More Books for Christmas Gifts – Good Reading Roundup

  • Post published:12/24/2013
  • Post comments:2 Comments

         I guess the Good Reading Roundup continues here in my Between the Rows column for Dec. 14. The vegetable garden has been put to bed, and right now is neatly covered with an inch of snow and ice. The planting, cultivating, harvesting and preserving seasons are past; now we are in reading season. For me, plans to make things better usually start right about the time I am in mid-harvest. And there are always new books to help me find new ways.

            What’s Wrong with  My Fruit Garden: 100% Organic Solutions for Berries, Trees, Nuts, Vines and Tropicals by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth (Timber Press $24.95) is a reference book covering a wide variety of fruits. I’ve had discussions with people about how they choose what edibles to grow in their limited space, and one of the answers is to grow the things that are most expensive to buy. Fruits can fit in that category. How much does it cost to tend a couple of apple trees, or a trio of blueberry bushes of a couple of hazel nut trees compared to the cost of buying those items over a season, for many seasons. Besides cost, fruit bearing plants tend to need less work than vegetables, and the fruit you pick will be the freshest possible. A fruit garden is a wonderful long term investment.

            What’s Wrong With My Fruit Garden begins with an introduction, and then is divided into three main sections. The introduction presents basic information about the basic needs of fruit plants and includes clearly illustrated pages that tell you how to identify general problems related to temperature, light, water or soil.

The first main section is devoted to Plant Profiles of 34 fruits from almonds to watermelon. We will not be able to grow all of them here, but I have been surprised lately by all the people who are growing figs! Each Profile gives you general growing information about individual plant needs including pollination and pruning.

Section two is the Plant Problem-Solving Guide with several pages for each plant with clear photos of the damage done by specific insects and diseases. Each photographed symptom is followed by a diagnosis and a variety of solutions.

            Section three Organic Solutions to Common Problems give more detailed information about solutions. There is a good supplementary reading list, and an excellent index.

            Gardening For Geeks (Adamsmedia $15.95) by Christy Wilhelmi, founder of Gardenerd.com, promises “DIY tests, gadgets, and techniques that utilize microbiology, mathematics and ecology to exponentially maximize the yield of your garden.” Wilhelmi delivers, but I have found that I might be geekier than I ever imagined, or this book which gives a lot of good information for the new gardener, was just looking for a unique hook. Maybe she thought reluctant husbands (not mine) would be more likely to pick it up with that title. If you are not a geek, don’t let the title frighten you off.

            She delivers good basic information on preparing the soil, various kinds of compost, utilizing small spaces by using bio-intensive and other intensive planting schemes, planting, irrigation, building trellises and such, pest control AND preserving your bountiful harvest. That’s 223 pages of good information with a good index.

            As much as we like good information, we gardeners also like beauty. Seeing Flowers: Discover the Hidden Life of Flowers (Timber Press $29.95) with spectacular closeup photography by Robert Llewellyn, and text by Teri Dunn Chace is a beautiful book about flowers.

            Llewellyn and Chace capture 28 plant families from amaryllis to viola. Did you ever imagine that clematis would be in the buttercup family? Along with the photographs you will enjoy information about each genus and its myriad species. Some families like Iris are relatively small, while other like Lily are very large and include those flowers we easily recognize as lilies, but also trillium, bluebells, hostas. snowflakes, kniphofia and many others.

            Chace takes us into a garden of fascinating facts, botanical history, medicinal uses, both of which take us to the poetry of plant names. How did tomatoes come to be considered poisonous? Well, tomatoes were recognized as a member of the Solanaceae family which included deadly nightshade, a poisonous plant. All plant parts of nightshade contain atropine “from the Greek word atropos which means ‘to cut the thread of life.’”

            This is a book that will give you many hours of happy reading all year long, but I cannot think of a happier time to begin than when the sky is pale and snow is swirling in the wind.

            While not a book about plants I must include a new book by one of our local poets. Carol Purington of Colrain has written many books of haiku and tanka and described the natural world with strength and delicacy. In her new book, Faces I Might Wear, she suggests the women who might have lived on this landscape, through hardships, with wonder and joy.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Between the Rows    December 14, 2013

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Pat you have given me some great ideas…Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

  2. Lea

    Now is the time to sit and read and plan for Spring. Seeing Flowers looks most interesting!
    Merry Christmas!
    Lea

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