Easy Answers for Great Gardens: 500 Tips, Techniques, and Outlandish Ideas

Rating:
Summary: Practical!
Review: No color photos to drool over and get distracted by--just practical advice from a real person who understands how to juggle gardening chores and joys with other parts of a busy life. Martha Stewart she is not! As in her other books, Marianne Binetti has lots of unusual little shortcuts for saving time, money and energy that are as useful for the experienced gardener as for the beginner. The chapter on roses is excellent for folks like me, who love these flowers but don't have the time to baby them. Lots of disease-resistant types are listed, as well as some really useful tips contributed by readers of her newspaper column.

Rating:
Summary: The Only Garden Book I've Read Cover to Cover!
Review: The original blurb I read about this book was misleading. I thought it was going to be about using unusual containers. I bought it for my sister. Now I have to get her another one. I started reading it and read it cover to cover. It was great! Very practical, imaginative, and common sensical. I wish I had had this when I was actually living in Tacoma, WA. But you don't have to live in the Pacific Northwest to derive a great deal of benefit from this book. I am putting some of her suggestions to use and in 3 short weeks am already seeing the difference they make. Thanks for writing this book!

Rating:
Summary: Upbeat and Irreverent
Review: This book focuses on giving the reader easy answers for more carefree gardening. This is not the writer's first gardening book and she has a syndicated gardening column and is featured on HGTV and the Discovery Channel. Her forte is giving practical gardening advice in easy-to-read, light-hearted small doses. This book consists of 500 tips, techniques and outlandish ideas; it also contains the kind of energy and enthusiasm that makes you want to go out and implement the ideas right away.

Many of the tips and ideas are based on questions she has answered in her newspaper column. The answers are cheeky and irreverent. When asked "How much should I fertilize my trees?" the writer answers "The easy answer...Just forget it." After a couple of paragraphs explaining why fertilizing trees isn't a good idea she concludes, "Make your trees lean, mean and independent." And that illustrates the whole point of the book - don't stress over garden chores that you hate and plants that don't do well for you - gardening should be a pleasure, not a pain.

The writer's light touch keeps the reader energized and coming back for more. She uses the term "carefree" quite often and points out that, while gardening is work, we should enjoy it more and worry about it less. If a plant doesn't do well it's OK to dig it up and throw it out.

The question and answer format works well in this book, as do the many sidebars. The material is well organized and upbeat throughout. The writer is knowledgeable and up-to-date on recent research. My quibble with this book is the amateurish interior design and the poor copy editing. The writer deserved better.