The Book of Outdoor Gardening, by the editors of Smith and Hawken

This is a very good basic gardening book. It has excellent, though occasionally abbreviated, treatment on many subjects. The section on individual plant species is generous with clear color pictures of each. The most outstanding feature of the book is the high quality of the illustrations. They are well drawn and very detailed so that the lack of photographs in many sections is hardly noticeable. The drawings are plentiful and provide the perspective to understand the more complex processes and the subtleties of the subjects at hand. Treatment of soil, nutrition, and basic botany are excellent. There is a good section on integrated pest management. The treatment of plant propagation is one of the best and most understandable I have seen. The illustrations on layering and cuttings are quite good. In this section, and throughout the book, there are species specific tables to help the gardener-such as which species are best propagated through soft wood cutting, which by hardwood cuttings, which by air layering, and which by simple layering. There is a wonderful chapter on simple, yet necessary, tools for different gardening tasks, with tips on quality, methods of manufacturing, and maintenance. How many of you know the difference between a warren hoe and a stalham hoe? Not only does this section divulge this and more, it reads beautifully, with insight into the use and function of each of the tools described.

My sense of the book is that it is permeated with tips on living in harmony with your garden. One of my favorite charts in the section on weeding is called "If You Can't Beat 'em. Eat 'em." It lists about a dozen common weeds and which of their parts are edible. The table on mulches names a number of common agricultural and home garden by-products which may be used as mulch and gives a good description of advantages and disadvantages of each. There is a good garden care calendar in the section on winterizing your garden. Tables on when to prune what plants, and how, are very easy to understand. The sections on pruning, (dead heading, pinching, snipping, and disbudding provide insist into simple yet subtle aspects that can help the gardener develop the art of their garden, as well as the science. The only down-side to the book is that is it does not concentrate on low-water use species. Although many of the species mentioned are native, they are not necessarily native to the arid Southwest. If I had found this book two years ago, there would be at least five fewer gardening books on my shelf, and these pages would be very tattered by now.