An Ear to the Ground: Understanding Your Garden

Description

Garden questions answered; horticultural myths debunked; upmarket, witty literature for gardeners. How did plants get to be the way they are? Why do they have pretty flowers? How different would things have been if the wrong kind of pollinators had got the upper hand? Why are Latin names so complicated, and why Latin anyway? Why is a weed-free lawn an ecological impossibility?This entertaining book gives the answers to these questions and many more. It shows how a little botanical knowledge can bring not just better results but peace of mind, and that losing sleep over such traditional gardening bogeys as weeds, pests and pruning is not necessarily the best course.In this new edition Ken Thompson grabs the opportunity to explain why any old plant will do for companion planting - but also that it can do as much harm as good - and why planting by the moon is complete and utter nonsense.

Ken Thompson is a plant ecologist. He is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield where he was a key member of the first of two 'Biodiversity of Urban Gardens' (BUGS) projects investigating the significance of urban gardens as habitats for 'natural' biodiversity. He has written over one hundred articles for scientific journals and writes regularly for several gardening magazines, including The Garden and Gardens Monthly. He is also the author of the equally charming and critically acclaimed NO NETTLES REQUIRED- The Truth about Wildlife Gardening.

An excellent read for the beginner gardener who wants to understand the science of gardening without getting bogged down in formulae and graphs. * The Times * This neat little book will bring peace of mind from worries about weeds, pests and pruning for all those anxious gardeners who'd rather be up at the allotment than down on the beach. * Daily Mail * Good popular science books for gardeners do not come along every day. Those that are also easy to read, witty and do not insult the intelligence of readers are rarer still. So I can't recommend too highly An Ear to the Ground by Ken Thompson, which gives up-to-the-minute answers to all those questions that nag at you when you are bottom-up in a flower border or floating off to sleep at night. Its style - forthright, breezy and authoritative - is most appealing. Thompson politely, but firmly, puts the boot in. It is about time someone told it how it really is. * Telegraph * This is the book we've been waiting for. * Sunday Telegraph * An entertaining guide to the biology behind green tomatoes and red cabbage, brambles' peculiar sex lives and why not to be afraid of Latin, it is learned and authoritative without blinding with science. * Independent *