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Weedless Gardening
by
Garden like Mother Nature, with an organic system that’s good for plants and good for people.
Say good-bye to backaches and weed problems! Lee Reich’s organic Weedless Gardening eschews the traditional yearly digging up and working over of the soil. It’s is an easy-to-follow, low-impact approach to planting and maintaining a flower garden, a vegetable patch, trees, ...more
Say good-bye to backaches and weed problems! Lee Reich’s organic Weedless Gardening eschews the traditional yearly digging up and working over of the soil. It’s is an easy-to-follow, low-impact approach to planting and maintaining a flower garden, a vegetable patch, trees, ...more
Paperback, 176 pages
Published
January 8th 2000
by Workman Publishing Company
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Great book, until Lee told me to use Round-Up. That chapter was like finding my new friend was a KKK leader.
Probably better used as a reference book.
A few of the main takeaways are:
-You should almost never till or disturb the soil. If you are going to till the ground, it should be because you're starting your new garden and need to completely destroy what's growing there currently.
-You shouldn't be tilling, because you should be constantly (realistically seasonally and as needed in the summer) adding rich compost to the surface. Over time this will create a much healthier layer of dirt on the surface, ...more
A few of the main takeaways are:
-You should almost never till or disturb the soil. If you are going to till the ground, it should be because you're starting your new garden and need to completely destroy what's growing there currently.
-You shouldn't be tilling, because you should be constantly (realistically seasonally and as needed in the summer) adding rich compost to the surface. Over time this will create a much healthier layer of dirt on the surface, ...more
Although the concept is interesting, I was pretty disappointed that Reich didn't go into very much detail in this book. My husband asked me several questions while I was reading it that didn't get answered: How do you actually plant seeds, especially seeds like radishes and lettuce that are microscopic, using this technique? How often do you have to reapply newspapers? In addition, I felt that Reich kept mentioning that you might have to do some "maintenance weeding" at several different points
...more
I found this book to be thoroughly aggravating for some reason. Maybe because I'm just one of those gardening fools that likes to till my soil? Not sure... If nothing else, I'd say that it was an awfully long book to make a pretty simple point. The author could have summed it up more succinctly like this: Don't till your soil, don't step on your soil, apply mulch. 'Nuf said.
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Apr 28, 2008
Dan Moore
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
Anyone gardening or farming on a small scale
I came across Lee Reich's book a few years ago in our local library. Since I was knee deep in weeds at the time the title intrigued me. At the time it was mid summer and my garden, as usual, was an example of spring time work gone awry.
Each year, I dilligently tilled and rowed my garden as my father and his father had done, arranged the sprinklers, planted the best plants, staked the beans, caged the tomatoes and planned how this year I was going to have a TV worthy garden. Then May turned to J ...more
Each year, I dilligently tilled and rowed my garden as my father and his father had done, arranged the sprinklers, planted the best plants, staked the beans, caged the tomatoes and planned how this year I was going to have a TV worthy garden. Then May turned to J ...more
This is a decent primer if you're not up-to-date on contemporary organic gardening methods. It covers quite a bit of ground, from the weedless stuff (as titled) to gardening know-how like season-extension (well beyond the topic of the title).
However, like many primer gardening books, it comes across as heavy in opinion and light on science. Reich appears to be arguing with the reader at times, trying to convince them to give up certain practices and adopt his preferences, but doesn't always pro ...more
However, like many primer gardening books, it comes across as heavy in opinion and light on science. Reich appears to be arguing with the reader at times, trying to convince them to give up certain practices and adopt his preferences, but doesn't always pro ...more
This is one of the best books I have read on garden maintenance. I would include it in my top five gardening books to recommend to beginners.
Good thoughts. Nothing revolutionary, but a receipt that I am on the right path with my garden.
Aug 18, 2020
Dani
added it
This book was generally informative in its own right, and has a great premise: work smarter, not harder, by disturbing your soil as little as possible, and you'll be rewarded with far fewer weeds and fewer aching muscles!
However, I really didn't like the writing style or layout of this book. At a glance, I found the book's contents eye-catching and appealing, but in practice it was a mess to read. There was too much jumping around and it wasn't streamlined enough. There were many little aside ...more
However, I really didn't like the writing style or layout of this book. At a glance, I found the book's contents eye-catching and appealing, but in practice it was a mess to read. There was too much jumping around and it wasn't streamlined enough. There were many little aside ...more
A winner. I have implemented several of Lee's (and other author's - Ruth Stout for one) ideas. Mulching and feeding your gardens (vegetable, perennial beds, etc) from the top down to improve your soil works. I started with what I considered concrete with some wild grass on top. After about a years time, I am already able to dig into the earth with a shovel about 6-8". Many followers of this method report the same and it only gets better with time. I'm selling my rototiller.
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This was a surprisingly helpful little book that I reference often. Much of the book is about building quality soil, and all that goes along with that. I have found the section on cover crops to be particularly helpful. He also touches on irrigation systems, how to properly transplant perennial plants and vertical gardening.
It was not expensive book but it is pretty comprehensive. I like that it’s smaller, so it’s easy to bring along with me.
It was not expensive book but it is pretty comprehensive. I like that it’s smaller, so it’s easy to bring along with me.
Pretty useful little book, definitely a different one than I had seen before on gardening practices. This one's mostly about sticking as close to what nature does after initially planning your garden. Sure, clean up what you've got, but don't mess with the soil too much. The topsoil all over the world has replaced itself year after year... unless we interfere too much. So, why not try it in your garden?
I like the ideas presented, so I'm gonna give them a whirl. ...more
I like the ideas presented, so I'm gonna give them a whirl. ...more
I think this is a handy guide for gardening, it is easy to read with clear and consistent instruction on the methods used. I dislike the drawings to illustrate a "fact" presented, when a photo would demonstrate the real information. I will definitely consider the method and apply some of this style in my own yard.
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Weedless Gardening is an excellent organic gardening resource, full of useful advice, informative tables, and additional resources. While I continue to not see a viable path between the current state of my garden and a weedless one that requires a few minutes of weeding a week, I can also dream, and at least I'll have good tips along the way!
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A lot of these concepts were not new to me, and there are some things in here I am just never going to do (like spray Roundup). But overall it was easy to read and there were some tips I might come back to, like establishing a wildflower meadow.
a well done book with some great ideas for easier gardening. I will implement some of these ideas this year and see how it goes.
Great information on no-till gardening.
Useful, helped me rethink my practice.
Excellent & a huge help for making gardening a little easier & a little more fun!
This was a very interesting gardening book. It presents an alternative to what most gardeners do. Especially what I was taught by my grandfather. However, the evidence for these methods is anecdotal. There are no rigorous studies to actually see if this method really results in less weeds than other methods. I tried this method in my own garden this year. Even though I didn't count the number of weeds, it didn't seem that there were less this year as the prior years. The experiment is really abo
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An interesting and fast read. Mr. Reich's approach seems logical from a scientific viewpoint. I will apply his gardening methods this spring because I've been loosening soil in plant beds for years followed by an application of shredded bark - the result of which has been anything but weedless. Disturbing the soil surface as little as is practical, addition of only 1" of organic mulch per year, and drip irrigation delivered only to plants that are welcome in the garden are the three factors I'll
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SO GOOD.
For a novice gardener, this book helps explain where weeds come from and how to avoid having them. It's really common sense stuff a lot of people know, but I did not! Also, it's the basics of composting and soil quality in making yourself a weedless garden, so it's great to get those basics under your belt as well.
I wish everyone read this book before buying posion to get rid of weeds! ...more
For a novice gardener, this book helps explain where weeds come from and how to avoid having them. It's really common sense stuff a lot of people know, but I did not! Also, it's the basics of composting and soil quality in making yourself a weedless garden, so it's great to get those basics under your belt as well.
I wish everyone read this book before buying posion to get rid of weeds! ...more
I didn't actually read this book from cover to cover. I read the first few chapters that introduce his theory and the chapter on vegetable gardening because that was what I was especially interested in. We are going to do some version of weedless or less weeds gardening this year, so this was a good read. I guess I don't totally trust his approach to gardening, so I don't dare take the whole leap. It would be a fun experiment some year though.
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Very clear and easy to read, with a lot of good tips. But flawed because the system isn't really scalable about the backyard level, and half of the book is devoted to basic gardening information everyone knows. A good book for a beginning urban gardener to buy or for everyone else to check out of the library. Visit my blog to read the highlights of weedless gardening.
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Excellent starter book for no-till.gardening
Reich makes the case for not turning over or digging large areas of soil. Written accessibly and accurately for someone to implement this. You will be using lots of compost and mulch at least for the first few years until you learn to work with cover crops and ground covers. Reich has practical suggestions for common issues: layout, what to do through the seasons,etc.,and good resource lists for equipment supplies and some seeds.
Reich makes the case for not turning over or digging large areas of soil. Written accessibly and accurately for someone to implement this. You will be using lots of compost and mulch at least for the first few years until you learn to work with cover crops and ground covers. Reich has practical suggestions for common issues: layout, what to do through the seasons,etc.,and good resource lists for equipment supplies and some seeds.
This book is short and to the point. Definitely worth reading and I plan on incorporating some of Reich's ideas in my yard. You could really just read the first half of the book and skip the second half as a lot of the material is either pretty basic (for example, how to plant a tree), or covers very specific situations such as growing a meadow.
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a paradigm-changing view of how to garden organically and with much less effort. weeds will emerge too frequently when soil gets opened to sunlight and water, so top down gardening is the weedless way to go.
The book is a decent reference book, containing information and good ideas. It's not the most enjoyable read if you're just looking for gardening inspiration. The principles are laid out fairly clearly. Occasional illustrations and "sidebars" or "boxes" aid in presenting information.
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I'm optimistic about putting the techniques in this book to work. I'm skeptical that they will be as miraculous as described, but the principles here make good sense. Recommend for vegetable gardeners.
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if one did this, one could save lots of time for reading.
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Lee Reich, PhD is an avid farmdener (more than a gardener, less than a farmer) with graduate degrees in soil science and horticulture. After working in plant and soil research with the USDA and Cornell University, he shifted gears and turned to writing, lecturing, and consulting.
He writes regularly for a number of gardening magazines and his syndicated gardening column for Associated Press appears ...more
He writes regularly for a number of gardening magazines and his syndicated gardening column for Associated Press appears ...more
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