All the Dirt on Gardening

Humor, insight, and several decades of gardening, garden writing and developing a fine sense of irony come together in Tom Powell's latest book, "Aphid in My Eye: Adventures in the Orchid Trade" published by Mackey Books. Tom and Betty Powell lived plants in and around New York City. Now that Betty is gone, Tom's tribute to their endearing story is recorded. Betsy West provided the illustrations for their tales in the world of orchid growing and showing. While the book will be of interest to orchid lovers it will also be well loved by anyone who enjoys laughing at the plant industry's foibles and follies. Plus, it is a love story about two people who found each other and lived well together. The American Orchid Society said, "The best part of this rated-very-G booklet is Powell’s take on the "big regional orchid society" or Metropolitan Northern Tier Orchid Society (MNTOS). Anyone who has ever associated with the Byzantine politics and fief...

If you live far enough south to grow citrus, Monica Moran Brandies' new book is one you'll want to pick up. Brandies writes books about gardening in Florida. Her previous volumes include "Florida Gardening", and "Shade Gardening for Florida". "Citrus" has plenty of growing tips but stars in recipes, too. Brandies has tips for using citrus for house cleaning, pesticide, worm growing, and as a beauty aid. "Citrus" books are available through the publisher, B. B. Mackey Books for $16.95 postpaid. Contact Mackey through their website www.mackeybooks.com or email bbmackey@prodigy.net for more information.

This is a terrific new book by Nellie Neal. I love it and here's why. The size of the book - It is paperback, 135/144 pages with everything, and the font is large enough to read comfortably. The presentation - The author has evidently been in the garden writing world long enough to have several books, a website ( GardenMama dot com ), a garden column and quarterly newsletter. Neal's style is grounded in stories about her grandparents and forward looking to include the latest theories about organic gardening methods. The content - Chapter and their contents include building good soil, compost, rooting and propagating, plants (herbs, tomatoes, crape myrtles, trees, fruits, flowers, etc.), controlling pests organically, garden planning (why diversity is so important to a healthy garden), what to do month by month, which plants re-seed, etc. Confession - The book just arrived and I have read only half of it - gardening took most of my time today - but it is a pleasure and I look fo...