Desert Gardening (Paperback)

~ Brookbank (Author) "Gardening is very much like a jigsaw puzzle-you look at the pieces spread out and wonder how they all go together..." (more)
Key Phrases: green fruit beetle, grey aphids, sooty canker, Mother Nature, Extension Service, Rough Lemon (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Desert gardening is different!

Wherever you live in the desertup to 3,500-feet elevationthis guide is for you. Enjoy plentiful fruits and vegetables from your desert garden. Desert gardening expert George Brookbank will help you with your desert garden. A tremendous reference tool you'll use all year 'round!

1. Complete how-to-do-it guide
-Drip irrigation & watering
-How to prepare desert soil
-Which plant & tree varieties to choose
-Citrus: Watering, pruning, fertilizing

2. New varieties for favorites:
-Tomatoes Strawberries
-Grapes Melons
And the unusual:
-Low-chill apples
-Oriental Vegetables
-Yard-long beans

New chapters on Hydroponics and Alternatives to Poisonous Chemicals

3. Week-by-week desert calendar:
Learn how to work with the desert's short seasons, hot weather, insects and soils
-When to plant
-When to prune

Great for Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada and Texas.

About the Author

Living and working in the desert is a lot different-yet similar-from where George Brookbank started his professional career as an Agricultural Officer in Tanganyika Territory in Africa. A lot of time there was spent figuring out how to protect the crops against monkeys, baboons, pigs and elephants.

Now he's concerned with helping desert gardeners ward off squirrels, rabbits, quail and other birds, javelina and all sorts of other desert critters.

Since 1971 he has been Extension Agent, Urban Horticulture, at the Extension Garden Center of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. He provides a widely diversified range of educational services to homeowners, garden clubs, the nursery business and landscape-maintenance companies.

George writes a weekly column for the Tucson Daily Citizen, has a Saturday morning radio show on stations KFLT and KGVY and a weekly television program on Channel 4 KVOA. He has a monthly call-in program on radio station KNST.

His popular weekly demonstrations at the Extension Garden Center and at Green Valley are well attended.

He has written a number of publications and prepared several dozen informational audio and video tapes for gardeners.

The term "hands on" really applies to this author. His formal working life started out when he apprenticed as a General Farm Worker, Lord Rayleigh's Farms, Witham, Essex, England. Horses were the source of farmPower.

George was born in England. His Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture was obtained at Reading University. He subsequently studied at Downing College, Cambridge. Then he attended the Imperial College of Tropical Agricultural in Trinidad, West Indies.

For 13 years he worked in Tanganyika, helping underdeveloped communities pull themselves up by their bootstraps. This required helping them improve their agricultural productivity. He was promoted to Provincial Agricultural Officer and subsequently became Principal of the Natural Resources School in Tengeru, Tanganyika. This was a two-year residential school for African field advisors and their wives.

Our author came to the United States in 1962. He got his Masters Degree in Agricultural Education at California State Polytechnic College in San Luis Obispo, California in 1966. He did graduate study at the University of Arizona and Arizona State University.

For nine years George taught at the Arizona Western College in Yuma, Arizona where he was Chairman of the Agriculture Department. During three summers he taught citrus husbandry to young farmers from Japan. And he trained unemployed people to become citrus farm hands.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; Revised edition (April 21, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555610021
• ISBN-13: 978-1555610029
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,898 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #1 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > By Climate > Desert
  #13 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > Fruit
  #20 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > Regional

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the Best, April 17, 2001

By	R. Eichner "Toy Fiend" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book fooled me at first glance. I browsed the bookstore and purchased several other books on gardening for hot, arid climates and passed on this book. The lack of color and the obviously amateur photographs in this book led me to believe that the text would be amateur too. This assumption was complete in error! After reading the other books I still didn't feel satisfied that I had received the knowledge I was seeking so I took a chance on this book. This book is very detailed and is really the only book I should have purchased. The author is conversational in his writing style which makes it easy to understand and to the point.

If you have tried gardening in Phoenix or other hot places you know that, with our very short growing seasons, the timing and preperation is critical. This book addresses both these issues and more. It tells you exactly how to prepare our basically "crappy" soil and goes week by week on the gardening activities such as planting, fertilizing, pruning, etc... Buy this book and you will soon realize that it is all you need to get started. The only other thing you need is your own practical experience.

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding insight to gardening in a desert environment., March 31, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Twentynine Palms, CA (Mojave Desert)) - See all my reviews

If you thought that only cactus grew in the desert, then this book will show you how to overcome that myth. This book goes over the fruits and vegetables that can be grown in the desert and will help you use the four seasons so as to make the most of your garden. The book goes into great detail of the makeup of the desert soil and how to improve it for your use. It explains how to make a compost pile, how to use the compost, and detailed information on the types of fertilizer to aid you in your quest of fresh and vegetables. The author gives advice on when to plant crops so you can grow vegetables and herbs year round. He explains why and how to take care of your fruit and citrus trees. This book is well worth the money to buy it, the time to read it, and the avoidance of frustration when gardening in the desert.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally sufficient knowledge for desert gardening, June 14, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Barstow CA The "high desert"!) - See all my reviews

This complete desert gardening guide is the finest I have ever encountered. After trying to grow veggies and fruit in this dry high-desert for over 40 years, I have confidence that it will happen now. I highly recommend this for desert dwellers and as a much appreciated gift.