Customer Reviews

Joey Green's Gardening Magic: More Than 1,120 Ingenious

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I got this book as a Christmas present, and wow, it's a gardener's dream. Instead of running out to the gardening shop to get expensive pesticides or plant foods and what have you, this book tells you what common household products you've already got around the house can be used to solve your gardening problems...saving time, money, and definitely saving you lots of aggravation. Plus, the tips are all environmental so you're not using hazardous pesticides, just friendly products like Maxwell House coffee and Pam cooking spray and Coca-Cola and whatever else you have around the house. This book is truly a must for any home gardener. I don't know how I ever got along without it.

The contents are not reflective of the title. A large part of the text covers non gardening trivia. This book would be about half it's size, with the unrelated items taken out.

If you are looking for a book covering such topics as Cracker Jack, Gilligan's Island, Love Boat, the history of the Slinky toy (almost two pages), Go-Jo hand cleaner, Animal Crackers and KoolAid (each a full page), cap guns and similar, then this is the book for you.

Not a bad book, but it's a collection of one liners. "Use coca-cola to improve x." "Moth balls around the base of plants help y" and so on. Literally hundreds of one liners that it's a bit much for me, but still interesting to see how to use all of your household items in your garden.

TRIVIA YES. BUT I BET YOU SEE SOMETHING YOU DIDN'T KNOW! AND I BET YOU SEE SOMETHING YOU CAN USE IN YOUR GARDEN.

I NEVER WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF WETTING NEWSPAPERS BEFORE USING THEM TO CONTROL WEEDS. IT'S VERY WINDY HERE. WET THEY WON'T BLOW AWAY SO EASY! THAT'S WORTH THE BOOK'S PRICE ALL BY IT'S SELF !
GOOD BOOK.

This is a very useful resource. My husband is in it more than I am.

Very interesting book. It is a bit repetitive, but all in all, very good.

Good things about this book;
1. New uses for household items to make plants grow better.
2. Interesting trivia interspersed in each chapter.
3. Great bathroom reading.
4. The physical reason the product works on a plant is given as well as how to do it.
5. Chapters divided by types of plants

Bad things about this book;
1. Too many brand names!! Instead of "chlorine bleach" we get "Clorox", etc.. There should be a disclaimer someplace that ANY brand of bleach (or soda bottle, or whatever the branded product is) would work just as well.
2. Needs an index for uses of a specific household item, such as "Bleach", or "Epsom Salts", etc.
3. Dumb lady on the cover. My son took a glance at the book and shuddered at the fake smile, '60's dress, and retro design. I agree. I saw this book at Cracker Barrel which has a reputation for "retro" stuff, but I am glad I only paid $5 for it instead of $14. The cover needs a MAJOR redesign.

I was curious when I saw this book, and of course my curiosity got the best of me. After ordering my copy I ordered two more for gifts. Slow down a little bit here because there's some funny stuff between the covers, enjoy it and laugh at yourself when you can. It's not the type of book you have to sit down and read page by page, you can skip all over the place and have a ball doing so.

Don

Wife is the gardener...50+ years experience personal and commercial..she says it is OK but not necessarily for SW Texas....

An often funny, very informative guide to using common household items in gardening! Enjoyed by myself and shared with "new" gardeners--my grandchildren.