Bob Flowerdew's Organic Bible: Successful Gardening the Natural Way

Kyle Cathie, 1999. Hardcover. Used: Acceptable. Hardback no D/J in good condition, small bumping to corners. 1999 edition. Review Going organic tends to be regarded as something one does largely for the good of one's soul. Doesn't organic gardening entail a great deal more intensive labour than the chemical kind? And aren't the yields, of vegetables for example, much lower? Not so, says Bob Flowerdew in his comprehensive Organic Bible: If we plan well and grow the right plants in the optimum combinations in the best places, and if we encourage various forms of life to accompany them in our gardens, we can let nature have almost complete control over pests and diseases, over maintaining and increasing fertility, and over producing bigger returns than we could ever wrest from her by coercion. What then, in practice, does the organic gardener use instead of chemicals? Wit and cunning, says Bob Flowerdew, both of which qualities abound in his Bible. Starting with an eloquent account of the principles and benefits of the organic approach, Bob Flowerdew shows how in almost all aspects of gardening it is both more efficient and more productive to use plants that complement each other, enrich the soil, attract predators and deter pests, than to use chemical boost and blast. The simple, fundamental rule is that you feed the soil, not the plants. From this everything else flows: the ecological planting; the use of green manures and composts (often enlivened with "personal liquid waste"); the mulching; the use of worms rather than a spade to do soil work. Less is more. This is an immensely practical, highly readable Bible inspirational, too, as it should be. It deserves to make many converts. Robin Davidson. Pippa Greenwood, the Mirror (Nov 03) - this is a must-have and guaranteed to entertain as well as provide plenty of practical comment and help. ISBN 1-85626-280-4 1856262804.