   Book Review: Extreme Gardening by Dave Owens - September 26, 2001 Jeff Schalau, County Director, Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County I've rarely ventured into the realm of book reviews. However, after finally reading my copy of Extreme Gardening: How To Grow Organic in the Hostile Deserts by Dave Owens (Copyright 2000), I was impressed enough to want to share it with you. Maybe you've seen or heard Dave Owens on TV and radio. This book was my first exposure to "The Garden Guy" (you'll have to excuse me, but I don't have a TV and don't listen to the right Phoenix radio stations). The information presented in Extreme Gardening is predominantly geared toward those gardening in the low deserts (Phoenix, Tucson, Wickenburg, etc.). But much of Mr. Owens' message is relevant to all fruit, nut, and vegetable gardeners in the southwest. Dave Owens is an organic gardener. He uses no chemical fertilizers or synthetic pesticides. This gardening philosophy has steadily gained popularity among backyard gardeners over the last 30 or so years. The cornerstone of successful organic gardening is incorporating lots of composted organic matter into the soil before planting time. The composted material contains a good portion of the nutrients needed for plant growth and has the added advantage of adding organic matter to improve the soil environment for needy, non-native, garden-type plants. I really like the book's section on irrigation. Mr. Owens presents an excellent overview on irrigation frequency and how to determine plant needs in a given soil texture. I constantly deal with irrigation related plant problems in my consultations with home gardeners. The discussion on irrigation provided in Extreme Gardening is thoughtful and concise without being too nerdy or scientific (something I am accused of regularly). Extreme Gardening has an inspiring section on composting: both with and without worms. Naturally, worms are recommended for increased efficiency and added nutrient availability. The section on composting gives the novice easy-to-follow guidelines and has some nice ideas for more experienced gardeners. There is also a section on organic fertilizers. Mr. Owens starts out this section by explaining his reasons for choosing organic fertilizers over those manufactured synthetically. He simply states that synthetic fertilizers can make people sick and cause cancer. While I believe the jury is still out on the human health risks associated with using synthetic fertilizers, I do agree with Mr. Owens' discussion about the benefits of organic fertilizers. These benefits are: slow release of nutrients, promoting beneficial soil organisms, and maintaining a greater amount of organic matter in the soil. In the book, each individual crop is given a section of its own in alphabetical order. After proving a general discussion of the reasons to grow each crop, Mr. Owens recommends varieties, planting dates, fertilizer and irrigation practices, pests to watch for, and harvest guidelines. Planting dates are geared toward the low desert, but all of the information presented is useful and easy to follow. For another source of suggested planting dates, you may want to consult the Vegetable Planting Guide and Recommended Planting Dates in the Arizona Master Gardener Manual On-line. It is on the Internet at: http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/. Extreme Gardening also lays out several recommendations for companion planting. These are plants that compliment each other in one or more ways. For example, corn planted with squash, melons, or cucumbers can provide some shade to relieve these plants from intense heat. Other plants such as garlic and several herbs repel many insect pests. Sunflowers attract caterpillars feeding birds, and so on. Several ideas for polycultures (groups of compatible plants) are also given. Many of us practice organic gardening until we are faced with a significant pest problem (i.e. spider mites, blister beetles, grasshoppers, etc.). Extreme Gardening has a short section on organic pest control and home remedies for controlling specific pests. It also includes some discussion of beneficial insects. The book assumes that the reader can identify many insects. This is crucial in discriminating between insect pests and beneficial or benign insects. Again, most people will need to have other references such as the Arizona Master Gardener Manual for accurate insect id. There are many factoids and small details in the book that keep it interesting and easy to use. Overall, I found Extreme Gardening an extremely informative and enjoyable book. It is written for use as a hands-on reference guide and definitely hits the mark in this respect. Dave Owens also has a web site with many of his gardening tips, transcripts of TV programs, and products (including where to find this book). The web site is: http://www.gardenguy.com/. With this favorable (and unsolicited) review, maybe we can get the author to come and speak at next year's Arizona Highlands Garden Conference. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension has publications and information on gardening and pest control. If you have other gardening questions, call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 or E-mail us at mgardener@kachina.net and be sure to include your address and phone number. Find past Backyard Gardener columns or submit column ideas at the Backyard Gardener web site: http://ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/. |