Customer Reviews

Groundwork: A Gardener's Ecology

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These essays concern the science of the hum-drum features of our daily landscapes, but without authorial pyrotechnics Swain always manages to find something new to call to our attention. This collection pulls off a rare trick for science writing--it manages to inform without condescending or confusing. Like the prose, Abigail Rorer's illustrations are sturdy and nuanced.

This book contains a collection of gardening essays by biologist and gardener Roger Swain. The book is organized around the theme of planting and maintaining a healthy garden. Topics covered include: landscaping by deletion, fertilizing with compost and mulch, irrigation, erosion, plastics and the garden, noise pollution and hearing damage, seed saving, dealing with pesky mammals, root cellaring, and gardening education. End material includes a list of resources and references about the topics mentioned in the text and an index.

Swain writes in an accessible and informal style. The essays are both informative and interesting. For instance, in his chapter on fertilizing, he compares the relative values of adding chemical fertilizers, animal manure or mulch hay to the soil. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that mulch hay, which is easily obtainable in my area, not only adds organic matter, building soil structure, but also has significant fertilizing value of its own. Other essays include useful information about such topics as gray water, recycling plastic seedling planters, and constructing fences to keep woodchucks out of the garden.