Notes from the Garden: Reflections and Observations of an Organic Gardener

Henry Homeyer, a hands-on gardener, gives practical advice on how to garden - whether building a hot box, transplanting peonies, defeating the deer, planting ginseng, growing ladyslipper orchids and shiitake mushrooms, or keeping the birds out of the berry bushes. The book is arranged by month, each of which covers a range of topics relevant to the season, including starting seedlings, edging and mulching, gardening with children, getting rid of invasive plants, pruning, putting the garden to bed, and growing houseplants. His seventy-two short "reflections and observations" will interest amateur, dedicated, and armchair gardeners alike, especially those living in zones 3 through 5, the climatic belt that includes New England and runs across southern Canada and west to the Rockies.

HENRY HOMEYER is a landscaper and garden designer whose column appears weekly in ten regional newspapers. He is the Vermont and New Hampshire editor of People, Places, and Plants, a New England-only gardening magazine. He also writes for The Boston Globe, Gardener's Companion, Yankee, and other publications.