Month-by-Month Gardening in Florida [Paperback]

Tom MacCubbin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2001 | Series: Month-By-Month Gardening in Florida

Do I prune my hydrangea in the fall or do I wait until early spring?
When is it safe to put out tomatoes?
Can I divide iris now?

If you have ever asked yourself questions like these, Month-by-Month Gardening in Florida is for you. Gardening is a journey, not a destination. The day-by-day gardening experiences - planting a few onion sets in the first warm afternoon of spring… the surprises - a purple crocus before the snow has even gone … the satisfaction - fresh green beans on the dinner table, or tomatoes, bright and red, safely in quart jars … these are the things that keep the gardener coming back year after year.

Month-by-Month Gardening in Florida is packed with information that explains what needs to be done and when it needs to be done in the Florida garden. Topics include:

• The most effective planting techniques.
• How and when to prune.
• The best season for fertilizing your lawn.
• The differences between bare-root, container, and balled-and-burlapped plants.
• Eleven plant categories, including Annuals, Bulbs, Herbs, Vegetables, Houseplants, Lawns, Perennials, Roses, Shrubs, and Trees.
• Twelve monthly calendars for each plant category - 132 calendars in all! - that make is easy to find the proper gardening advice.

Whatever your gardening interests or the time of year, you can take the guesswork and mystery out of gardening. You will become a more satisfied gardener … and your garden will show it!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

MacCubbin graduated from the University of Maryland with degrees in horticulture. He is currently an Extension urban horticulturalist in Orange County.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (July 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888608242
• ISBN-13: 978-1888608243
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #418,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little convoluted, November 5, 2001

By 

J. Myrick "juliafair" (Pasadena, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Month-by-Month Gardening in Florida (Paperback)

This books strengths are its wonderful lists of plants defined by climate, a must for Floridians, who have to know if that trumpet tree is really going to survive the winter in Orlando as compared to Key West. It's also useful if you need to know how to take care of specific items day to day. Roses require a lot of care and you can always check out the Rose calender in the book to see what you should be up to.

It is not a one-stop shop, however. The book doesn't give you an overall calender specifying what you should be doing each month, rather you need to go into each plant section to see what you should be up to in that specific area. In addition, though the lists are wonderful and amazingly long, you don't have pictures or detailed information on the plants, and so can't really make a good decision without going to the nursery and checking it out first-hand. Even then, you're not going to have a clear idea of what that plant is going to look like in three years, the winter, etc.

I would suggest the Florida Gardener's book of lists for those of you who are trying to find specific plants for your yard. The Southern Living series has the best pictures for the eager gardener. This book is good for Florida Gardener's who want to know how to care for specific plants year round, or how to maintain their lawn year round. For the rest of you, I'd suggest looking at some of Tom Macubbin's other books or the ones I mentioned above. Tom is a local Central Floridian, and really knows his stuff.

Recommended for advanced Florida gardeners who want to get down to the details of the daily care they need to put into specific areas of their garden.

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's face it - gardening in Florida is different..., August 22, 2000

By 

Blaine Strickland (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Month-by-Month Gardening in Florida (Paperback)

...from the rest of the country, and sometimes even different within regions of the state. MacCubbin's book, organized by plant type (separate sections for roses, vegetables, trees, etc.) offers the prone-to-be-organized gardener a step-by-step approach to follow. I've found that I read through all 12 months for roses (as an example) to get an overview, and then gone back to this month to see what Tom recommends specifically. Beyond the basic instructions, though, MacCubbin has offered a variety of tips, insights, even history, in offset boxes throughout his chapters. These additional tidbits really set the book apart from the typical how-to book. Best of all, Tom's experience in Florida gives you the confidence to discern your best course of action from among all the gardening voices out there, most of which have to be geographically generic - which usually means "not applicable in Florida."

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A useful companion reference, February 23, 2001

By 

Pat (Fort Lauderdale, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Month-by-Month Gardening in Florida (Paperback)

While missing the colorful photos of many gardening books, this book is a valuable reference guide to use as a companion resource. The list of plants, attributes, dimensions, bloom season, planting time etc... in each section is a quick cheat-sheet when selecting plants. The authors also distinguish between the different conditions in North, Central and South Florida. The only drawback is the reference to plants only by common name without the latin name. Since a plant may be referred to by different common names, not knowing the latin name may leave you wondering, or unable to locate an interesting plant.