The dirt doctor's guide to organic gardening : essays on the natural way / J. Howard Garrett.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Plant growers of all kinds are turning to organic products and procedures for vigorous, healthy plants. Since 1988, J. Howard Garrett has been in the forefront of the organic gardening movement, dispensing well-tested advice through "The Natural Way," his radio program and column in the Dallas Morning News.In this expert guide, he offers a complete program for organic gardening. After an opening chapter on the basics of organics, he covers soil management, fertilization and composting, pest control (even fire ants and mosquitoes), landscaping (including tree care, wildflowers, and lawn care), food crops, and wildlife (attracting helpful animals and repelling harmful ones).With this information, professional and home gardeners alike can learn how to eliminate their chemical dependency and grow plants "the natural way." Let The Dirt Doctor's Guide to Organic Gardening be your one-stop source for cost-effective, earth-friendly, complete, and easy-to-understand gardening information.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Coleman's personable work draws together the experience and wisdom of his 25 years as a vegetable gardener in Maine. It includes nearly all the material in the previous edition (LJ 11/1/89), communicating a respect and feeling for "the land" and its processes. Every page is imbued with the wisdom and careful observations he and his associates have gathered; from soil structure to "mobile greenhouses" that expand the growing season, each method is thought through to its ultimate impact on the earth and on economic survival. Well-presented graphics illustrate methods and techniques. This new edition includes sidebar references and notes, new chapters on creating fertile soil (without importing items such as manure from sources that may not use organic methods), and use of existing information channels to learn of new information. Of interest for even the smallest veggie patch grower. The Dirt Doctor's Guide to Organic Gardening presents many of the same sustainable concepts with the vehemence of its radio talk show host and news columnist author. Garrett gives tips on a broader range of home gardening, including landscaping and wildlife, and spends much effort on the abuses of past and current practice. Basics are presented briefly, with many eco-asides that help break up the dense, information-rich text. Lack of visuals makes the material harder to absorb, yet one is constantly copying out directions as they appear. These tidbits and the coverage of issues concerning Southern gardens make the title of value, though gathering the tips in an appendix or special section would have provided better access. For general collections.‘Sue Gardner, Albert Wisner Lib., Warwick, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

This treatise by Dallas Morning News columnist and fervent advocate of the organic technique leaves no stone unturned on the subject of chemical-free gardening. Garrett offers persuasive arguments in favor of a holistic approach to gardening that considers composting, soil enrichment with natural ingredients, mulching, alternative pest control (using such harmless ingredients as baking soda and vinegar) and so on. Serious in tone, this isn't exactly light reading, but neither is it scholarly or dull. Garrett displays a steady supply of wit and anecdotes to keep the prose flowing at a lively clip; the Texan spin on things (ridding a garden of fire ants and armadillos, for example) is intriguing. This volume serves well as an up-to-the-minute reference, one that gardeners of an organic persuasion will likely consult repeatedly. Rodale Book Club selection. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved