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The 20-Minute Gardener: The Garden of Your Dreams Without Giving up Your Life, Your Job, or Your Sanity
 
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The 20-Minute Gardener: The Garden of Your Dreams Without Giving up Your Life, Your Job, or Your Sanity [Paperback]

Marty Asher (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)


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Book Description

February 9, 1999
The 20-Minute Gardener is a hands-on, user-friendly guide based on low-maintenance organic techniques that puts the fun back into gardening as well as the money back into your wallet. This book represents gardening for "the rest of us." It covers everything from choosing the right plants (ones that are easy to care for) and shopping for them, to designing your garden without graph paper and getting rid of pests (see Chapter 9, "Peter Rabbit Had It Coming"). All in just 20 minutes a day.

In addition to the basics are Tom and Marty's easy-to-follow, inexpensive 20-minute projects, such as "A 20-Minute Nocturne," in which a workaholic/commuter (in this case, Marty) can create a garden that he/she can enjoy after dark, or "Rooting for Roses," in which Tom tells you how he takes cuttings from the most self-sufficient, well-adapted, and flourishing roses around--for free!

Finally, there are tips and lists galore. Find out how to read a fertilizer label, what kind of tools to buy (note that Tom says don't listen to Marty on this one because he "thinks the scuffle hoe is a square dance he did one time when he was down in Texas"), and how to make the most of your neighbors' kids, and read "Tom's Sixteen All-time Favorite Connoisseur Plants" and "Marty's Top Ten Garden Plants" (number one: grass).
    
And remember, if all else fails, Chapter 11, "Gardeners Anonymous," features a five-step program for horticultural self-help (step one: gardens are from Earth; gardeners are from Mars!).
      
It's like Marty says--this book "is the most fun you can have in the garden without throwing dirt!"

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In a follow-up to their collaboration on Compost This Book (Sierra Club, 1994), garden writer Christopher and Asher, editor-in-chief of Vintage Books, explore the possibilities of low-maintenance gardening. This book is a lovable hodgepodge of plant lists, anecdotes, handy tips, "20-minute projects" (rooting old roses, making a water lily barrel garden), and opinions on just about everything horticultural. It explains how to make compost, hire landscaping help, select the best tools, and outsmart weeds (or, failing that, learn to love them). The guidelines on shopping for plants at local nurseries and by mail order are some of the best around. Gardeners are guaranteed to get something out of the book (if only a chuckle), whether they garden for minutes or hours a day. Recommended for most gardening collections.?Beth Clewis Crim, Prince William P.L., Va.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

This guide to low-maintenance organic-gardening techniques contains a variety of inexpensive, 20-minute projects for gardeners with an aversion to work. They include building a toolshed and a compost bin, planting a rosebush from cuttings, creating a water garden and a window box, and erecting a scarecrow. Writing in a humorous style, the authors offer advice on choosing the right plants, getting rid of pests, passing off the hard work to others (professional gardeners, teenagers, and landscape maintenance contractors), hassle-free shopping for plants, and one-hour-a-year weeding (Asher sips a martini while weeding). The authors' conclusion is that if you're not having fun, you're doing something wrong. George Cohen --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 223 pages
  • Publisher: Random House (February 9, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375752668
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375752667
  • Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,612,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Different and Intriguing Approach to Gardening, May 7, 1998
By A Customer
The most valuable thing I got out of this book was the change of attitude in gardening. I used to think that if an exotic and fragile plant didn't thrive in my garden, it was because I didn't treat it right (e.g. too much/too little sun, too much/too little water, not planting the seed on the exact day at the exact depth, etc., etc.) but this book advocates not coddling one's plants. After all, who has time for that unless one is a full-time horticulturalist? Thanks to this book, I now have a much more relaxed attitude toward gardening so that I can actually ENJOY it. It is also peppered with 20-minute projects, each of which may or may not be interesting or doable to a certain reader, but given the attitude of this book, I don't think the authors would be insulted if one did none of them (I am going to try some of them, though.) This book is fun to read even if one does no more gardening than keep a pot of houseplant. There is also some useful information on weeding, insect control, etc. I liked their mostly organic approach to these things, too. It is NOT a comprehensive guide to gardening, and is not meant to be. If that is what one needs, there is plenty available out there. The message here is 'Work smart, not hard, relax, and have fun.'
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Not only informative, but damn funny!, May 30, 2002
By 
Swinger in SoCal "Bookmaven" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
These guys should've been stand-up comedians...instead, they are articulate, knowledgeable, outspoken advocates of stress-free, fun gardening. If you're looking for a way to keep your sanity AND have a beautiful yard, this is the book for you. If you want one of those full-color, photo-filled coffeetable gardening books that only uses the Latin names for plants (and assumes you have no life other than gardening) move on. My favorite chapter is "Peter Rabbit Had It Coming"!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars take it in the spirit in which it is given, July 18, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The 20-Minute Gardener: The Garden of Your Dreams Without Giving up Your Life, Your Job, or Your Sanity (Paperback)
This book outlines an attitude toward gardening: grow things that you like and that are suited to your area. It sometimes has an odd perception of what counts as a 20 minute project. For example, digging a two foot (!) deep bed, enriching the soil, and planting rose cuttings is takes more than 20 minutes, no matter how much amphetamines you take. But they are right to assert that gardening should be fun, anyone can garden, and we should grow things that, well, GROW. BTW, I disagree with the reviewer who thinks that taking a cutting from an abandoned plant is stealing. Digging up the plant is stealing. Taking a cutting is propogation, not at all harmful to the parent plant. I read a lot of techinical garden books. I found this book a pleasant change of pace, like a chat about gardening.
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