AbeBooks' Reading Copy » garden http://www.abebooks.com/blog AbeBooks book blog Fri, 03 May 2013 16:00:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Baseball and gardening http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2008/04/02/baseball-and-gardening/ http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2008/04/02/baseball-and-gardening/#comments Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:22:54 +0000 Richard Davies http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2008/04/02/baseball-and-gardening/ Polar opposites but lots of people love America’s pastime or messing about in the garden….

The Chicago Sun-Times reviews the latest baseball books.

The St Louis Post Dispatch reviews some of the latest gardening books.

]]> http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2008/04/02/baseball-and-gardening/feed/ 3 For Christmas…The $64 Tomato http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/12/03/for-christmasthe-64-tomato/ http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/12/03/for-christmasthe-64-tomato/#comments Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:04:04 +0000 Richard Davies http://www.abebooks.com/blog/?p=1075 $64 TomatoToday’s recommendation for Christmas giving is…. The $64 Tomato by William Alexander. Published by the wonderful Algonquin press, this is a great non-fiction book for all would-be gardeners. I read this book in the summer and it’s definitely worth a look if you are thinking about getting serious in the vegetable patch.

Hey, it should be simple… and cheap too. Middle-aged Bill Alexander battles deer, groundhogs, webworms, weeds, and weather, and his neighbours, while his wife and kids look on in pity. Can you put a price on something that you’ve grown from a seed? Bill’s price is $64 for each of his Brandywine tomatoes. Some how, I am not surprised.

]]> http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/12/03/for-christmasthe-64-tomato/feed/ 0 Only four months until spring http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/11/29/only-four-months-until-spring/ http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/11/29/only-four-months-until-spring/#comments Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:52:53 +0000 slaming http://www.abebooks.com/blog/?p=1071 It’s never too early to start thinking about your plans for next year’s garden or, in the short term, Christmas presents for the soil worker in your life.

The Times of London has put together a great list of the best gardening books of the year.

I am not what you would call a green thumb, in fact if plants could talk I’m sure they would shout black death which is why I cut the grass and make the compost and my partner guards the plants from my cursed spade.

Times Bestselling Gardening Books

  1. Grow Your Own Veg by Carol Klein
  2. The Allotment Book by AM Clevely
  3. RHS Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers by Christopher Brickell
  4. Alan Titchmarsh’s The Gardener’s Year by Alan Titchmarsh
  5. Small Garden: Hundreds of Brilliant Ideas for Small Spaces by John Brookes
]]> http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/11/29/only-four-months-until-spring/feed/ 0 Golden Guide to Hallucinogenic Plants http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/04/30/golden-guide-to-hallucinogenic-plants/ http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/04/30/golden-guide-to-hallucinogenic-plants/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:27:45 +0000 Richard Davies http://abebooks.com/blog/?p=500 Boing Boing highlights an interesting blog posting about Richard Evans Schultes’s Golden Guide to Hallucinogenic Plants.

]]> http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/04/30/golden-guide-to-hallucinogenic-plants/feed/ 1 The Forestiere Underground Gardens http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/03/16/the-forestiere-underground-gardens/ http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/03/16/the-forestiere-underground-gardens/#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:28:28 +0000 Richard Davies http://abebooks.com/blog/?p=434 The Dallas Morning News has a feature about a book by Silvio Manno called The Forestiere Underground Gardens: A Pictorial Journey  – telling the story of how Baldassare Forestiere built 10 acres of underground gardens in California.

Using little more than a shovel, pick, wheelbarrow and his imagination, Mr. Forestiere carved his living quarters in about eight years, starting in 1906. He continued to dig, expanding by 1923 to 10 acres of patios, walkways and chambers.

]]> http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/03/16/the-forestiere-underground-gardens/feed/ 0 Amy Stewart’s Flower Confidential http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/03/15/amy-stewarts-flower-confidential/ http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/03/15/amy-stewarts-flower-confidential/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:54:08 +0000 Richard Davies http://abebooks.com/blog/?p=432 $title - $authorWe just placed an interview with author Amy Stewart on to AbeBooks.com. She has penned a book called Flower Confidential – an insight into flowers, or rather the cut flowers you buy from florists and supermarkets. Amy’s been getting plenty of attention – the New York Times reviewed her book several weeks ago. She’s in the middle of a booktour with appearances in California still to come – see the bottom of this article for dates and venues.

The book is definitely worth a read. I can’t say I’ve ever considered where flowers come from – I go into the store, buy them and walk away. Amy reveals that those flowers have probably travelled thousands of miles by plane before arriving in your local florist. Also this book has a beautiful cover.

]]> http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/03/15/amy-stewarts-flower-confidential/feed/ 0 Climate change makes all gardening books obsolete http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/02/27/climate-change-makes-all-gardening-books-obsolete/ http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/02/27/climate-change-makes-all-gardening-books-obsolete/#comments Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:14:13 +0000 Richard Davies http://abebooks.com/blog/?p=396 A major blow this morning for horticulturalists everywhere – all gardening books are now out of date thanks to climate change.

“Books that were written in the 1980s and early 1990s, such as Geoff Hamilton’s The First Time Garden from 1988, no longer accurately reflect the fact that many plants that would normally be killed off by cold weather are now surviving longer through the winter.”

]]> http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2007/02/27/climate-change-makes-all-gardening-books-obsolete/feed/ 1 Spring http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2006/04/26/spring/ http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2006/04/26/spring/#comments Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:20:46 +0000 admin http://abebooks.com/blog/?p=15 Ah Spring (and Summer)! How we have missed you.

The weather has turned pleasant (and least here on the left coast), and so naturally thoughts of being outdoors and BBQs are abundant. And part of this is getting the garden back into shape and the veggie patch underway.

I never been a big fan of the over-elaborate over-manicured garden – perferring the native plants (that book was the bible as I moved through the botany courses at university) and a bit of happy accident planning.

Being actively involved in the garden is a new thing for me, so any suggestion on good gardening books (specifically vegetable/fruit gardening) are most welcome.

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