Customer Reviews

Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Green Resource for Every Gardener

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an excellent reference book that I find myself constantly using. Sometimes it is in reference to a specific problem, other times, I just find it interesting to read. Most often, I will pick it up to look something specific up and then realize that 30 minutes has gone by because I have found other interesting things to read. Great, reliable, organized well, and lots of great ideas.

I've enjoyed most of the other books in this series, so perhaps my expectations were high. This book is really just not that helpful. Partly the problem is the "encyclopedic" organization. The book is (obviously) arranged alphabetically. Fine - but then the index and TOC are useless additions of wasted paper that serve no real function, because hey - everything is alphabetical! The index is worthless for cross-referencing. Oddly, some things are alphabetical by scientific name, others by general name, etc. Another reviewer mentioned it was good for general reading. I didn't feel it was readable this way at all, but I wasn't expecting to. It really is organized as an "encyclopedia" and more conducive to looking up specific items. But when you look something up, the information itself is just not that useful. As a beginner to intermediate gardener, I was underwhelmed with the depth of the info - and at 700+ pages, you'd think there would be a lot of information! There are also about a half-dozen small black and white illustrations in the entire book.
Overall - it's okay, but not worth the money or the wasted trees....

This book has alot of information for beginning, as well as experienced gardeners. Very informative from pest control to garden and flower beds, to harvesting and planting just about anything. Great resource book.

I am new to the organic lifestyle and am growing our first organic garden. I think this book is very useful and full of good information. I recommend it for beginners.

I got this book from my local library and was not impressed. 1. I don't like the alphabetical set-up of the book, and 2. I like books that go into much more detail. This thing is thick and heavy, and has information on a ton of topics (probably almost everyone I could think of) but after reading a book on composting, the composting section seems very bleek. After reading books on vegetable gardening- the vegetable gardening section seems to be missing A LOT. Some people may want one big volume as a general reference, but I like details. I want to know what's going on in that compost pile and why I'm doing the things I'm doing and different methods in doing it. I also like to troubleshooting in the way of OK I read this thing and am now trying to do what it says to do but it's not working... what am I doing wrong? I also saw nothing about vermiculture (worm composting)- which is kind of a big deal in gardening I think. I first saw this book on the bookshelf at a used book store and almost bought it. I'm now glad that I didn't buy it. In my personal case I would prefer to buy several different books that cover the subjects (of composting/soil building, organic disease/pest control, vegetable gardening and fruit trees) in detail and truley be knowledgable on the subjects, rather than one giant book that includes many, many subjects but just gives a very basic (aka minimal) overview of them.

I found the earlier edition of this book to be the most thorough of the gardening books I have collected. It goes into greater depth. For example, it was one of the few general gardening books (as opposed to one on just berries) which mentioned the existence of June-bearing and everbearing strawberry plants, and the advantages and disadvantage of each. I look forward to getting this updated edition.

Have no doubt, this is a reference book--an old-school encyclopedia. There are not a ton of illustrations or photos. It's all black and white. And you look up plants by their Latin name, not their common names. (Look up blanket flower, and you'll be refered to Gaillardia.) But I have learned SO much from this book. I planned what seeds to start when. I got ideas for how to organize my vegetable garden. If I'm paging through a seed or plant catalog, I can use this book to get an objective third opinion. I learned why going organic is so worth it from a soil health perspective. I figured out how to make compost tea. And I can actually get a detailed description of how to take cuttings and things like that. If you're looking for a coffeetable book, this isn't it. But if you're looking for both depth and breadth of gardening knowledge, this is the one to get.

I bought this edition because when I first started organic gardening in the 1970s, Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening was my gardening bible. It was everyone's organic gardening bible. I figured a newer edition would be more up to date, but I was so disappointed with it. It's fancier than the old editions, but shorter on information and longer on political correctness. I'd recommend finding a used copy of the original edition; you absolutely won't be disappointed with that one.

I just finished up with "Organic Gardening" by Geoff Hamilton. This is one hefty book! I can't believe they fit so much information on gardening into one book! I have to say that I am totally in love with the bright, glossy, vivid pictures through out the book, they are so colorful and happy. I love that I not only know the name of certain things (such as Green Compost and Spent Mushroom Compost) but thanks to those pictures I also know what I am looking for when I go to the gardening store. I'm thrilled at being show pictures of the different soil types rather than just trying to picture it from the authors description. I could go on and on about the photos and illustrations, it really really helps not only to make the book more exciting but it also helps me to figure out what I am doing!

This book goes much farther into topics such as soil and soil improvement then any other gardening book I have ever read.

The chapters in this book are

The Organic Way

The Soil- explaining exactly what soil is, different types and how to manage it.

Soil Improvement- This is a fabulous chapter with instruction on how to make your own compost bins, different kinds of compost and information on conditioning soil. I never know soil was so complex!

Fertilizers- This was a chapter that I found invaluable. I always felt lost when people would talk about the acid and alkaline levels in their soil and no book has ever really helped me to understand it. Other books would tell me what levels I needed but I never knew why. I love that this book explains what each major element does for a plant and the signs you will see in your plant if it has too much of one and is deficient in another.

Organic Pest Control and Disease- Another chapter of extreme interest for me, especially since something was eating my plant's leaves last year! I would have loved more information about companion plants in this chapter but overall it was a very informative chapter. Showing drawings of different pests, information on controlling all of the little critters and bugs that like to help themselves to your garden goodies. General information on garden diseases. I will definitely be referencing this chapter this gardening season.

Organic Weed Control- This is not something I have to worry too much about seeing as I am doing a container garden but I did look through it for those of you who will be doing traditional gardens. I think its totally cool that they show you how to prevent your neighbors weeds from sneaking under the fence to get into your garden. That never would have even occurred to me! There is an illustrated page of harmful weeds that should be removed from your garden but there are good weeds that you should leave in ( I didn't know this) and there are wonderful large colored pictures that show you which ones to keep.

Planning Your Garden-This section is definitely for someone with a bit more space than just a patio but it was absolutely dreamy to read about and day dream about my dream garden on day. This chapter talks about pathways, fencing, ponds, the general layout and how to draw it out on grid paper.

The Ornamental Garden- This is more for the home owner (and again I had a fabulous time fantasizing about my some day home) It covers lawns, hedges, ornamental trees and bushes. Wonderful pictures of trees, I have discovered then Autumn Cherry Tree which looks like a weeping willow with gorgeous white flowers. Flowers, plants, plants and flowers by season, Annuals, Biennials, climbing plants, aquatic plants....seriously...everything you could think of!

The Container Garden-I have to admit that I was disappointed with this chapter, it was a very small chapter and I didn't read anything that I didn't already know.

The Vegetable Garden-This chapter is absolutely overwhelming, there is so much information in it that you really have to take time to absorb it. In a nutshell it teaches you about crop rotation, preparing vegetable beds, protecting your crops from cold, choosing what to grow, cultivating all kinds of different vegetables and teaches about pests and diseases. Again you will find fabulous colorful pictures (which I will constantly look at because they make me want a salad rather than a cookie lol!) There is a section about each type of vegetable with information about the varieties, soil and site, sowing and planting, deep beds, maintenance,harvesting, pests and diseases and at the very bottom of the information is a chart that lets you know the planting and harvesting times.

The Fruit Garden-I don't have room to grow fruit trees (although I am hoping to eventually by some dwarf trees that I can grow inside. This section of the book gives you information on selecting plants, planting and training the trees, cultivation, different types fruit trees, cultivation and pests and diseases.

The Herb Garden- another one of my great loves -herbs! I absolutely love this section of the book. Tons of information on each herb along with pictures. Information on maintaining an herb garden-watering, weeding, pruning, thinning and propagation and storing herbs.

Greenhouse Gardening- Probably not something I will have this year although I was hoping to. Next year I may have a small one on the patio. Information on how to choose a greenhouse, the shapes and materials etc. Heating the greenhouse, caring for your plants, deciding what to grow and taking care of pests and diseases.

Basic Techniques-A great chapter for the beginner like me. Different tools, plant supports, cultivation techniques . The thing I liked reading about the most was watering because I ALWAYS either under water or over water, I never get it just right. I also like how they showed some tools that can be made at home.

Propagation Techniques- Probably not something that I will be doing this year but this chapter covers propagation from seed and other methods of propagation such as propagation by division and layering.

That last chapter is The Gardening Year-This chapter is invaluable, it has charts by season what you need to do for whichever type of gardening you are doing whether it be greenhouse or ornamental.

Definitely a great reference book to add to your gardening library although you will most likely feel overwhelmed at first by the magnitude of information!

This book was extremely detailed, however I found it to be too cumbersome and too detailed for what I needed to know. It was difficult for me to find the information I needed in the format. May be fine for others but I was looking for more simplicity.