Customer Reviews

Extreme Gardening: How to Grow Organic in the Hostile Deserts

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I live in Phoenix and have the opportunity of catching Dave Owens tips for gardening on Channel 3 on a weekly basis. Dave has so many tips for gardening that the only way to harness his knowledge is to purchase this book. I have come to find that these tips work not only for those of us living in the desert, but I pass them along to my Mother in Wyoming, and she has as much success as I do with them. Dave is an extremely knowledgable gardner and his book reflects that, the layout was very thought out and takes you step by step from the "what do I need", to "now I've got what I need, what do I do" stages. Bravo, Dave!

I'm an organic vegetable gardener who lives in the desert Southwest. I get the extreme hot summers but cooler winters than Tucson or Phoenix. I like this book mostly for plant culture. All the plant culture information most gardeners ever need is on-line, but desert gardening is bit counter-intuitive. It's helpful to have desert specific information. Most folks aren't planting their melons in March, but I am.

For example: Owens'tomato growing information is right on. I know because I do it his way. I raise my tomatoes in the shade. That wouldn't work well way back East where I was raised. Last summer I had a great harvest despite a late visit from grasshoppers. I brought in 45 tomatoes to ripen indoors the day before our first frost of Oct 27. We enjoyed the last tomato of year December 6th---not bad.
I'm talking real tomatoes you can slice and put on your sandwich, not just cherry tomatoes.

I own two other desert gardening books: Mary Irish's Month-by-Month gardening in the Desert Southwest. This one is good for figuring out when to plant everything. And,Desert Gardening Fruits and Vegetables, The Complete Guide by George Brookbank. This book isn't organized as well as the other two books, but it was the first desert specific gardening book I bought. I've read it cover to cover several times and despite the poor black and white photos, it's my favorite of the three. I consider my desert gardening library complete with these three books.

David Owens has written a real winner with this book! He tells us which plants will survive in our harsh desert environment and how to plant and take care of them. The book is easy to follow and I'm having good luck with all the trees and vegetables I have planted using his guidelines.

If you thought that gardening was not an option since you moved to the desert you need this book to show you the way!

I LOVE this book. It is the best, hands down, guide to growing veggies in Arizona. So many gardening books address other parts of the country and don't apply to the Southwest. I have 5 other "Southwest" gardening books and this is the first book I refer to. It combines organic gardening with gardening in the desert. If you are a newbie to southwest gardening and only want to read one book-get this one!

This is a great book for any gardening endvor using organic means. This autor knows and understands planting for an enviroment that is both beautiful and harsh. I follow his inspiring garden methods using this book and his companion book.

Great book. Have purchased another as a gift. Gardening in the desert is not always easy- but with Dave's guide, I have grown watermellons, pumpkins, tomatoes, zuchinni, roses, citrus, cucumbers, cantalope, strawberries, carrots, beans, and so much more. I could not have been as successful without this book. I recommend this book all the time.

Living out in the extreme desert, it's a challenge to grow a garden. I have found this book to be a great help in planting, watering properly. It's my Garden Bible :)

I, too, have had the opportunity to catch Dave on television from time to time here in Arizona. I've been a pretty dedicated ornamental gardener for well over 10 years now. We enlarged our yard by nearly 1000 square feet and I decided to use the space for vegetable gardening. I thought I had met all the pests in my area! NO. That's OK, Dave has nifty organic recipes to help eradicate those who would eat your garden before you can. I love the fact that a ring-bound version is available and have referred to this book at least once a day since I got it. Gardening in such a hot, arid zone is not impossible, you just have to work around it. My garden is flourishing and we eat home-grown, organic produce every day.
THANK YOU DAVE!!

live in a desert region? get this book and see how to grow organically your own fruits and vegetables.

I just received this book and almost immediately saw advice to use Epsom salts as a source of magnesium. I've had soil tests run on samples from Tucson, western Washington State, and northern Virginia. For Tucson and western Washington the magnesium levels were VERY HIGH. For the Virginia sample the level was HIGH. Additionally, the Tucson sample had a very high level of Phosphorus. This is not a good thing -- having high or very levels of an individual element. Having essential elements in the correct proportions is important since an excess of one element may cause a deficiency of another element. I think not doing soil testing is false economy. Virgina Tech will do out-of-state soil testing for about $25 per sample. It will test for Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Manganese, Copper, Iron, Boron, and Sulfur salts. I have also used a private soil analysis company which included more such as Molybdenum, but that test cost bout $75. But, given the fact that it saved me money by not wasting money on things that were not needed and showed me what was needed, the cost of testing was a real bargain. The author makes no mention of soil testing. Of course, if you have accesss to lots of cheap high quality compost you can sometimes get away with a less scientific approach to gardening. But, please don't go dumping things like Epsom salts on your garden without knowing it needs it. Another handy thing to know is that most fertilizers will use Potassium Chloride (AKA Muriate of Potash). DO NOT buy these for vegetables. Potassium Chloride screws up the taste of many vegetables. Also, Potassium Chloride is not allowed on Organic gardens. Potassium Sulfate (Sulfate of Potash) is a naturally occurring compound and allowed on Organic farms. Potassium Sulfate costs about twice as much as Potassium Chloride. I think that is why most grocery store broccoli tastes bad. Unfortunately, I think many authors of garden books do not have the scientific background to give comprehensive advice. BTW, everything is chemicals. Although I try to be as "Organic" as possible, I hate it when the organic folks use the word "chemical" the way Republicans use the term "left-wing liberal press". I myself am quite comfortable with math and chemistry. I am sure I will get some good information from this book. I'll double check all its advice though.