Product Description

Whether an experienced gardener is looking to go organic or a beginner wants to create a healthy, eco-friendly garden, the Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening contains the tips and techniques needed to produce beautiful flowers, top-quality herbs, and appetizing, wholesome fruits and vegetables. Explore the latest methods for cultivation without chemicals, discover the benefits of composting, and learn how to maintain an organic garden year-round.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28813 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

About the Author
For more than 50 years, Rodale, Inc. has been a leading publisher of information on healthy, active, organic lifestyles.

Customer Reviews

Awsome reference book
If I could only have one book it would be this one. It is what is says...an Encyclopedia. Luckily I'm not limited to only one book as it does not cover some topics as well as other books. But that's the point of an encyclopedia..touch on all topics as best as can be done for the space available.

The first 30 pages are dedicated to the history of the organic movement and the basic design recommendations for an organic garden.

The next 70 pages cover the basics of soil care, watering, weed control, plant health and raising plants.

The next 100 pages cover various garden aspects like lawn care, woody plants, garden flowers, container gardening, gardening for wildlife and the use of greenhouses and covers.

Another 100 pages cover growing fruit, herbs and vegetables. This section alone is larger than 90% of most gardening book and well worth the price of the book alone.

It has the standard appendix and reference sections you would expect for a gardening book but a surprising extra is the H.D.R.A Organic Guidelines for Gardeners that is included as an appendix. I didn't even know such a thing existed until I read this book. Absolutely wonderful!

Poorly researched
This book is poorly researched. One section of the book talks about fungi being plants that do not undergo photosynthesis. This idea has not been accepted by the science community since the mid 50s. It goes on to mention potato blight as common pathogenic fungi....potato blight is not casued by a fungi. The causative pathogen (an oomycete) was once in the kingdom fungi but later moved to a different kingdom in the late 70's. This leads me to beleive that the authors have taken a lot of updated information for granted. I could go on and on about this book. If you are new to gardening and and want something to ready this is an OK book. If you want or need a book that give real uptdate advice this is not the book. In my opinonin this book falls into the catagory of books that are ment to be on a coffe table and not really used. A good name was used to sell a poor product.

Brilliant! Buy this book.
I've been gardening for a few years, and this book really broadened my knowledge. Also made me feel less like a cheapskate for not running out to buy all the latest garden gizmos - they point out that you can reuse pruned shoots, for example, to stake up your garden plants. Highly recommended.