Re: Top 10 gardening books of all time?

**K* M* <k*@iol.ie>**

Curious how books affect people differently - that one would actually head up my ten worst books list! The square foot data is all taken wholesale from Jeavons and his basic premise is that you ignore the soil and instead build artificial strata to grow in. I got a review copy when it came out and took a vow to stop buying books published by Rodale

Yes, it made it easy for the newcomer, and obviously it did bring people into gardening, since that is what it did for you Doreen. But the mechanistic view it takes of gardening makes me shudder. And I dread to think how many square miles of the peat bogs of the world it has destroyed. 

Which isn't to say I don't advocate small beginner gardens - more people have been lost to gardening by facing themselves with too big an area than by any other means to my mind - but not in this synthetic way.

How is the vegetable madness proceeding this spring your side of the pond - I actually turned down a paid radio slot this evening because of conflicts of demand - I could be speaking every day and ten times over at weekends and most of my colleagues say they are in the same situation. Good thing the weather is too bad to garden without destroying soil structure or we'd all be splitting ourselves in three or four to cover the ground

kathryn

On 25 Feb 2010, at 18:20, Doreen Howard wrote:

> Square-Foot Gardening (1981, Rodale Press) by Mel Bartholmew.
> 
> It revived edible gardening, taught how to get the most produce out of the 
> smallest area and got millions of people growing vegetables.  This was in 
> the midst of hyper-inflation of the 1980's.  Very applicable for today's 
> economic conditions.  Inflation is just around the corner due 
> to escalating deficits.
> 
> My copy long ago fell apart as I took it outside constantly for 
> referral.  It's what got me into gardening.  Book has been reissued and 
> updated several times.
> Doreen Howard 
> 
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