I really like the plot designs in this book, and the fact that the author lives in the same city as me is really nice too. It took me another read-through to appreciate how well laid-out many of the plots are, and I look forward to using them in my garden this year. ( )

Ok but for the serious gardener - I found it a bit to labour intensive for me, but it will give a good idea on "how to' tips.

I love compost. I dislike spending money and fossil fuel. This book's instructions for starting a bed are to pick up:
- a bag of mushroom or other compost
- a bag of organic potting soil
- a bale or pack of straw
- a bag of animal manure
- a small bag of gypsum for clay soil
- a tiny bag of lime for acidic soil
- organic fertilizer pellets or liquid seaweed fertilizer.
Maybe I'm just not the right audience for this book? But who is? Who likes spending money and fossil fuel they don't have to, in order to grow their own food organically?

The chapter on composting is just a ragbag assembly of possible methods. There is no information about when or why you might want to use on of them instead of another. And several are just bad: the old circle of chicken wire trick is in here, with no advice on how to handle chicken wire without stabbing yourself. Houbein suggests making compost in "two plastic laundry baskets lined with wet newspaper and covered with doormats held down by a brick". You'd be picking bits of laundry basket and doormat out of your compost forever. I think the worst advice in this section is "Using a Riding Lawnmower to Make Compost." Don't do this. Don't burn fuel and clog your mower driving over piles "prunings from the ornamental garden; weeds, except bad ones likely to regrow from pieces; leaves; very thin bark; a bag of animal manure; a small bag of lime (you only need handfuls); other organic material, like spoiled hay; fallen branches no thicker than your finger." Disassembling and mixing those materials is what composting does.

There is a three-page chapter called "Easy-Care Fruit Trees" which contains no information on how to care for fruit trees easily. Houbein describes a Shaker method, which requires immense amounts of material and physical labor before you begin. Then there's a page on espaliering. Then a page on netting. That's it! That's the whole chapter! That's where I gave up.

( )