Book Review: Veg Garden Problem Solver September 4, 2009

 

Rodale’s Vegetable Garden Problem Solver is a must-have for any home gardener.   I have used my copy repeatedly all summer long, thumbing through it when I get back in from the garden to clarify a thought or answer a question that popped up while I was out working in my beds.  The book is organized alphabetically, set up much like a dictionary with the key word printed in the corner of the page so you can just flip through and quickly find your topic.  I know that might seem like an odd “selling point” but it’s hugely helpful when you are in a hurry and don’t want to skim the tiny print of an index.    The organization of the text aside, the solid and practical content of this book is really the reason why you should add it to your personal library.  The advice is straightforward and do-able and really rather comprehensive given the manageable size of the book.  Sections are often even tailored to specific regions of the country (for example, squash pests that differ between northern and southern climates).   

 

 

While I have used this book mostly as a reference for pest problems and solutions, it has much more to offer than that.  A beginner gardener will find a lot of helpful information on staking and pruning plants, proper mulches, compost tea, row covers, and much more that is explained in a way that won’t intimidate or confuse.    While there are no photos, the pages are loaded with detailed sketches that do a great job of illustrating concepts or pests.   As pictured above, I spent a great deal of time reading the tomato section this summer as I tried to figure out what was wrong with and then later how to save my tomato crop.  I only wish I had been smart enough to erect the protective plastic tent suggested to keep off excessive rain and hopefully late blight at the beginning of the season.  But thanks to this book, I’ve lived and learned and will be much better prepared next year.    Buy this book!

Book Review: Flower Power August 9, 2009

 

Another great book to recommend today, this one on floral design and running a small design boutique.   As the cover hints, Flower Power is a very vibrant book that contains a great many beautiful images and a lot of imagination.  Author, Rebecca Cole, takes readers on board to experience her “typical” day as a small floral designer in New York City.  Judging from her jaunty writing style, she’s a very relaxed and spirited personality who loves her work.    I really liked reading the details of her day and who her clients are and how she works in their spaces to put on a dramatic and fitting display.    Of course the designs featured in the book are also worth taking the time to pick up this book; each is unique and energetic.   Her choice of containers especially piqued my interest and has inspired me to seek out one-of-a-kind pieces to use in my own work. 

 

To Have & To Hold May 17, 2009

 

 

To Have & To Hold, Magical Wedding Bouquets by David Stark and Avi Adler is a stunning book by two of the most sought-after floral designers in New York City.  The nearly 200 photos, taken by famed garden photographer, Mick Hales, are sumptuous and the combination of colors and textures in several of them actually elicited an audible gasp from me when I turned to their page. Not only do the photos provide tremendous sources of inspiration, the text is enlightening too as David and Avi share some of their best secrets for creating a bouquet that truly reflects the bride while remaining practical and within the scale of the bride’s stature and budget (price ranges are included with the caption on each design’s photo).

 

The Cutting Garden January 24, 2009

 

I’m sure every gardener has a horticultural inspiration, be it an outstanding public garden that informs designs in their own garden, a species of plants that engenders a lifelong collection, or an iconic figure in the world of gardening such as Dick Lighty, founding director of Mt. Cuba Center and plant breeder extraordinaire.  For my own work as a horticulturalist, particularly as it relates to cut flowers and vegetable production, I look to Sarah Raven’s Perch Hill Farm.  I’d go so far as to say that I have a bit of a crush on both the woman and her entire horticulture enterprise.  In a nutshell, Perch Hill is an intensively managed two-acre farm in southern England that proves to be both extraordinarily beautiful to behold and functional in its production for Ms. Raven’s  garden and cookery school. 

 

Having known about Sarah Raven’s little plot of heaven for quite some time, I somehow missed the fact that she’s a rather well-known garden writer too (as if I didn’t have enough reasons already to admire this woman) with seven books in print to date.  I greedily checked several of them out of the fantastic library here at Longwood and found them to be wonderfully composed and full or amazing photos.  The book that’s proven to be the most practical for my purposes thus far is The Cutting Garden.

 

 

Within it’s colorful pages, the reader gets a detailed picture of the activities in the cutting gardens at Perch Hill, including planning the layout, a planting calendar and techniques, selecting plants, harvesting, and designing arrangements.   I particularly like how her watercolor hued plans illustrate the plantings and layout for all four seasons so she has fresh material for arrangements all year long.  And since her farm is located in Zone 8, I can grow a good deal of the same plants here. 

Light Reading for the Gardener & Cook January 14, 2009

 

 During the holiday break from classes and work, I had the opportunity to read a fun little book I got as a gift. Botany, Ballet & Dinner from Scratch is penned by Leda Meredith, a ballerina-turned-botanist who works at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.  I wish I had known about her when I visited there earlier this year so we could have chatted about her lovely memoir.  Inside the playful cover you’ll find short stand-alone chapters and at least one recipe attached to each.  Leda talks of her childhood, adolescence and adulthood in the context of food, travel and relationships, among which she sprinkles some very handy gardening and botany tidbits.  Her experience as an urban forager was right up my alley.  She discusses the importance of proper plant identification in foraging situations in particular and also gives a mini nomenclature lesson that even the complete gardening beginner can understand. 

 

While I didn’t learn terribly much from this book since I’m already heavily immersed in horticulture and in cooking with ingredients grown in my own garden or other nearby source, I still recommend it for beginner and expert alike.  For the reader just starting out in either gardening or eating locally (or ideally both), Leda’s straightforward writing style is easy to understand and it’s not nearly the snooze that some other related books might be.  For the reader that’s got an existing green thumb and well-worn apron, this book will make you smile and think about long-forgotten experiences that may have shaped who you are as a gardener and cook.  It did for me.

The Flower Farmer December 29, 2008

 

In my quest to get more and more information on cut flower production, particularly sustainable growing practices for such, I have read both the original edition and the recently revised 2008 edition of The Flower Farmer by Lynn Byczynski. This book is virtually my bible at this point, containing nearly everything a new cut flower farmer could want to know at the outset. Lynn’s style of writing is extremely approachable, making it a great book for the casual gardener too.

 

 

Within the 260 pages of the book, she outlines such important topics as selecting a site, prepping soil, buying your plants and seeds, greenhouse and hoophouse production, work in the fields, season extension, woodies appropriate for cutting, pest management, harvesting and post-harvest care, arranging bouquets, and marketing flowers. Nestled within each topic is an on-topic snapshot of a real flower farmer dealing with the chapter’s discussions. These quick bios are really inspirational and candid. Some even were honest enough to say they couldn’t make it as the type of operation they had hoped to be so they had to carefully rethink their business model. Lynn herself has changed her enterprise several times over the years, having tried but given up on weddings, pick-your-own and subscription type operations. She now focuses on direct sales to florists and farmers markets.

 

 

While the whole book is extremely useful, by far the most valuable component is the index of 100 cut flowers, including vital information about each. Throughout the entire book there are amazingly beautiful photos of the flowers on Lynn’s farm so you can see just about all the flowers she recommends. I would highly recommend this book to any horticulture student, home gardener, and farmer – vegetable or flower – as a way to hone your knowledge of cut flower production in the field.