Gardening from the couch: New books!
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Jerry Jackson
The time for reading about gardening is nearly over -- as the time for actual gardening begins -- but before we leave the couch and head outdoors for the spring, I have three books I am delighted to recommend.
The first is, "And I Shall Have Some Peace There: Trading in the fast lane for my own dirt road," by Margaret Roach.
The writer behind the delightful and highly instructive blog A Way to Garden writes about walking away from her job as editorial director for Martha Stewart Omnimedia after 15 years and moving permanently to her weekend home in upstate New York, where she learns more about nature and her own nature.
It is a story others have written -- leaving the corporate world to find a more genuine life and a truer self -- but Margaret's story is particularly appealing to those of us who know her so well through her blog.
Next? Amy Stewart seems to have found a franchise topic! As a follow-up to her fun book "Wicked Plants," she has written "Wicked Bugs."
Amy, one of the four voices behind another popular garden blog Garden Rant makes you itch and squirm with her latest book.
She shares the disgusting habits of common garden bugs and gives advice on how to control them, and she offers travel tips, too. For example, check the biting midge forecast before planning a golf vacation in Scotland.
On a more serious note, the author discusses insect-transmitted diseases from around the world and how we are working to control them through cutting-edge science and just plain weird science.
The bug bottom line? They are everywhere and they can be dangerous. But there is a way to live in communion with them.!
By the way. Amy made a hilarious YouTube promotional video for this book.
And finally, Amy Stewart's cohort at Garden Rant, Michele Owens, has published a much more cheerful (?!) book, titled "Grow the Good Life: Why a vegetable garden will make you happy, healthy, wealthy and wise."
You don't have to vegetable garden on a grand scale to feed your family or yourself and you can get so much satisfaction out it, Michele writes. She gives us all sorts of advice about how to fit vegetable gardening into our crazy lives. It takes less time, she argues, than going to the grocery store each week.
This is an author who is a professional writer and and "amateur" gardener, and she uses her gifts in the former to make an excellent case for the latter.
Comments
I have read the wonderfully joyful Grow the Good Life and Margaret Roach's book is on my list. I didn't know Wicked Bugs was out, but I am on my way to the book store! Wicked Plants was so much fun while being informative. Amy does have a slightly bizarre sense of humor.
Posted by: commonweeder | February 27, 2011 10:13 AM
Wicked Plants has been passed around to several gardening friends. Can't wait for Wicked Bugs!
Posted by: Dahlink | February 27, 2011 12:29 PM