Three Terriffic Books for Gardeners
Good Bugs for Your Garden
by Allison Mia Starcher.
This lovely little volume has wonderful, and very accurate color drawings of each "good" bug. The drawings make identification extremely easy. Along with the drawing are notes telling what pests the bug might eat, where they like to hang out, and often what they need to breed. The text is easy to read and to understand. Overall a wonderful and gentle book.
Dead Snails Leave No Trails
by Loren Nancarrow and Janet Hogan Taylor
This book is energetic, and full of information on organic solutions to pest problems, including a number of recipes for sprays, baits and ways to decrease the habitat of pests. Pests are shown in black and white drawings, most very recognisable, especially with the added description in the text. I like this book for it's no nonsense approach.
Slug Bread
& Beheaded Thistles
by Ellen Sandbeck
The subtitle reads: Amusing and Useful Techniques for Nontoxic Housekeeping and Gardning.
Amusing it certainly is, with wonderful Victorian Era inspired drawings. Each entry has a short, pithy, and often funny idea. For example, under Pet Repelants there is a drawing of a lazy old hound. The entry reads: Shoo Fifi! A rotton potato makes a good dog repelant, and will probably repel bad dogs as well.
I'm not sure that -I- would want to throw a rotton potato out into the garden!!! But I'll bet it works. In amongst the humor and surprising suggestions is a lot of information that could be useful. I didn't see a lot of garden "recipies" but there are great recipies in the housecleaning section.
This book is a bit less purely useful information than the other two, and has a sensational air about it, still I think it is funny, and contains a great deal of Great Grandmother's knowlege that is lost to most of us.
by Allison Mia Starcher.
This lovely little volume has wonderful, and very accurate color drawings of each "good" bug. The drawings make identification extremely easy. Along with the drawing are notes telling what pests the bug might eat, where they like to hang out, and often what they need to breed. The text is easy to read and to understand. Overall a wonderful and gentle book.
Dead Snails Leave No Trails
by Loren Nancarrow and Janet Hogan Taylor
This book is energetic, and full of information on organic solutions to pest problems, including a number of recipes for sprays, baits and ways to decrease the habitat of pests. Pests are shown in black and white drawings, most very recognisable, especially with the added description in the text. I like this book for it's no nonsense approach.
Slug Bread
& Beheaded Thistles
by Ellen Sandbeck
The subtitle reads: Amusing and Useful Techniques for Nontoxic Housekeeping and Gardning.
Amusing it certainly is, with wonderful Victorian Era inspired drawings. Each entry has a short, pithy, and often funny idea. For example, under Pet Repelants there is a drawing of a lazy old hound. The entry reads: Shoo Fifi! A rotton potato makes a good dog repelant, and will probably repel bad dogs as well.
I'm not sure that -I- would want to throw a rotton potato out into the garden!!! But I'll bet it works. In amongst the humor and surprising suggestions is a lot of information that could be useful. I didn't see a lot of garden "recipies" but there are great recipies in the housecleaning section.
This book is a bit less purely useful information than the other two, and has a sensational air about it, still I think it is funny, and contains a great deal of Great Grandmother's knowlege that is lost to most of us.