Gardener's Computer Companion: Hundreds of Easy Ways to Use your Computer For Gardening [Paperback]

Bob Boufford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 8, 1998

The Gardener's Computer Companion has all the information you need to use your computer for gardening, including a complete collection of software to get you started. Save time and make your gardening more pleasurable by learning how to select gardening software and hardware, plan and manage your garden using your computer, and communicate with gardeners around the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This volume covers virtually every aspect of gardening where a computer can be a valuable gardening tool. Boufford, who administers the horticulture industries program and web site at Clark State Community College, OH, begins with selecting hardware/software and connecting to the Internet and World Wide Web and proceeds to setting up a sophisticated computer system to automate an irrigation system. He covers online resources for gardeners, including newsgroups, electronic mailing lists, databases, spreadsheets, web sites, and software programs. Also included are guides to using computer-aided design (CAD) software for creating two- and three-dimensional gardens. A companion CD-ROM offers 60 shareware and freeware gardening software programs to explore but requires considerable expertise to use. Both computer experts and neophytes will find resources to enhance their gardening experience. Recommended for large public and academic libraries.?Nancy Lee Myers, Univ. of South Dakota Lib., Vermillion
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

This 300-page book and CD-ROM features instructions on how to use the computer for gardening. The book shows gardeners how to plan and design a garden using computer software and ways to choose and research plants using CD-ROM reference databases and on-line resources. The software offers garden simulation and journal entries -- American Nurseryman, August 1998

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 302 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press; Pap/Cdr edition (June 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886411182
• ISBN-13: 978-1886411180
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,161,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, August 5, 2000

By 

Rebecca Green - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gardener's Computer Companion: Hundreds of Easy Ways to Use your Computer For Gardening (Paperback)

Whether you are a computer professional or computer neophyte, if you want to learn how a computer can help you become a better gardener, The Gardener's Computer Companion is the book for you. Author Bob Boufford's use of gardening analogies to explain technical topics, such as how computers work, are clever and enjoyable. While the knowledgeable computer user may be bored by some of the chapters, he/she will find the index of gardening Internet sites, as well as the discussion on Internet providers and services useful.

Unfortunately, this book may naively lead the computer neophyte into believing that designing your garden on the computer is child's play and a computer will solve all of your gardening problems. While a computer is a wonderful tool and the Internet is a fabulous source of information, life isn't so simple. Many computer aided software packages are difficult to learn and, no software or Internet site can replace the knowledge one acquires from years of hands on gardening. He also neglects to point out the tremendous number of hours it sometimes takes to resolve computer glitches, not to mention the headaches involved with sophisticated projects like monitoring your garden with a video camera. Remember the old axiom, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Nevertheless, this book is enjoyable and informative. It provides practical advice regarding how the average person can become a better gardener with help from their computer. It also provides a glimpse of what is possible, although perhaps not practical.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars If you have never touched a computer before..., July 27, 2003

By 

M. E. Yoder "Beckie" (Hobart, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gardener's Computer Companion: Hundreds of Easy Ways to Use your Computer For Gardening (Paperback)

This book is an in-depth exploration of the vast possibilities available to the person who wants the ultimate garden gadget: the home computer. But it doesn't actually let you DO anything. It tells you the difference between hardware and software, how to buy a computer, what the parts of a computer are (ie, keyboard, mouse, modem), what an operating system is, what a spreadsheet is, the questions to ask when looking for software, and a lot of other stuff. It introduces the www on page 86. The included CD-ROM contains 60 shareware and freeware programs that do not allow you to print or save whatever you may design, and in some cases only allow you to explore the possibilities of design on a set imaginary property, not your own. You can get a decent feel for a broad range of software options without buying 60 different programs, but if you are already reading this and have heard of Google, it is a waste of [$$$] (cover price) and 95 cubic inches of paper. A great gift for the recently retired gardner with some money and land and no idea how to use a computer.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is for novices!!!, April 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gardener's Computer Companion: Hundreds of Easy Ways to Use your Computer For Gardening (Paperback)

This book was a big disappointment really had very little what i was looking for. Programs didn't work right. Loaded Gcc-pdf on the computer and that went fine but it ask for a password that was no where in the book to be found so it will not open. The book is written like it is for people that have never run a computer or been on the internet.