Customer Reviews

Heirloom Vegetable Gardening: A Master Gardener's Guide to Planting, Seed Saving, and Cultural History

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Heirloom Vegetable Gardening by W.W.Weaver provides detailed descriptions of cultivation and cooking of hundreds of varieties of old and ancient food plants. His narratives are wonderful, and make very interesting reading. His tips on cultivation, though primarily focused on his region of the country, are complete and helpful. Altogether a throroughly enjoyable book, that provides insight and tremendous expertise in an area that is vitally important.

I found the author to have a deep and delightful knowledge of plant lore and history. But as I read on, I was sad to find that the part I'm most interested in, growing my own, was not addressed closely or carefully enough to be useful to me.

Zone information is occasionally given, but not consistently, which as a northern gardener, I find too common and very frustrating in many gardening books. The author talks about growing things like chayote (normally zone 8 and higher) in his garden in Pennsylvania. Although he does describe an indoor coddling process to make up for his shorter growing season, I have no idea what zone he's referring to there (his state ranges from zone 4-7), or in any other vegetable section. Some of the plants and varieties are accompanied by thorough and useful descriptions for planting, and some are not. Towards the second half of the book, this improves somewhat, where he gives very detailed instructions for squash, etc. But again, he continues to talk about putting plants in the ground at a certain time of year without any reference point for zone.

I really wanted to love this book. The author is a wonderful writer; he clearly adores, lives and breathes this work, and knows his heirloom gardening. This is a superb book for the mostly armchair gardener. However, in too many of the sections (about half of them), he does not pave a clear enough path for gardeners who want to expand their practical knowledge to follow along with him. In my case, this led to more frustration than pleasure, and I'm left yearning for a gritier book, especially one that would more carefully address the needs of heirloom gardeners in different growing zones.

as an organic farmer of 8 years i strongly recommend this reading to all professionals whose selection is bound to a few seed sources. the book will infuse new knowledge in plant varieties and allow to improve your farming altogether. 2 examples are the mention of a vining watermelon which will allow treillising for better yield and the use of malabar spinach as superior in taste and ease of cultivation to all true spinaches..

This book is excellent for the history it provides. Many times when dealing with heirlooms you do not get a good history of the plant (where it is from, how it was named) This book gives a good background and was fascinating for me. I enjoyed the cultural information that is lacking in the basic HOW TO books.
If you are looking for a HOW-TO book for your region or area, this may not be helpful for you. I loved this book and enjoyed reading it. It is a must for any serious gardner, but again, you have to take into account your geographic area when planting. This book is a good addition to any small garden library.

Well written and very informative. I use this book over and over and over. Highly recommended.

One of the early books on heirloom vegetables, which has become pretty much a 'bible' for heirloom gardeners.
Here, it is always kept close at hand for consultation.
Excellent book on heirloom vegetable gardening!

This book will inspire the successful return
of heirloom cultivars to many home gardens. A very good resource book for garden club
or school science projects.