BOOKreviews
Plant Grow Harvest Repeat: Grow a Bounty of Vegetables, Fruits, and Flowers by Mastering the Art of Succession Planting Author: Meg McAndrews Cowden Publisher: Timber Press List Price: $24.95 Order Links: https://amzn.to/39h9a8G and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9781643260617 Reviewer: Hojung Ryu Self-grown and harvested food can be more sustainable, secure, and nutritional than store-bought food. In the intricate, sophisticated systems of the modern world, how do we efficiently plant, grow, and harvest in gardens? Plant Grow Harvest Repeat guides the reader step-by-step to preparing their garden plantings at the optimum growing season, and having longer harvest periods. In the beginning chapters, Meg McAndrews Cowden writes about succession gardens: where one can stagger the planting of seeds in order to have several harvests in a row versus traditional gardens. In addition to garden skills and techniques, Cowden emphasizes the importance of timing when it comes to successful gardening and harvesting. She explains different skills such as interplanting, staggering, vertical gardening, and more, and includes her own experiences as a beginner, making it personal and easy to follow her suggestions. Spacing should be distributied depending on plant size and height and calculated carefully to avoid crowding and overplanting, which can be detrimental to gardens. 18
WASHINGTON GARDENER
MAY 2022
In the middle chapters, Cowden goes in-depth about each of the species that are commonly popular in food gardens, as well as native shrubs and edible fruit trees. Well-organized charts add useful visuals to the detailed text. Cowden also presents the types and times of succession in chart forms that are easy to follow. The last few chapters touch upon how to improve soil health and care for plants in extreme weather. This book is text-heavy, although it contains a decent amount of images, graphs, and charts. It is packed with valuable information for smart, successful gardening and harvesting. The author wrote this book during the pandemicn which also brings a unique insight into these exceptional times. Cowden describes gardening as a “revolutionary act.” This is a great book to have on your bookshelf, regardless of the level of experience, skills, and techniques you have as a gardener. o Hojung Ryu is a junior journalism and criminal justice double major at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. She is an intern this semester with Washington Gardener and is from Mahwah, NJ.
The Healthy Garden: Simple Steps for a Greener World Authors: Kathleen Norris Brenzel and Mary-Kate Mackey Publisher: Harry N. Abrams List Price: $29.99 Order Link: https://amzn.to/3FHpziZ and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9781419754616 Reviewer: Andrea F. Siegel In The Healthy Garden: Simple Steps for a Greener World, Kathleen Norris Brenzel and Mary-Kate Mackey advocate for earth-friendly, wildlife-friendly, and people-friendly gardening. Their point: Healthy backyard gardens create healthy ecosystems that enhance people’s personal physical and emotional health and contribute to the health of the world, locally and globally. Gardeners are in a unique position, they say, to improve the soil with homegrown compost and mulch; grow their own food; add plants and trees to create food, shelter and habitat for wildlife; and help others learn how to do it.
The book is divided into three sections in a logical progression: about the value and work that goes into organic, sustainable gardening: Healthy Garden, Healthy You, and Healthy Planet, with chapters full of ideas and mini-profiles of people who have heeded a call to action (including a local Marylander). The authors promote engaging people where they are. Can’t afford to rip and redesign your entire yard? Tackle a small patch. Plant in a recycled plastic pot and paint it if you want to beautify it—or not; the plant doesn’t know the difference. Start a compost pile. Grow wildflowers or arugula. Gardening is a healthy activity. The book provides food for thought in an understandable way, explaining with numerous examples and visuals. Photos of all kinds of gardens identify locations and plants. Readers can use the photos to decide whether they like that look, see what grows well together, and research the plants to learn which are right for them and their climate. More on the photos: Many are full pages, and they’re all coffee-table book gorgeous and can serve as inspiration for beginning gardeners and those who want to grow in a more sustainable way. Would you consider creating a stumpery? Maybe, if you saw a photo of one and learned a bit about it. Foodscaping? A lot of veggie plants are attractive, and who mandated that anyone has to plant them in rows? Enhance an outdoor setting with a mix of edibles—start with the easy ones;
