Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Book Review Wednesday

Dig
by Meredith Kirton

I'm pretty into gardening books. I'm churning through a lot of them at the moment, mostly from the library. One of my favourites has been Dig by Meredith Kirton. Even borrowed it twice, I have. I like that it is a bit more general than some books: it's not just fruit and veg, and it's not just shrubs and flowers, but rather is a bit of everything.

There's helpful info about planting, propagating, pruning and about when and how to do particular gardening tasks, and information about different plant families. It's pretty general, and you get a good cross section, so it's a handy reference book to have on hand.

I'm a bit fickle, so my gardening books need to have good pictures. This book has great photography, pictures that make you want to get straight out in the yard to get your hands dirty, and they are all labelled well, so you always know what you're looking at. I appreciate that. And the text is broken up into good, digestible chunks, not too long or wordy, but still with plenty of information and substance. Just the right sort of size for a quick peruse now and then on the toilet in your lounge room.

It's a big whopping book, thick and hard covered, and though the size may seem daunting, it's not really the sort of thing you have to read cover to cover. You can just flick open wherever at anytime and enjoy it just as much.

Great book, and there's also a couple others in the series, 'Plot' (specifically about garden design) and 'Harvest' (specifically about edible gardens). Well worth a look for the casual gardener.

4 comments:

Karen said...

Thanks for that, I'll have to look it up.
A month or so ago, I bought myself "The Edible Balcony" by Indira Naidoo with some of my birthday money. It's probably more of a gardening book for girls since it has recipes as well. And even though we do have a yard, it has limited usable gardening space so I am finding her hints for growing things in pots very handy. Pretty pictures as well.
What I like about it is that she makes you feel as if anyone can do this and talks about her mistakes as well as her successes. As a *very* casual gardener who quite often forgets things like watering, I found that quite encouraging.

Anonymous said...

Boys can cook too, Karen!! ;o)

Karen said...

Yes Belle, after I hit publish it did dawn on me that my comment might offend the male cooks out there :)
Sorry to anyone in that category...

Ben McLaughlin said...

Karen, I've seen that book, it looks like a good one. I've always liked Indira. I'll try and borrow it from the library when it comes out.