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Gardening Inexpensively and Weed Identification

© Diana Pederson

Virtually every person who starts a garden soon learns that it costs money! Every homeowner needing to start a new garden should read Rhonda Massingham Hart's book,Dirt Cheap Gardening, before turning over the first shovel full of dirt. A brief review of the topics covered in this book will reveal why I believe it to be a valuable book for new gardeners in particular.

Within the first Chapter, you'll find the basics such as selecting the appropriate site for your garden, and choosing the appropriate plants for your situation. Don't buy a single garden tool until you have read Chapter 2 -- this will save you money in the long run.

The next three chapters (3, 4 and 5) discuss gathering seeds, propagating plants, and the necessary skills to grow your own plants. This is less expensive than purchasing your plants every year. Here you'll find information on the best varieties of plants to buy or grow yourself. Preventing disease by maintaining healthy plants is the topic of Chapter 6. Too many gardeners neglect to learn the causes of disease in gardens and wonder why their plants didn't do as well as desired.

Gardeners frequently learn by the trial and error method which can easily cost you an entire growing season. May I suggest studying chapters 7 and 9 to learn how to save money and produce a bountiful garden at the same time. The trial and error method of learning can easily cost you an entire garden season. The final chapter, 10, discusses preserving your crops.

Dirt Cheap Gardening is an easy to read book. I do have one criticism of this book. Chapter 8 deals with landscaping subjects like garden benches, fencing, and ornaments rather than plants. This should have been the final chapter rather than interrupting the flow of plant/gardening information.

The Gardener's Weed Book by Barbara Pleasant is a useful reference book. Pleasant presents a quality discussion on how to manage weeds without resorting to extensive use of chemicals (herbicides). The bulk of the book consists of detailed descriptions of significant garden weeds. The type soil, location (sun, shade), and season for each weed is presented. This is followed by a text description of the plant, information on controlling the weed, and a listing of any cultivated garden plants you may mistakenly think is this weed. Black and white drawings of the plant, flower, and seeds is also provided. If this book is reprinted in the future, I hope they add color pictures of each weed to make them easier for us to identify using this book.

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