BOOKreviews The Heirloom Gardener: Traditional Plants and Skills for the Modern World Author: John Forti Publisher: Timber Press List Price: $27.50 Order Link: https://amzn.to/35sqpi3 Reviewer: Andrea F. Siegel John Forti has pulled together a romance of gardens, communities, and their connections with time, season, earth, pace, and place in history. There is plenty of nostalgia in the book, but this is less a dreamy look back to earlier times than it is advocacy for change, and it’s clear that Forti favors artisanal and local goods. The chapters are essays about the value of traditional plants and practices, artisanal crafts and skills, slow food, and the like. Forti, an ethnobotanist, horticulturalist, and heirloom specialist, advises us to look at modern lifestyles, our Earth, our values, our food, and the families and communities we are part of. The chapters, through their information about plants, holidays, crafts, experiences, etc., are about the kind of practices that connect us to our environment and older generations we knew, as well as ancestors we never met; keeping their skills, wisdom, history, foodways, and folklore alive; reaching for heirloom plants and seeds, and living our lives in more-sustainable ways. The book advocates, essentially, for the heirloom gardening lifestyle and the experiences gained and lessons learned from it, and the communities we form and support. There is interesting information here about horticultural practices, skills, and crafts that shouldn’t be lost over time—but that can happen when the knowledge is no longer passed from generation to generation. Forti spews harsh words for the agri-chem industry, promoting growing heirloom plants in an earth-friendly way to enrich the soil and our lives as we learn and appreciate the pace and planning of this lifestyle. Chapters, illustrated by block prints that hearken back to the past, feature selected plants, such as sage, and include information like uses and value through the years. They also share stories about the old ways, the language of flowers, seasonality, and the like. 18
WASHINGTON GARDENER
JUNE 2021
Gardeners, especially those who use heirloom seeds and plants, may find little new here. This is not a how-to book that, step-by-step, teaches skills, although there are instructions for making herbaria, and tips and advice about varied subjects and plants. Perhaps readers who are inspired by Forti will not turn to their screens for a how-to video, but instead to someone who will pass down their knowledge by sharing their experience. Still, many people are already involved in aspects of what Forti advocates. Whether it was the pandemic or food/health scares, climate change or GMO opposition, the decades of the environmental movement, a desire to have a pretty butterfly garden, or the fear that youngsters will think that eggs grow in cartons, many people have joined the movements to grow-your-own organically, raise backyard chickens, buy local, shop at farmer’s markets, make their own compost, etc. They are returning to “three sisters” planting and sharing the best of their heirloom seeds. The book may appeal to like-minded readers, but people who pick it up expecting to learn about growing specific heirloom plant varieties may be disappointed. Whether you care for Forti’s views or not, his essays may lead you to consider what you want in post-pandemic life. o Andrea Siegel is a Master Gardener in Maryland.
Grow Bag Gardening Author: Kevin Espiritu Publisher: Cool Springs Press List Price: $26.99 Order Link: https://amzn.to/35HzDr7
Reviewer: Erica H. Smith If you’re a container gardener, you have likely accumulated your share of large pots made of everything from terracotta to expensive ceramic to various types of plastic; you’ve lugged them around your deck or patio; you’ve used up space storing them over the winter. Maybe you’ve also noticed that as plants grow inside the pots, their roots tend to circle around the interior, especially if the pot isn’t quite large enough for the root system. This can lead to root rot and plant death. “Grow bags” made from fabric, mostoften spunbound polypropylene, solve several of these problems: They are relatively lightweight (although the planting mix inside can still be heavy), they fold up to store flat (away from mice!), and roots of plants grown in this porous material “air prune” or die off before starting to circle, thus keeping the plant healthier. Grow bags come in lots of sizes and colors, and can support many different kinds of plants. Kevin Espiritu (of Epic Gardening, an online gardening education company) is enthusiastic about grow bags. This is an enthusiastic book overall, which is great; I can’t imagine anyone reading it and not wanting to run out to get a whole bunch of fabric pots, or (if you’re good at sewing) some material to make your own, which he provides directions to do, along with many other DIY projects. There is plenty of information in here to start your grow bag garden and keep it productive, including choosing bags; choosing plants from a wide selection of possibilities; creating the perfect soil mix and fertilizers; making trellises, cold frames, and drip irrigation systems and… I did have to stop and take a breath after the deluge of “another cool thing!” but anything that encourages people to get out there and get gardening is wonderful. And this book is packed with encouragement. I would suggest reading the introductory chapters and the essential information about maintenance, and skipping over most of the specific project details until you’re ready. Do not buy 50 grow bags and fill them all up in the first season, no matter how enthused you feel. But three or four are a great idea, and you will definitely have some
