Book Review Archives - gardenmyths.com

Food Science for Gardeners – Available for Pre-order

The next book in my Science for Gardeners series is ready for pre-order on Amazon.

This book is all about food nutrition and safety. The book answers the question, what is nutrition and how do garden practices affect nutrition. For example, does organic gardening produce more nutritious food? Are heirlooms more nutritious than hybrids? How do various cooking and preservation techniques affect the quality of food? Is spinach really full of iron and can our gut absorb it?

A good part of the book is dedicated to food safety. What happens to pathogens during harvesting, preserving and cooking food? What about chemical toxins? Is it safe to grow in plastic containers? What about microplastics in the soil? Do microwaves affect antioxidants and are toxins produced when you grill a steak? The book answers these questions along with hundreds of others that you have been wondering about.

And don’t forget food myths! I can’t write a book without adding myths and there are many food myths.

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Mini-Forest Revolution, by Hannah Lewis – Book Review

Mini-forests are popping up all over the world and even my own town planted one in this past summer. I wanted to learn more about this new trend and the book, Mini-Forest Revolution: Using the Miyawaki Method to Rapidly Rewild the World, by Hannah Lewis, (Amazon affiliate link) seemed like a good place to start. It describes a movement to restore biodiversity by transforming empty spaces and degraded land into mini-forests. Here is a review of the book.

hand holding the book titled Mini-Forest Revolution — Mini-Forest Revolution by Hannah Lewis, source Topia

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Microbe Science for Gardeners is Released

Microbe Science for Gardeners – Secrets to Better Plant Health is released and I got my first copy today. This book looks at the interaction between microbes and plants in a new way and debunks some of the myths around it, while at the same time providing good solid information about the microbes themselves.

The book discusses the most common types of microbes both as individuals and their interaction with each other. These microbe communities exist on leaves, roots, stems, flowers, and even on fruit. Each community is different and affects the plant in different ways. Soil communities are important but so are the ones above ground. Armed with this knowledge the book then provides solid advice on what the gardener can do to create healthy microbe communities and as usual, it discusses a number of myths along the way.

Microbe Science for Gardeners is Released

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Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting – Book Review

I have written about companion planting several times and have concluded that most recommended companions, either don’t work, or there is no scientific support for them. When the book, “Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden” was released I was definitely intrigued because all prior books on the subject are mostly myths and definitely not based on science.

Jessica Walliser, the author, was kind enough to provide a copy for review. Does this book finally provide a sound set of recommendations for companion planting?

Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting - Book Review — Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting – Book Review

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Review of “The Ever Curious Gardener” by Lee Reich

Lee Reich contacted me and asked if I would review his new book, called “The Ever Curious Gardener – Using a Little Natural Science for a Much Better Garden. I was thrilled to have a look at the book. Combining science and gardening makes so much sense and so few books take this approach.

If you have not heard of Dr. Lee Reich you’ve missed out on one of the industries leading authorities on gardening. He has degrees in chemistry, soil science and horticulture, and has done research in agriculture. He uses this extensive knowledge in his writings to cover a wide range of gardening topics.

I became familiar with Lee many years ago when I read one of his earlier books called, “Weedless Gardening“. It combines science with common sense to figure out how to simplify chores in the garden. I also remember a multi-month series on soil in Fine Gardening. Each month I learned something new about soil. Lee’s writing has significantly increased my understanding of plants, microbes and soil.

The Ever Curious Gardener - Using a Little Natural Science for a Much Better Garden, by Lee Reich — The Ever Curious Gardener – Using a Little Natural Science for a Much Better Garden, by Lee Reich

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Teaming with Microbes – A Close Look, Part 2

Teaming with Microbes, A Gardeners Guide to the Soil Food Web was reviewed in an earlier post Teaming with Microbes – In-depth Book Review and in Teaming with Microbes – A Close Look, part 1. In this post I’ll look at more content of the book and discuss their validity and the validity of the soil food web. A gardener can learn a lot by looking at these topics in some detail.

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Teaming with Microbes – A Close Look, Part 1

Teaming with Microbes, A Gardeners Guide to the Soil Food Web was reviewed in an earlier post Teaming with Microbes – In-depth Book Review. In this post I would like to delve into some of the contents of the book in more detail and provide a different perspective on the soil food web. A gardener can learn a lot by looking at these topics in some detail.

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Teaming with Microbes – In-depth Book Review

Teaming with Microbes, a Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web, is a fairly popular book in the gardening community and I thought it was time to do a review. This book is written by Jeff Lowenfels, a garden writer and attorney, and Wyne Lewis a lifelong gardener. Both gardeners clearly follow the teachings of Dr. Ingham and her soil food web. They have adopted her methodologies and present the ideas in this book.

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What A Plant Knows

Daniel Chamovitz has written a book called “What a Plant Knows”. An interesting title, but can a plant really know anything?

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