Customer Reviews

The Berry Grower's Companion

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Barbara Bowling's book is well organized and well worth owning. There's an opening chapter about the general principles for growing all kinds of berries (or small fruits, as they are called, not because of the size of the fruits, but because of the size of the plants they grow on). Then, surprisingly, there is an interesting chapter about using berry plants for landscaping. It says, for instance, that elderberry bushes make good hedges.

There are separate chapters for each of these fruits: strawberries, brambles (raspberries, blackberries and the like), blueberries, grapes and minor berry crops (currants, gooseberries, hardy kiwi, elderberries, highbush cranberries, amelanchiers and still more minor berry crops such as cranberry, edible honeysuckle, jostaberry, ligonberry, maypop, rugosa rose and wineberry).

There's a highly useful appendix listing nursery sources for berry plants. Also, there's a glossary, a valuable list of references and 12 pages of plant name index and subject index.

If you're interested in growing one kind of berry, such as raspberries, you can count on having about a hundred pages of information that are directed toward growing raspberries, including the part applicable to growing any berry. And this is true for each of the other kinds of berry.

The chapter on brambles gives historical background and describes the biology of brambles. It lists many different cultivars of raspberries and blackberries, telling the hardiness, time of berry maturation and relative productivity of each berry cultivar.

Bowling tells how to select and prepare a site, plant berries and establish their growth, apply nutrition and fertilization, prune brambles and make trellises. She tells how to cope with pests such as viral diseases, gray molds, anthracnose, Phytophthora root rot and a long list of insects. Surprisingly, she chose not to include birds in her list of raspberry pests, although she mentions them in connection with other berries. She doesn't mention any mammals as raspberry pests, either. Most likely, these will be local issues. Not everyone has deer, black bear or rabbits in the neighborhood.

Of course, you should supplement this book with information from your local ag extension service or nursery. They will have a finer level of local detail about favored cultivars. Sometimes, your local ag extension agent will disagree with this author. For example, this author says that the "Blackhawk" black raspberry cultivar is tender, with medium productivity. The extension service at North Dakota State University, a state with a brutal winter, says that "Blackhawk" is "one of the hardiest black fruited varieties."

You'll need to adjust the book's information in terms of your specialized knowledge of your own local climate. For instance, this author describes the "Boyne" cultivar as a summer-bearing red raspberry suited for the climate of New England. She doesn't mention it in connection with the Midwest. The North Dakota State University Extension Service, on the other hand, says that "Boyne" is "excellent for [North Dakota] home gardens ... moderately vigorous, sturdy, winter hardy and very productive."

The important thing is that Bowling has listed many, many cultivars, together with enough information for a grower to know the right climate for each one.

I had the pleasure of knowing the author when she was a professor of horticulture at Penn State. She is a remarkable person, combining genuine love for berries with an encyclopedic knowledge of their biology and growing requirements. This book distills that enthusiasm and expertise in a very usable and enjoyable form. If you are interested in growing strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, or other berry crops in your garden, this is the book to have. It is engaging, authoritative, supremely practical, educational, and downright fun to read. Some garden publications are thick on pretty pictures but thin on substance, or may actually propagate horticultural myths not founded in scientific fact. This book is different. Reading it, you will learn a lot about how these plants work, and how to grow them successfully, including delightful sidebar "digressions" about the history and biology of berry species. Although packed with important information needed specifically by berry growers, the book is written in plain language, with clear drawings, color photos, and zest that makes it a delight to read. This is bound to be the best book on the subject for some time, that is, until she writes a second edition!

Covers strawberries, brambles, blueberries, and grapes very well. Other vine crops, such as kiwis, are covered too briefly to be of any value.

From the first chapter: "Recommended cultivars are not provided for California and some of the adjoining desert states."

In the intro, the author warns (paraphrasing) that her experience is mostly in the eastern and midwest US - and her comments will be of most value for gardeners in those regions. That is a fair thing to state.. What I have a problem with, is the complete neglect of the Southwest - to the point I sensed that she doubts people even garden there - and its all commercial growers.

For example: in all the tables that mention regions, she has breakouts for New England, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, South Central, Souteast, and Pacific Northwest... Uh, what about West, or Southwest? We're here trying to grow these things too.

Other things that bothered me: in her very thorough list of Strawberry cultivars, she omits one of the most common varieties grown in the West (Sequoia). In her list of southern highbush blueberries, most of the best ones are omitted (O'Neal, Georgia Gem, Misty, Reveille, Jubilee are all missing).

The ommissions themselves are not so significant, its what it implies - which is the lack of consideration for what Western gardeners would deal with including chilling hour issues, high heat, etc. And in the minor berries, there is a dicussion of hardy Kiwi - but why not mention the regular Kiwi which can be grown many places (my point being the bias toward her native region)

On the positive side, this author has a solid academic background and covers many issues in the kind of detail I enjoy. But that's what makes it frustrating for me to read her book - because she does not apply that know-how evenly to what I consider important and did not seem to spend any time researching what's going on out West.

I thought this book provided a great overview of different berries, how to grow them, and which ones to pick. Some of it was a little basic and something that is covered in any good gardening book, but the real value of the book, and thus the 4 stars is the comprehensive list of berry varieties and their qualities.

This book would be good for someone who has absolutely no idea about fruit. I could have written a better book just from my personal knowledge of gardening and fruit growing. I have gardening experience from growing up in a family that raised a garden almost every year that is more extensive than what is covered in this book. There are MUCH better fruit growing books out there like The Royal Horticultural Society's GROWING FRUIT by Harry Baker. It has detailed information you'll need like pruning, training, propagation and soil amending in it that Ms. Bowling's book is lacking.

Must say this book has wonderful information on Berries. This is especially for home gardeners who want to grow Strawberry, Raspberry or Blueberry. These three are what the book is mostly about. It has some information on others as well and is an easy read.

Nate

I regularly consult this book where my strawberries and gooseberries are concerned, and will be adding currants, blueberries, and raspberries this spring, based on her recommendations. The detailed descriptions of how to prepare beds and care for the fruits once planted are very helpful.

My main reason for writing this review is however to correct the impression given by one negative reviewer who attacks Bowling for her views on pesticides. In fact, Bowling, the author of the book, strongly advocates for integrated crop management practices which she describes as a concept that substitutes "knowledge for rote application of chemical pesticides." She goes into detail about how to manage your small fruit plantings without resorting to pesticides, but yes, she does address the use of pesticides when organic methods fall short. Ironically, the negative reviewer's gripe about pages 38 to 41 shows how someone can read what he or she wants to read, since Bowling on these pages, under the heading "A Brief History of Pest Control," provides a balanced brief overview of the history of modern pesticides (post 1945), and in the last two pages of this section discusses how "Silent Spring" led to both a dawning awareness of the perils posed by the use of pesticides, and the subsequent development of integrated crop management. Integrated crop management, while it allows for the use of chemical pesticides and fungicides, calls for a much more thoughtful approach than the pre-"Silent Spring" approach of "spray-it, and forget-it" (my words, not hers). Ultimately, if I may speak for Bowling, I would say her main point regarding pesticides and fungicides is that if the home gardener follows her advice for site preparation and maintenance, pesticides and fungicides will usually not be required for these fruit crops. I, for example, have not had to use them.

As a Master Gardener Volunteer and organic gardener, I receive many questions about growing berries and grapes and decided I needed a good reference book that answered all the basic questions asked by the small time, backyard grower. After reviewing a few books I returned all but this one. Barbara covers everything from basic growing to variety recommendations, pruning, training, diseases affecting, and propagation. She also presents the history of pesticide use, IPM-integrated pest management, and urges each of us to review current scientific research so we can make our own informed decision about the use of pesticides and herbicides. This book also provides nursery resources for plant purchases.

This is a great book. It contains lots of information, but is also an enjoyable read. It is good for both reference and recreation reading.