Slug Tossing: And Other Adventures of a Reluctant Gardener (Paperback)

by Meg Descamp (Author) "Absolutely not." I glared first at Kevin, then out the window of our car at the small blue house across the street..." (more)
Key Phrases: slug tossing, front garden bed, azalea hedge, Portland Nursery, The Fleshy One, Alder Street (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Des Camp drives around the streets of Portland, Oregon, in a Volvo station wagon dubbed the Fleshy One. The nickname is rooted in the vehicle's coloration, but it hints at the writer's humorous bent. Look for just such a spirited disposition permeating Des Camp's lighthearted saga of her reluctant if ultimately total immersion in the basic tenets and tricks of flower gardening. Portland's reputation as a gardeners' heaven aside, when Des Camp proceeds to plant her first garden, along with husband, Kevin, the beautification campaign they launch in an urban realm not yet gentrified is not without its ups and downs. With the yard surrounding their first home in need of tender loving care, Des Camp rather tentatively acquires knowledge of implementing the soil, seeding a small lawn, caring for and feeding plants, composting, and other valuable horticultural lessons. Allowing readers to accompany her on a crash course in Gardening 101, Des Camp tells a tale full of such diversionary tactics as slug tossing--a critical lesson for frenzied gardeners across the nation. Alice Joyce

From Kirkus Reviews
The education of a gardener, ultimately about as interesting as watching grass grow, from freelancer DesCamp. Before she moved with her husband into their Portland, Ore., home, the very idea of getting dirt under her nails was appalling to DesCamp. Her family were inveterate gardeners, and DesCamp just didn't get it: Plants were plants, why the obsession? But her yard was a shambles, and slowly, grudgingly, she caught the bug, literally and figuratively. Her husband had sod laid on the back 40; she sowed her own grass in the front. She became versed in the ways of mushroom compost, steer manure, peat moss (``Peat moss. What the hell is peat moss?''). She learned a thing or two about the weather coming off the Pacific, and more than she ever wanted to know about the great gray garden slug, that prolific slimeball, which she plucked from the plants and hurled onto the street fronting her house. Admirably, she stays true to her sense of the organic``I'm not a granola head with a different Guatemalan string bag for every social occasion . . . but I do think it's important to leave the earth a little better, rather than a little worse, from my gardening efforts.'' So she turns ladybugs loose on the aphids rather than a dose of metaldehyde, and composts, much to the appreciation of the local raccoon population. Unfortunately, theres too much tedious everyday detail in this story: too many trips to the garden shop, too many garden books plowed through. Nor does DesCamp ever ruminate on the reasonsphilosophical, physical, aestheticbehind her conversion. What motivated this reluctant tiller of the soil, why are her nails now caked with mud? As her husband said to the pricey arborist, ``We'll get back to you on that.'' -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 202 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570610444
• ISBN-13: 978-1570610448
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,164,891 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On my list of favorite books, December 28, 2002

By	J. Gibson "alchemyjen" (Eugene, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I first discovered this book at my local library, and read it two times, and shared it with my husband to read before returning it, reluctantly, to the library's collection. I hastily decided that I had to have my own copy, and ordered one here, in the bundle with "From the Ground Up" which I also recommend.
Meg DesCamp takes you on a journey from the beginnings of home ownership, with mild self depricating humor similar to author Anne Lammott. Through interior decorating mishaps, adventures with her cats, sisters and husband, and adventures in gardening, we're there as her first garden becomes part of her family.

I learned so much about gardening from this book, and especially appreciate its Pacific Northwest climate references-being set in Portland, OR. I enjoyed her approach and prose, and look forward to another book by this great storyteller.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bad gardeners unite!, December 21, 2001

By	Bonnie Burton (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Plant journals may sound dull, but if you find the right one to read you will not only laugh your head off, but you'll learn a lot about plants as well. After reading Gayla's Plant Journal on YouGrowGirl.com, and then attempting to write my own, I was lucky enough to find this book crammed in the back of the gardening section of my favorite used bookstore. Slug Tossing: And Other Adventures of a Reluctant Gardener by Meg DesCamp is the hilarious saga of her attempt to grow flowers at her home in Portland. While she learns about soil, compost, feeding plants and so on, you do too. It's like taking a horticulture class where you spy on the worst student in the room. You'll find yourself giggling while reading about evil slugs, peat moss (as DesCamp says, "Peat moss. What the hell is peat moss?"), ladybugs and weed pulling. By the way, this is a great book to give as presents for your gardener pals.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book--far too short, May 18, 1999

By A Customer

I fell in love with the book by page 13 and highly recommend it to all writers and gardener. The only problem with this charming book is that it's too short--I wanted, no needed more. Thank you, Meg, for sharing your garden and thoughts. PS: I love roses, cliche or not, and Cecile is my favorite (okay, so I have an addiction but only 3 Ceciles, and okay 70 plus roses).