Books; The First Selections for a Well Rounded Gardener

 

Reading List for June (these are the books I read that enlightened me as a gardener – several different lists for plants have been used over the last 20 years – you can find the lists posted at my blog;

The Complete Guide to Preserving Your Own Seeds for Your Garden Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply; Katie Murphy, 2011 Sometimes I think this book takes itself so seriously and tends to frustrate getting a direst answer without the old homey feel she's trying to project. However, the upside of that is you get a book that covers the nuances that this book maintains. And it does have the information. It's not expensive and if you have the cash, go for it.

Good Bugs for Your Garden; Allison Mia Starcher 1995 This is a great little book from a local artist and gardener (Santa Monica). It is still in print (I checked) and available at Amazon as well as eBay (for used copies that cost less). It is easy enough to read by children and informative enough to help adults carry on in their bug world.

The Resilient Gardener; Carol Deppe 2010 A very rewarding book in my list, her drawings and her familiarity with the insects that inhabit our gardens makes for fun reading and truly an education of these little critters – with which we must live, so grab a cup of coffee and sit down with this delightful book that you will read and reread over and over again. ANY book by Carol Deppe is worth it's time. Some of her books are not the books to start with – she taught this stuff in Oregon and can easily get a little too technical it's a great book, it just takes more effort to get through. She is brilliant – eventually read Deppe and you'll get what I mean.

Sadly, we lost Carol Deppe earlier this year. All of her books - and there are quite a few - are great books covering whatever the cover says it is covering. We will truly miss Carol but rejoice in the material she left behind. 

I finally did meet Carol at a seed fest held at the Seed Savers' Exchange held in the summer . I had told friends when I scheduled my flight to the mid-West that if I met up with Carol, I was going to buy her a drink of whatever she was drinking. I let it be known, I was not fooling around. 

I repeated my offer and finally one gentleman said, "Well there's your chance! That's her over there!" And so I marched over to her, repeated my offer and she laughed holding up a paper cup and said, "Well here you go, I'm drinking water." And then tried to induct me into a band she was putting together to sing about seeds. 

david