Customer Reviews

Month-by-Month Gardening in Michigan

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"Month-By-Month Gardening in Michigan" is split into chapters on types of plants, e.g. Annuals, Bulbs, Herbs, Houseplants, Lawns, etc. Each chapter is then split into the following subchapters: "Introduction", "Planting Chart", "January", "February", ... "December". Here is how to use this book:

Suppose you live in Michigan and want to know whether to prune your climbing roses in March. Turn to Chapter 7, "Roses" and the subchapter called, "March". This subchapter has sections on "Planning", "Planting and Transplanting", "Rx Care for Your Roses", etc. In the section entitled "Pruning", the author recommends, "Prune climbing rose plants to fit their supports. Remove thin canes, and pinch back overly vigorous canes to force branching."

This book is very easy to use, as you can see from the above paragraph. I used to live in Winter Hardiness Zone 3 near Cadillac and am now a Zone 6 gardener down near Lake St. Claire , so I know from experience that you might have to adjust Fizzell's time-table of recommendations by as much as three or four weeks, depending on your specific zone.

Organic gardeners probably won't want to use some of the author's "Rx Care" suggestions (Fizzell recommends actual products such as "Orthene" and "D-Con"), but other than that, "Month-by-Month Gardening in Michigan" should prove useful to all of us who garden in this state, whether it be the 'helpful hints', the planting charts, or the month-specific instructions for tending to your water garden.

This is a handy reference for any Michigan gardener (like myself) who needs an occasional reminder not to start her pepper plants in January.

The information seems pretty thorough, but Fizzell has organized the book mainly by types of plants -- vegetables, annuals, perennials, trees, and so on -- and then month-by-month under each group. So when you're trying to figure out what to do in May, you have to look up "May" under "Annuals," then "May" under "Perennials," then "May" under "Trees" .... I'd much rather he'd used the months as main categories, and each type of plant as a subcategory of those.

And Fizzell is pesticide- and herbicide-crazy! Forget it if you're an organic gardener. (I'm still looking for a book on organic gardening in Michigan.)

The timing info in this book is useful, if you live in Michigan's average area. Skip it if you live in Northern Michigan. Very little of the timing will apply to you. One other thing I didn't like was how many chemicals (of various sorts) they tell you to dump on your lawn. Every month it seems like they're telling you it's time to put one or two more on your lawn or in your beds. This type of gardening is not for me, and it scares me to think that people just strating with gardening might read this and think that they are all necessary.

This is a useful guide in an easy to follow format. Month by month comments and useful advice especially for Michigans' unique gardening needs.