Smith & Hawken: The Tool Book - Hardcover

Logan, William Bryant

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0761108556 ISBN 13: 9780761108559

Publisher: Workman Publishing Company, 1997

Synopsis

The Garden Writers Association of America declared it best book of the year for 1998. And The New York Times wrote: "Logan, who is one of our best garden writers, has produced not only a real book but a scrupulously researched, handsomely designed, and highly enjoyable one to book."The Took Book celebrates garden tools in all their pleasure, practicality, variety, beauty, ingenuity, simplicity, and purity. Thirteen chapters and over 70 striking full-color photographic spreads-obsessive and obsessively informative-present hundreds of tools organized by task: 22 shovels, 21 spades, 12 trowels, 16 hoes, 11 weeders, 19 hand pruners, 10 pruning saws. In addition to garden tool necessities, here are knives, axes, hooks, watering cans, rakes, riddles, brooms, wheel barrows, shears, and scoops, and much more. There are tools to start the garden from seed in the spring, tools to keep it growing and healthy all summer, and tools clean up in the fall. And, finally, tools to care for the tools.

In addition, the the book presents a detailed overview of the marriage of tool to type of work-how garden tools evolved, how to use each type of tool properly, and what to look for in a tool. It's the right tool for the right job. 37,000 copies in print.

About this title

About the Author

William Bryant Logan is a certified arborist who uses a variety of garden tools in his daily work. He is also a Quill & Trowel Award-winning writer, contributing editor to Garden Design, and a free-lance author whose articles have appeared in House Beautiful, Horticulture, House & Garden, and Metropolitan Home. He previously wrote "Cuttings," a column for The New York Times. Mr. Logan lives and gardens in Brooklyn, New York.

From the Back Cover

If you love to knock yourself out digging beds, buy a better shovel. If you're looking for a no-nonsense alternative, buy this book! (Ketzel Levine, National Public Radio's Doyenne of Dirt)

"Thoroughly practical, easy-to-follow guide to good gardening Lee Reich make it sound simple, and if you follow his methods and philosophy, it is." (Dora Galitzki, Gardening Columnist, The New York Times, and Author of The Gardener's Essential Companion)

"Finally, a book filled with science-based information that insures success and frees us from busywork in the garden." (Dr. H. March Cathey, President Emeritus, American Horticultural Society)

Turning conventional wisdom on its head, Lee Reich shows how to garden for plants and good for people. Eschewing the traditional yearly digging up and working over of the soil, WEEDLESS GARDENING is an easy-to-follow, low-impact approach to planting and maintaining a flower garden, a vegetable garden, trees, and shrubs naturally. Say good-bye to backaches and week problems.

Reviews

Three hundred pages of garden tools may be overkill, but, nonetheless, here are 440 tools shown in 70 full-color photographic spreads. The chapters are organized by task: digging, cultivating, propagating, planting, cutting, watering, composting, lawn care, holding and hauling, and raking and sweeping. Shown, for example, are 26 types of shovels, 21 spades, 12 trowels, 16 hoes, 11 weeders, 18 hand pruners, 10 pruning saws, 24 forks, 21 hose accessories, 11 sprinklers, and 15 rakes. A chapter on clothing and protection tells gardeners what's hot in boots and shoes, gloves and hats, and shirts and jackets. Logan, a writer and arborist, explains how garden tools evolved (Hopi women used a pointed stick of pinon pine to plant corn seed), how to use each tool, and what to look for in buying a tool. Granted, no gardener needs all these tools, but Logan has taken a commonplace subject and made it engrossing. George Cohen

Edition details

• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0761108556
• ISBN 13: 9780761108559
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320