Wolf D. Storl

This book is a well written and thoroughly researched introduction to gardening. It informs in both the wider aspects -- linking horticulture to historical, philosophical, and cosmological contexts -- as well as in practical down-to-earth details. There are chapters on the pioneers of organic agriculture, basic mineral processes, plant evolution, the structure of soil, nutrients and fertilizers, cosmic influences, atmospheric factors, compost, companion planting, crop rotation, weeds, insects, teas, biotic substances, cooking, nutrition, food handling, seed selection, and care of tools.

Heather Coburn Flores

For Flores, "practicing ecological living is a deeply subversive act," and while most gardening books do not include warnings that COINTELPRO "can and will...rape you," it is only because most gardening books do not encourage "guerilla gardening" after describing the basics of garden planning and pruning. More advanced topics range from integrating barnyard birds into a garden to getting more mileage out of the home water cycle to the benefits of a balanced insect population. The illustrations are amusing as well as helpful, and though the index is not extensive, the book, overall, is a much better read than the average gardening book, both in terms of range and entertainment value.

Eliot Coleman

From first sentence to last, Coleman's (The New Organic Gardener) book is a delight--an earnest guide written with an impish sense of humor. It will refresh anyone who wants to get the most from a vegetable garden yet doesn't want to devote too much time and energy to the process. Apparently Coleman thoroughly enjoys every phase of gardening--from planting crops to weeding. Who else has ever suggested, only half in jest, dancing with a hoe? Or keeping a pair of ducks for pest patrol? This is that kind of book. It's also a book full of valuable information on how to harvest fresh vegetables and salad ingredients literally year-round--yet without an expensive greenhouse or indoor light garden set-up. Coleman combines succession planting (small sowings three or more times, rather than one big endeavor) with cold-frame growing in the winter months.

R. J. Ruppenthal

The square inch gardener's guide to year-round growing, fermenting, and sprouting. Books on container gardening have been wildly popular with urban and suburban readers, but until now, there has been no comprehensive "how-to" guide for growing fresh food in the absence of open land.

Wendy Johnson

Johnson has served as head gardener for San Francisco's Green Gulch Farm Center, a place of exceptional tranquility and vibrancy where her daily devotional meditation practices became as essential to the health and productivity of her gardens as they were to her body and soul. Espousing seven essential principles that demonstrate respect for the land through organic gardening and ecological farming, Johnson relates practical information about botanical basics, such as planting, growth, and propagation, as well as the craft of gardening, such as designing, tending, and harvesting. Viewed through the prism of an elemental understanding of the unbridled life that exists in every garden, Johnson's wisdom is conveyed with a lyrical, poetic, yet pragmatic sensibility that both calms the mind and excites the imagination.

B. C. Wolverton

The book thoroughly discusses the problems associated with poor indoor air quality and provides a natural solution through the use of houseplants. It is gorgeously illustrated with color photographs and makes a wonderful gift.

Hans Andeweg

Around the world, as well as close to home, much of our land is in crisis. Harmful pollutants have left plants, soil, fields and forests seriously damaged, and our future on this planet in the balance. This timely book examines a number of theories of natural energy, and presents practical techniques for diagnosing and healing plants and land, including the use of vibrations. A variety of projects conducted by Hans Andeweg have proved his methods to be remarkably successful in improving the vitality of treated areas, including forests, estates and gardens. Through progressive exercises the author demonstrates how you can start your own healing projects, even on the smallest scale. He also looks at what it means to have 'green fingers', and the remarkable influence of our own attitudes towards plants and trees. This is an important book about how we, for good or ill, affect the natural world and what we can do to repair the damage that is all too evident around us.

Jeffrey M. Smith

Are genetically modified foods safe? Longtime anti-GM foods campaigner Smith presents the "opposing" case. He offers cases where GM produced results that were at best unexpected (increased starch content in potatoes), at worst grotesque (pigs without genitals).

Rosalind Creasy

"The Edible Flower Garden" provides a comprehensive guide to selecting and growing flowers that can be used for cookery, both as garnishes and as ingredients. Creasy talks with Alice Waters, chef of Chez Panisse, and acknowledged inventor of California cuisine.

Michael Lavelle

Flowering plants provide a welcome and colourful sight, whether long-loved shrubby perennials or bright and fleeting annuals. They are vital to our ecology and a clear indication of the health of the countryside. Hard cover with dust jacket. List price $35.00.