The Practical Organic Gardener

by Brenda Little

This practical and informative guide for anyone wanting to learn all there is to know about organic methods for growing food includes step-by-step instructions for caring for your organic garden, as well as illustrations, charts, and tables on topics such as watering techniques, proper root depth for vegetables, and tips for mulching with a non-mulching mower. This comprehensive, lively, and detailed text holds the answer to virtually every question the budding organic gardener might have.

Genres: Gardening

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the book cover to cover and will use it in the future as a reference book. Little's thesis is take care of your soil if you want healthy, productive plants, so it's no surprise that she devotes so much space to composting, mulching, and fertilizing. But she also covers how to treat pests, diseases, and how to attract beneficial insects to your garden. Most of the information was consistent with what I've seen elsewhere.

In addition to the numerous editing mistakes mentioned in another review, however, there was also at least some questionable advice. For example, in one section Little recommends drinking comfrey tea, but most experts agree comfrey can be toxic to the liver when ingested by humans. The biggest weakness of the book though, and one that affects many gardening books, is that even though the author attempts to give general advice, she is inevitably limited by her local experience. Gardening in California isn't the same as gardening in the Midwest (even the Midwest has wide variation), and it certainly isn't the same as gardening outside of the United States. Little fails to mention hardiness zones or that some plants simply won't do well in some environments.

Overall this is a good introduction to the subject but should be supplemented by other material, especially knowledge of your local environment.

[Gracee febus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great beginners overview to starting a garden organically.

[Anastasia · Rating 1 out of 5]

The concepts were informative, but there were a ton of editing errors. I was also disappointed that it was written by a British author and with a vague sense of what "organic" means. The author's foreign terminology and vague generality weren't helpful-- to me, a large part of being organic is being local and responding to the resources, challenges, and issues in a local context. This book addressed none of that.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, little book on organic gardening. Nothing new

[Kathely · Rating 4 out of 5]

a little simplistic.