The GARDENER'S ESSENTIAL COMPANION: Proven Advice and Lively Information to Help You Garden Smarter, Not Harder - Softcover

Galitzki, Dora

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0684863219 ISBN 13: 9780684863214

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2000

Synopsis

Hundreds of Ideas on Improving Your Garden "Since a garden is an attempt to impose our human sense of order and beauty on nature, it is also the perfect place to discover what a ridiculous idea that really is." As readers of her popular New York Times column know, Dora Galitzki seamlessly combines solid gardening how-to with wry and knowing observations about the gardener's life. Organized in an easy-to-useformat, The Gardener's Essential Companion provides tips on what to do when plants succumb to disease or weather; the basics of selecting the best plants for a garden and keeping them healthy; great ideas for growing unusual plants (like chicory for coffee or night-fragrant flowers); creating a garden to attract butterflies; and much more. Galitzki's gardening-with-an-attitude approach encourages readers to improve their skills, to find creative solutions to gardening problems, and to learn what works best in their own garden or yard. Beautifully illustrated, The Gardener's Essential Companion is an invaluable reference and an inspiring guide for novice and experienced gardeners alike.

About this title

Review:

"Heloise's Helpful Hints" meets "Dear Abby" for the gardening set, The Gardener's Essential Companion will quickly become dog-eared and dirty from repeated referencing. The combination of solid how-to's, practical advice, and wry observations makes for easy, entertaining reading. Galitzki, a gardening columnist for The New York Times and a contributor to Martha Stewart Living, advocates finding pleasure in getting down in the dirt--because the resulting garden doesn't always turn out as you intended. Ah, nature! Filled with spittlebugs, powdery mildew, and overly wet springtimes. These variables are out of the gardener's control and the sooner you accept that, Galitzki says, the sooner you will be serenely puttering in your little patch of earth.

Whether you need help with a traveling yellow slime mold on new mulch (keep scooping it off; it'll disappear when the mulch dries--it's not harmful, just disgusting) or want to grow your own gingerroot (it's tough, time-consuming, and not really worth it), you'll find Galitzki a humorous, no-nonsense voice of reason. The chapters are organized straightforwardly and succinctly cover a large variety of questions and situations. Later chapters explore being green in the city and people's need to touch the earth. Since Galitzki is based in the Northeast, many of her examples are specific to that region; nonetheless, her "get out there and garden" attitude and homespun advice are inspiring and will ring true no matter where you live. --Dana Van Nest

About the Author:

Dora Galitzki is a gardening columnist for The New York Times. For more than ten years she was also the Plant Information Officer at The New York Botanical Garden. She is a horticultural consultant for Garden Design magazine, and her work appears in Martha Stewart Living. She lives in Rockport, Maine.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0684863219
• ISBN 13: 9780684863214
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352