Book reviews: "The age proof garden" and "1000 designs for the garden"

It's been a while since my last book review. But I have been on a reading kick. More good stuff to share! The first one up is called 1000 designs for the garden. Written by Geraldine and Ian Rudge in 2011, it is a great book for a design professional looking for a specific product for a gardening projects. Or even for a little inspiration. Of course, with products which look this good they must be pricey


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second book for today is The age-proof garden : 101 practical ideas and projects for stress-free, low-maintenance senior gardening, shown step by step in more than 500 photographs by Patty Cassidy With a title like this I wondered if it would have a horticultural therapy bent. And it does, is a practitioner in the Washington/Oregon areas. This book is for seniors who haven't gardened before. If this description fits you or someone you know, give this book a look. With simple instructions on how to make various gardens (like a lettuce garden) it's a great resource for beginners. The book truly shines with instructions on how to make "gardens that stimulate the sense", in particular a sound garden sounds like a fantastic idea.

Pair the sound garden idea with a product from the 1000 designs book and you've got a garden going on!

Book Reviews: Tomorrow's Garden and High Impact, Low Carbon Gardening

Over the last month I have been catching up on my reading. For a while I hadn't touched a book, as whatever I picked up seemed to be recycled material.

With a renewed sense of optimism I was happy to peruse two books high on the "must read" list. Unfortunately they seem to be pretty much carbon copies of each other. Tomorrow's Garden and High Impact, Low Carbon Gardening are both grab bags of everything new and hot in the gardening world. Both have ample anecdotes and profiles of folks involved in sub-cultures of the industry. Both have a bevy of great pictures and serve as introductions to the broader gardening world. Want to know more about edible gardens or using gravel in gardens, these are your "gateway books".
Admittedly High Impact, Low Carbon Gardening delves a bit more into progressive materials (ex. cob) and systems (aquaponics) than Tomorrow's Garden, but not enough content is there to truly distinguish it.

So after those two I was ready for something to really sink my teeth into. Next up was The vegetable gardener's guide to permaculture : creating an edible ecosystem by Christopher Shein & Julie Thompson.

More of the same. Another book which doesn't cover new ground, this one introduces, summarizes, and presents information which can be found in the landmark texts it references (like Edible Forest Garden by Jacke, Permaculture Principles by Holgren, Edible Landscaping by Creasy and several Mollison books).

So there you go, no standouts this time. As for me I will need a break from books for a while!

Seneca College community garden - Year 2

Two weeks ago I was invited to speak at Seneca College. The students were great and asked a number of  razor sharp questions afterwards, a couple even had ideas for projects already on the go. I wanted to also point out their school garden is still flourishing, here are some pictures from the end of the second growing season.
\

Boston tackles an urban gardening crisis - lead levels in compost

Say your city is on the cutting edge, one of the few in North America to offer compost...for free! But with each passing year you discover rising lead levels. What's a town (in this case Boston) to do?

Urban Gardening at Seneca College hits the next gear

Back in late March, we mentioned a great new project in Toronto. The urban agriculture project at Seneca College's Newnham campus is developing quickly. verticiel has been fortunate to be along for the ride and yesterday Seneca students and staff began building the plots (near the Don Valley and Finch) and a meeting was held for interested gardeners. A good turnout, with some passionate folks. You can follow the adventure at Seneca Urban or Seneca Agricultural Project (SAP) on Facebook.







-Also, can't forget Monday's episode of NPR's To the Point (I like to listen on KCRW...of course!) The City of Chicago is preparing for climate change, I wonder if that means more money for green roofs?