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Summary: Another dimension to your gardening
Review: Written by a father and son, one living in southern England and the other in southern California, this book gives you the skinny on just what is going on in your garden. Who likely lives in this little eco-system you have created, who dines on your favourite plants and who eats the diners. themselves. Take aphids, for example (please!). One aphid can give rise to 1300 more aphids within 14 days. Luckily these aphids are eaten at a great rate by hover flies, lady bugs and chickadees. One hover fly alone can eat 50 - 60 aphids a day and a ladybug can eat several thousand in its lifetime. Or take slugs. In England there may be as many as 200 slugs per 11 square feet of land. Their only enemies, apart from gardeners, seem to be a few species of birds and large beetles. But there exist microscopic creatures called nematodes that almost invisibly attack and kill slugs. If you are interested in nature study, or in knowing what really is going on in your own, carefully created, eco-system this book will intrigue you. It contains a wealth of information about the complex web of life that is your garden. The writers are sharing a a vast store of knowledge and understanding, yet the book is very readable. The generous section on "Gardens for Children", his specially built school pond and his pleasure in finding diverse life forms beneath the lid of a garbage can (dustbin, if you're English) specially placed in some rough grass speak to the senior writer's sense of wonder. His volume of research and clearly presented information speak to his science-based knowledge.
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