The Organic Gardening Book

by Geoff Hamilton

A guide to growing vegetables, fruit, flowers, and more without harmful chemicals covers the basic principles of organic gardening and offers practical sections on improving soil fertility and controlling garden pests. Original

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Horticulture, Plants, Food, Reference

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2004

About the author

Geoffrey Stephen Hamilton (15 August 1936 – 4 August 1996) was an English gardener, broadcaster and author, best known as presenter of BBC television's Gardeners' World in the 1980s and 1990s.

Reviews

[Teresa]

A good book on organic gardening, one of the best I have seen.

I have grown organically for over 40 years, even owned and operated an organic commercial greenhouse for years.

Good to see that this author gets it right.

[Alyssa Bohon]

A solid beast of a gardening book from the 1980's. Interesting to see an organic gardening approach from a older gardener of- maybe I'll call it the 'high-fuss' school of thought. No toxic pesticides, but lots of digging, lots of hovering, and quite a bit of home-built contrivances. His careful instructions for ponds, greenhouses, coldframes, etc. make me rather glad I don't have these features to deal with in my garden, and his advice on different plant care techniques is detailed and maybe more than I'd be willing to actually do. He's also British and writing before the current warming climate we're in now, and from his tips on different plants you get the sense that things were just a bit cooler then.

I enjoyed the little touches of older times, such as the possibility of using elephant manure from when the circus comes to town, pointing out the string trimmer as a new garden tool, or the advantages of using newer plastic seed trays over wooden ones. His total perspective is from a different era, and while this makes some of the information a bit outdated, it also is educational to look through the eyes of an experienced gardener of an older generation.

The little instructional boxes on building things are one of the chief 'worth your money' features of the book. They're like the stuff your grandpa would nail together in the garage and it's all written out with pictures to follow.

[Cliff]

One of the most useful, practical and informative books I know on the practice of organic gardening. A reference we turn to every year come planting season and when diagnosing unusual plant ailments. Every step is well illustrated and explained, making organic gardening accessible to even a rank novice.

[Jeremy Lyon]

I'll have a better idea in a few months if the advice in this book is substantively effective, but it's presented in an engaging, lavishly illustrated, and easy-to-read style. I was most appreciative of the overall philosophy: one of pragmatism, that looks at the concrete benefits of organic gardening and how the back yard gardener can implement organic practices without inveigling or lecturing.

[The Flipped Page (Susan K)]

Great color photos. Sections on ornamental and vegetable garden planting. Vegetable gardening section has nice crop rotation directions, and planning. Also has great individual vegetable information, pests and diseases, fruits, herbs, tools, etc...

[Michael]

Fabulous book on gardening for my mid sized home garden. Perfect level of detail.

[trisha]

informative, and not overwhelming, but not comprehensive, either. a good start.

[Abbey]

A great reference book to buy. I read this from front to back.

[Mark Nicholas]

Useful info for growing my garden.

[Nancy]

Ok book. Good photos: I read the whole book

[Liz]

great pictures. good information about treating insects.

[Steph Haze]

Useful but intense! A bit scary for someone trying to garden for the first time.

[Sara]

This would be a great, comprehensive gardening book to start with... wasn't a whole lot of super-interesting new stuff after the number of gardening books I've been reading.

[Euan]

This is the best one I have seen to date regarding organic harvesting.