BOOK REVIEWS

Organic Bible
Successful Gardening the Natural Way

Bob Flowerdew
Kyle Cathie, distributed by Reed
$NZ59.95

THIS is British eco-gardening guru Bob Flowerdew's fourth book (earlier subjects included companion planting and "no-work" gardening).

His persuasive message is that organic gardening is not necessarily complex - all plants want to grow and the organic gardener's role is just to remove the obstacles.

Starting with the premise that the organic gardener feeds the soil, not the plant, Flowerdew traverses various aspects of gardening - fruit, flowers, herbs, etc - in this densely-packed, but readable, book.

Perhaps the most interesting chapter is on the control of pests and diseases - the area conventional gardeners see as their organic counterparts' Achilles heel.

Gardening without chemicals is a definite growth area and Bob Flowerdew's Organic Bible is a great reference book for anyone wanting to explore a more natural approach to gardening.

Weekend Gardener, Issue 135, 2003, Page 32

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH