A story of things learned, and "un-learned" about gardening. Covers questions people ask, more about mulch than you probably want to know, all about flowers, vegetables and more. A treasure-trove of organic gardening know-how.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
58 of 59 people found the following review helpful
By "ritapeyton"
Format:Hardcover
With arthritis, degenerative disk disease and spinal stenosis, I may very well be spending my last years in a wheelchair. With Ms. Stout's method of gardening, I will never go hungry. It is possible to plant a few plants (or harvest a few things) every day in the very early morning hours when I can stand to be outside. When my kids come see me, they lay a few bales of hay (or straw) around here and there so I can grab a handful and throw it on anything growing without permission. She was a wise old woman (with a great sense of humor)!!
43 of 43 people found the following review helpful
By Heather Gray
Format:Hardcover
My mom gave me this book ages ago, which is why I have a copy (it's been out of print for a while). I finally decided to read it this winter, and have been enjoying it immensely. It's based on previously published articles, so you won't find all the information on asparagus all on one page. But her writing style is clear and easy, and so engaging and entertaining that you don't mind reading it from cover to cover. Also, there is a handy index in the back, so that you can always just go to the pages that have the useful info on any particular item. I liked the book so much that I decided to order Ruth's No Work Gardening for the Aging, Busy, and Indolent. It just arrived today and I can't wait to start reading it!
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By V. Tucker
Format:Hardcover
Great Book--I have actually tried this method for the last 8 months--I live in the desert close to Boise ID. It has cut my gardening work greatly--the mulching holds the moisture in the ground = LESS watering! and VERY FEW weeds!!!!
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book twenty years ago. I read it and didn't do it. Now I am on a farm and have a half acre garden. I re-read the book, and after three years of mulching a la Ruth Stout, and putting in the tomato fence that is described in one of the later chapters, I truly have my garden under control.
It didn't happen over night. It took three gardening seasons for the mulching to become very effective, because each year the weeds are under a little better control. Last summer, I wasn't ashamed of my garden, not even in August, when it used to be a complete tangle of weeds. A nice side effect is that all of that mulch turns into wonderful compost, just lying there in the garden. No turning, no nothing, just mulch and let it do its thing.
Buy it and try it - it will change the way you garden forever!
It didn't happen over night. It took three gardening seasons for the mulching to become very effective, because each year the weeds are under a little better control. Last summer, I wasn't ashamed of my garden, not even in August, when it used to be a complete tangle of weeds. A nice side effect is that all of that mulch turns into wonderful compost, just lying there in the garden. No turning, no nothing, just mulch and let it do its thing.
Buy it and try it - it will change the way you garden forever!
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Samuel
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
After reading The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book, one might think it is too simply put and lacking important information, but it's not. Year-round mulching is just so incredibly simple in itself. We have been mulching in our vegetable garden for about ten years now and the soil has become rich enough that we don't use the tiller anymore, just a slight loosening via a pitch fork works fine. Earthworm population has increased dramatically since we did that. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in gardening.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By ilex
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I sincerely wish I could have met the old girl. Her gardening advice boils down this: mulch with straw, and heavily, and often. The rest of the book is pure Ruth, and it's worth a read just to have her voice in your head. If you've been curious about no-dig, this one is the original and best. I wish she was still with us today to comment on this crazy, wonderful resurgence of vegetable gardening.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By S. Nielsen
Format:Hardcover
Ruth Stout No Work Garden is the BEST gardening book that I ever read! Because it works! The books of hay take all of the work out of gardening. After laying down the hay and doing some companion gardening I watered the garden once or twice and then watched it grow! In a few weeks I was sitting in the garden all afternoon eating fresh vegies! Never lifted a finger again to water or weed!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By angela
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book was recomended to me by my organic gardening teacher. She passed it around the class one day and I was interested in this "no work' style of gardening. It really enforced what we had been learning in class - Mother Nature takes care of things if we just let her. This book is a light read and Ruth Stout's style is really funny - she's in her 70's when she writes this book and is very non-nonsense. Enjoy!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why you should buy Ruth's book
Don't get bummed out if it takes those first 3 yrs. to get the results, you have to remember that as Ruth said she gardened the old fashioned way for years='s putting manure on,... Read more
Published 1 day ago by SeanCeltiad
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sprinkles
I love the practical, useful tips sprinkled among the anecdotes, and her use of the folksy voice. Hope mulching works as well for me.
Published 8 days ago by Marcia Coffeen-McElroy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book
I am throughly pleased with this book. I found its reference in a 1998 issue of CountrySide magazine. As I am aging yet still love to garden, I was impressed with Mrs. Read more
Published 2 months ago by vivian
3.0 out of 5 stars
not as I expected
Thought it would be a paperback and have more gardening advice , I guess it was more history about how she got
started.
started.
Published 4 months ago by Ginge
4.0 out of 5 stars
Want a garden with less work? Mulch the crap out of it
This is more or less the entire book. I'm saying this so as to save you the trouble of trying to find a copy should it not be available here. Ms. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Douglas Foster
5.0 out of 5 stars
Going to practice this "new" method for gardening!!
So charming!!! I love the way she writes and she is so informative!! Got lot's of new things to try and can't wait to do it!!
Published 20 months ago by Kilees bud
5.0 out of 5 stars
Obsessed with Ruth's concept
Saw her on YouTube, started search 4 her now unpublished books. They aren't edited, therefore, it feels as if ur listening to her speak. Read more
Published 22 months ago by jeanie d kerr
5.0 out of 5 stars
It was fun
It was fun reading this book. Lots of good ideas. Don't know if I'll put them to use, but very
enjoyable thinking about it :-)
enjoyable thinking about it :-)
Published on April 18, 2011 by minnesota mom
5.0 out of 5 stars
great concept
An amazing lady with a fantastic approach to gardening. She was 50 years before her time. The book is a great addition in the library of anybody interested in growing vegetables... Read more
Published on March 12, 2011 by liam
2.0 out of 5 stars
no work garden
Rather straight forward book, mulch with hay and no need to weed, somewhat rambling and there are much better garden books, I'm sure she was revolutionary at the time and this will... Read more
Published on January 14, 2011 by Everett R Lindsey
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
