the picture of the water urn on the cover. The plans for it are included. This book has a lot of information regarding water sources and water collection and containment. Recommend for anyone interested in water collection/conservation. I do wish the pictures inside the book were in color (the are all black and white).

5 comments about From Vines to Wines: The Complete Guide to Growing Grapes and Making Your Own Wine.

1. This book tells you everything about growing grapes and producing fine wine. It even deals with the choice of grape-varieties suited for your climate. It is almost perfect. I think many Europeans will read this book, and it would have been perfect if it included the Meditteranean countries in the tables of climate-zones and selection of suitable varieties. It is very difficult to find this (about Europe) on the internet. But a great and very useful book.



2. We wanted a resource for the wine process from growth to the glass.
   Everything you need is in here.



3. This is indespensible for home winemakers. Period.
   
   If you are a person engaged in wine studies, this is an essential first look into serious technical winemaking aspects. Before delving into more serious technical manuals such as "Understanding Wine Technology" and "The Science of Wines from Grape to Glass".
   
   Pros: wonderfully written in laymans terms
   Cons: drawings sometimes difficult to distinguish



4. I gave this to my father and he was so excited because it focused a lot on building a good trellis with good illustrations and also good for prunning.
   These are two things that lack in other books that i have bought him (and that I am starting to be interested in, too).
   Of course the book covers all aspects of the grape and wine making process, but the trellising and prunning in more detail was very welcome.
   Recommended on all aspects.



5. When we were planning our vineyard we needed all the help we could get. From Vines To Wines was one book kept by the bedside for constant reference during the planning and planting stage. (The other book was "Vineyard Simple." The illustrated guide to pruning is exceptionally well done. Now that we've made it through year 1, I find myself going back to the book time and again. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in planting a vineyard. Craig Justice, Webmaster of Winemaker's Journal and Founder, Blue Merle Vineyard & Winery

5 comments about Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi.

1. One of, if not thee, most comprehensive field guide for wild mushrooming ever published. Amazing work.



2. Superb field guide for the mushroom greenhorn and connoisseur alike. Great color photos with all sorts of information about the little guys that you could ever imagine. They also warn about which ones to stay away from - always a good thing. Even if you're not into them that much, it's still a great book to have around the house just in case you ever want to know what kind of mushrooms are growing in your neighborhood. This would be an excellent book for a classroom or a great gift for a kid who's into being outdoors. Boy & Girl Scouts and groups like that would find this book indispensable for outings and general knowledge.
   *Note* There is also a pocket guide that I own that is great too, and much more easy to lug around than this compendium.



3. It's an excellent book, but could be perfect if it has color spore charts, one of the most important taxonomic features are spore color and Arora recognize this on his book, why let that out?



4. This book is amazing, and is my husband's new found hobby book and is already well-read. It is extremely thick for being a mere paperback, and arrived damaged. My only complaint is that it seems to not be ready for the hard wear and tear these mycologists will surely be exuding. The book itself is even more than we hoped for, and is an amazing resource.



5. For anyone interested in learning about mushrooms, this book is the mushroom bible for species in the United States. It's not really a book for beginners, because the information can be somewhat overwhelming, but if you want a positive ID on something you've found, there's no better resource to do it. Then again, Arora injects a dose of unexpected hilarity that a mushroom-hunter with any level of experience can appreciate.

5 comments about Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture.

1. I have totally enjoyed this book. The principles are a little murky because apparently this is a pretty new field and not very well developed for the eastern seabord which I live but it does provide enough guidance to begin setting up your own permaculture areas and start developing areas to be more ecologically sound food producing and living environments. I would HIGHLY recommend it as a first book on permaculture and the resources section alone has been a joy.



2. This book is excellent for establishing new concepts of applying time tested old technology. I use these principles everyday and I look forward to the days when we need to rely on our local resources and skills in order to make a living. This book teaches you how to make a start with permaculture.



3. This was recommended by someone when I started asking questions about permaculture. I am glad he did! It is a great introduction without being too simplistic. It is showing me how to start small and gradually increase the use of permaculture.
   
   I have shown it to friends who are all waiting to borrow it from me!



4. An excellent book and resource. At the time I purchased this book, I also purchased Bill Mollison's seminal work on permaculture. I intended to read Mollison's book first and Gaia's Garden second. After reading the first few pages of Mollison's book, I set it aside to "look through" Gaia's Garden just to familiarize myself with its contents. I discovered that I could not put it down because it is so well written and informative. I recommend this book to all persons interested in the subject of permaculture.



5. The Library journal review does a huge disservice to this book.
   
   Imagine a beautiful, highly productive, virtually weed-free,
   
   drought-resistant, inexpensive, low-maintenance and ecologically sound
   
   garden bed in your yard. It sounds impossible, but it is very simple
   
   and only requires a few hours to create this fall, no digging required.
   
   You can put to use the bounty of leaves and/or pine needles that are
   
   provided for free to almost every suburbanite in the fall. This
   
   is the ideal time, as the bed is better if it can break down over the
   
   winter.
   
   I have been gardening for about 25 years, and wish had I had heard of
   
   this method sooner. It is perfect, especially for those who are not
   
   physically able to dig, till or do a lot of weeding or simply have very
   
   little time for gardening.
   
   It involves piling up and wetting down 8 -12 inches of layers of
   
   organic matter (we used leaves and some manure) on top of a thin layer
   
   of newspapers or cardboard, with a small amount of amendments such as
   
   greensand, lime and rock phosphate and manure underneath the paper. On
   
   the top is a 1-2 inch layer of mulch (we used white pine needles), to
   
   keep in moisture and suppress weeds. Come spring, you simply push aside
   
   the top mulch and plant seedlings.
   
   This 'sheet mulching' method came from this wonderful book by Toby
   
   Hemenway. We have several sheet mulch beds this
   
   year, and they are outrageously productive. For example, one 4' x 9'
   
   bed in a very sunny spot, contains 6 large tomato plants, 3 sweet
   
   pepper plants, 3 cucumber vines on a trellis, a short row of
   
   sunflowers, one summer squash plant, and 7 winter squash plants. I
   
   find this amazing considering that the ground underneath is very poor,
   
   sandy and barely supported grass.
   
   
   With apologies to Mae West, I have learned a big lesson, it's not the soil
   
   in your life, it's the life in your soil!
   
   I bought this book in January and have many times over saved the price in
   time, mulch and bought amendments using ONLY the sheet mulch idea.

5 comments about The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants.

1. I can't add to the other reviewers' praises, but do want to add to the description of this fine book, because some readers have been disappointed that it doesn't apply to their region (e.g. west of the Rockies). It would have been helpful to find this in book's description, but since it isn't, I'll add it here. The author notes in his intro that this book should be useful to foragers everywhere, but particularly in these regions: GREAT LAKES, MIDWEST, NORTHEAST AND THE SOUTHERN PART OF EASTERN CANADA. Hope this helps future book-buying foragers, looking for guides best suited to their region.



2. We vacation in the Sierra Nevada every summer and I wanted to start learning about foraging in these beautiful forests. Unfortunately, information for this area is sorely lacking in this volume. I'm sure the Indians who inhabited this area found plenty of wonderful plants to eat. Fortunately for them, they did not have to rely on this book. I will have to look elsewhere for a resource on plants of the Sierra.



3. This book has great detailed information! It's been very useful to me when I've been out foraging.



4. It would be a very difficult task indeed to create a book that really does a good job of treating edible wild plants from all of North America. The books that attempt to do so rely way too much on other written works (which have a lot of misinformation) and way too little on direct experience. Moreover, trying to cover a really broad range of plants means that the plants that are covered are treated rather superficially. Just like the best field guides are usually the field guides for a particular region (when these are available), the best wild food guides have a strong regional bias. My ONLY complaint about The Forager's Harvest is that the author does not spell out his region right up front, I had to infer it from the plants covered (he also mentions that he's based in northern Wisconsin somewhere in the intro). I happen to live in the upper midwest (northern Minnesota), and for that region, this is far and away the best wild edible plants reference I've ever seen.
   
   Selection: He doesn't try to cover everything you might eat if you were desperate, he covers most of the plants you would want to eat because they taste good and have high nutritive value.
   
   Harvesting: He covers where, when, and how to harvest in sufficient detail for each plant that you are unlikely to be put off by a bad experience.
   
   Preparation: Details of preparation are critical. For example I've never seen in any book such detailed directions for HOW to get the starch out of a cattail rhizome.
   
   Overall approach: He drives home the idea that real foraging is real work. You need to study, and you need to put in real time - but if you do so you can expect to have good quantities of excellent food.
   
   All in all, a really outstanding book, unsurpassed for the region.



5. This book is unique in that it fills a big void in the other wild edible books out there. This void is filled mainly by the chapters entitled "Harvest and Preparation Methods for Wild Plant Foods" and "Storing Wild Foods". Thayer wrote this book with his experience and not what he has compiled from other books like so many others. It covers only 32 plants but they are very useful plants and it covers them in detail. I agree with other reviewers in that the book may only cover plants that are more common in the eastern U.S. but the author makes recommendations for other books that will cover what his book does not...and I can vouch that his recommendations are worth while. Great pictures, a useful glossary and the verbal content is not only an enjoyable read but overwhelmingly informative. Despite the fact that this book is a softcover, the quality of the pages and binding will seemingly make it a durable guide for field use and the repeated referencing I intend to give it. Regardless of where you live, if you are a serious forager or survival enthusiast your library should not be without this book!

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

1. 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.



2. I have not come across a book that actually tells which plants would thrive in specific regions in the Bay Area. My roommate said it's the bible for gardening here in California.



3. I purchased this book as a textbook requirement for a college horitculture class. Since purchase, it has become an very valuable tool both in my class work and my personal garden planning. I would highly recommend this book regardless of your level of experience in the dirt! It may clear up some very common questions you may have!



4. I ordered 2 books, going to 2 different addresses, & they both came right on time.



5. I have relied on Sunset's Western Garden Book, in its various issues, for many years. From time to time, about every 3-4 years or so, they re-publish it. This particular issue has become my favorite "Working Bible" and I keep one copy in the house for reference and another in my garden/yard supply area. I bought this copy to give to my daughter and her husband, to introduce them to gardening in the Northwest, and to reduce the number of times I have to answer her questions by phone. Now I can simply refer her to the appropriate page of her own "Sunset Garden Book".
   
   The two or three recent re-issues of Sunset's Western Garden Book have become more "posh" and sophisticated, like coffee-table issues, not meant for nitty-gritty work in the yard.
   
   The particular volume I bought on Amazon was in incredibly perfect condition; my guess is that the original owner had never even opened it (it was inscribed as a Christmas gift from his parents!) And the price was amazing.

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 The Vegetable Gardener's Bible: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Regions.

1. Highly useful book, and a future edition that contained a few corrections and clarifications would be just about perfect.
   
   The author mentions companion planting without discussing mechanisms, which makes typos hard to decipher. The "Artichoke" page states that tarragon is a good companion to artichokes, but the "Tarragon" page states that artichokes are a BAD companion to tarragon. Which is it?
   
   The author also instructs novice tomato growers to remove all "nonflowering stems that grow between the main stem and the leaf crotches." What does this mean?! All stems will flower eventually...
   (Of course pruning is controversial anyway... some gardeners claim that the complexity of tomato flavor depends upon lush foliage.)
   
   The "Parsnip" section also has some vague instructions in the opening paragraph: "I deposit some seeds and labor in the warm months, and my investment matures the following spring." Does that mean that parsnips should be planted late summer/ early fall? What exactly is done in the warm months? The rest of the text does not explain this.



2. I LOVE this book! It's enjoyable to read and incredibly useful. A great book to begin reading before you plant because it gives you guidance on laying out your garden.
   
   The only people I think it wouldn't be helpful for are those who live in apartments and are container gardening. They should read You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening instead, another awesome book!
   
   If you want to have a hugely successful vegetable garden using organic methods, this book is for you!



3. Hoping to make the most of my new garden, I picked up this book and hoped some of the techniques would work. WOW doesn't even begin to describe how great this was. The techniques outlined in this book will take a relatively small garden and produce veggies like you've never imagined! I can hardly wait for next year when I'll have more time to build beds and plant even more! I really believe it'll be possible to feed my family with just the vegetables we can grow ourselves.
   
   If you wnat to get the most out of your garden space, you need this book!



4. Excellent book to read through and then keep as reference.
   There are MANY nice color pictures (especially at the end there is a vegetable reference guide for planting/care/info).
   This book gives you step-by-step instructions to designing and cultivating a high-yield WORD garden.
   If you are clueless about gardening, get this book.
   If you think you know everything, then get this book (even if you have memorized the companion planting reference matrix).
   From small planter box gardens to acre sized garden plots..
   If you want to learn how to grow vegetables, then this is the book!



5. Excellent book - I checked it out at a local bookstore so I knew it was what I wanted. Next year will be our first year with a garden so we're excited to read this book over the winter to prepare. GREAT book for new gardeners.

5 comments about Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance.

1. This book covers a huge range of country skills, including a companion planting guide. I wouldn't be without mine!



2. I am so impressed with this book I am considering it as Christmas gifts for my son and perhaps a brother. I checked it out of the library and enjoyed it so much I purchased it.



3. I am about to purchase my first farm and this book give a little bit of information on a whole lot of subjects. Everything from outbuildings to farm animals to country recipes. You don't need to start at the beginning and read from cover to cover - you can pick and choose what you would like to read about. This is something that I will keep handy as a great reference guide.



4. This is a very handy reference to have. You could not call it exhaustive, but it does provide a dandy introduction to a wide variety of subjects. I still refer to it, usually to determine if a particular area is worth pursuing in detail or to decide on how I am going to approach a project. Say what you want about Storey's - they are a name brand and have made a good effort in reaching the livestock/animal husbandry market. Some of their books are the best available, some are not. But I can always count on them to give me a good starting point. If you want a smattering on a wide variety of subjects, get this book. If you know someone that would value such a reference, this makes an excellent gift.



5. It is a pretty good book for showing you the mechanics of how to build and maintain different areas of the farm. It gives good information on how to raise different livestock. It is not something you would want to just read right through and go start a farm. It is more like something you could look at whenever you need some tips. The best way to learn how to start a farm would be to see if you could work on somebody you know's farm. Either just to help out or for an actual job.