Your Organic Garden with Jeff Cox (A Rodale Garden Book) [Paperback]

Jeff Cox (Author), Rodale Press Garden Books (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Rodale Garden Book | Publication Date: January 1994

This practical companion to the new PBS-TV series of the same name features down-to-earth, no-nonsense advice on gardening that will appeal to gardeners everywhere. Filled with useful hints, tips, techniques, and step-by-step directions, it covers gardening basics and includes a plant selection and care guide. 280 illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This companion volume to the PBS program Your Organic Garden covers the territory reliably, eschewing synthetic controls (fertilizers, pesticides) for the natural alternative. Some of the methods recommended to home gardeners include: have your soil tested, and infuse it with needed organic nutrients over time; take preventive measures to avoid pest problems and disease, when possible; and, always, keep weeds to a minimum. All seemingly simple stuff, and yet not so simple, which is why Cox "learned my way into it" and why the book is needed. Dividing it into a portion on methods and another on plant types and their care, the author discusses composting, planting and propagation; varieties of vegetables, herbs, flowers, groundcovers, lawns, flowers and more. The plant directory contains helpful "at a glance" capsule summaries, and sidebars elsewhere focus on the trials to gardeners of raccoons and Japanese beetles--and how best to respond. Clear and conversational, Cox doesn't have to sell himself in these pages--he just makes sense. Illustrated.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The official companion to Cox's PBS television series contains practical advice, emphasizing natural, nonchemical solutions to problems that gardeners can expect to encounter whether they're just starting out or dealing with a mature garden. Aimed rather more at country and suburban gardeners (with space to spread out and experiment), this book may make the urban dweller who posseses limited gardening terrain feel left out at times. But advice on gardening basics will assist all enthusiastic gardeners with planning a site; improving soil quality; handling seeds; planting trees, shrubs, and perennials; composting waste; and propagating new plants. Welcome counsel is offered for organic methods of fertilizing and for designing a garden that will invite wildlife. Final chapters focus on various type of gardens, such as vegetable, flower, and herb. Alice Joyce --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Press (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875966241
• ISBN-13: 978-0875966243
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,764,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Expert Advice > Jeff Cox

More About the Author

For the first eight years of my life, I was a suburban kid in Manhasset, New York. Then we moved to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania where I learned to hunt, fish, eat wild foods, and swim in pristine waters of spring-fed creeks. Then I lived in Manhattan. So I'm at home just about anywhere. My experiences in the country, though, were the most important, leading me through newspaper and magazine work to Organic Gardening magazine, where I developed a love of gardening and landscaping. Now I'm a wine writer for many magazines and the restaurant reviewer for Northern California's newspaper of record, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, here in the heart of the Wine Country. I'm also a contributing editor to The Wine News and Horticulture magazines. I've written 18 books on food, wine, and gardening,--many of which are available on Amazon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best home garden book I've read (and used), January 18, 2010

By 

Jeremy Osborne - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Your Organic Garden with Jeff Cox (A Rodale Garden Book) (Paperback)

What this book is not:
This book is not a replacement for something like the Western Garden book by Sunset, nor does it try to be. If you need an indexed plant book, there are loads of those out there.
It is not a book about large scale organic farming. I haven't read an entire book on large scale organic agriculture, but if you have 100s of acres that you need to farm, this book doesn't work on that scale.


What this book is:
This book should be thought of as a book of great breadth AND depth on the subject of organic gardening.

If gardening books could be marked as timeless classics, I'd nominate this book for the timeless classic distinction.

Your Organic Garden is highly organized and cross-indexed. Great, matter of fact descriptions of organic gardening concepts are covered in each chapter. These concepts are illustrated with drawings and figures, and the sub-sections contain step-by-step how to guides for specific gardening tasks. The how-to guides are very simple and easy to follow, and go way beyond just throwing kitchen refuse into a compost pile.

Best of all this book is not preachy about Organic gardening. The main theme is how simple and effective organic gardening can be, and the examples throughout the book just help prove the point.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide for beginning organic gardeners!, June 30, 2009

By 

Dodo (Belmont, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Organic Garden with Jeff Cox (A Rodale Garden Book) (Paperback)

I've been very impressed with the advise offered in this book. I originally borrowed it from the library, but have realized that I won't be able to garden with out it in my personal library!