A year and a half ago, I purchased a new place with a small yard, clayey soil, but a very good southern exposure. My first spring at the place, I thought, "I want to raise some fresh vegetables." My dad always had a garden when we were growing up, and I know nothing beats that "Right from the garden" taste. So, like the dutiful college boy I am, I was off to the used bookstore to get a book on gardening, where I stumbled on this book by accident.

Sound, practical advice. First of all, my plot is so small (about 20 square feet), the soil this year is 100% better than last year. By spring, 2004, I expect to have the best soil on the block. Secondly, what a harvest for the space! Last year I grew only summer veggies. This year, though, I started harvesting radishes and lettuce in April, and have full, bushy tomatoes, cukes, pea vines and pole beans that are the envy of my brothers, sisters and parents. When I tell them I merely spend an hour or so a week gardening, they scoff.

Let them scoff. This book is sound, very easy to follow: A great method for gardening in small spaces. Cheap, easy, effective and fun.

I'm buying copies of this book for my gardening friends. I bought my first copy almost 15 years ago and I was able to start a food garden with less space than I thought possible. When we moved into a house I didn't waste any space and made myself a 10x8 raised bed and had lettece, tomatoes, chard, onions, garlic, and much more. It cut my grocery bills way down and we were eating fresh veggies daily. The thing I liked best was ways to combat pests using other plants, like garlic, to reduce or eliminate my use of pesticide. A definate plus. I would recommend this to beginner and advanced gardeners alike. The technics I've read about turn everything I had been taught before upside down, but I've never had better results. I'm a beliver in Square Foot Gardening.

I have to admit it, digging the rocky soil of New England never appealed to me. So when I started a garden in our New Hampshire backyard, even though I had a half acre to work with, I used this book and the square foot principles.

There is no reason to create a monster patch of garden if you are only going to have to give away those hundreds of zucchini (people in our town make sure to close their car windows in August, lest passersby fill their auto with their surplus squashes.) The square-foot garden method uses square plots, starting with a 4-foot square, that's all. This book gives you the right number of plants per square to put in each for a typical family. We love lettuce, so devoted more squares to lettuce; and you'd be surprised how few tomato plants you actually need. A married couple with no kids can actually garden in a 4 foot square, which is also helpful for those living in condos or doing terrace or balcony gardening. This method is somewhat related to French intensive agriculture, where a huge crop can be grown in a relatively small space.

Another reason to square-foot garden is to have enough compost to enrich the soil. I never ever have enough of this black gold, even though we compost all our vegetable scraps and grass clippings. (A friend went so far as to strike a deal with the local organic vegetarian restaurant for their scraps to have enough.) And weeding is a lot easier in a small square than on a long, endless furrow.

This is one of my favorite garden books. It's really fun to read, especially in the dark of winter as you plan your summer salad and tomato bounty for the coming summer.

My mother said you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but in this case you can. The assortment of beautiful hybrid sunflowers on the jacket of "Gardening by Heart" speaks volumes.

The jacket says the book is a cornucopia of practical garden tips, and I would agree. This is a rich assortment of nuggets of truth, anecdotes of wisdom, and images of joy.

Author McGreevy is a transplant from Ireland who lives and works in sunny Monterrey California. Her insights into the heart of gardening reflect the reasons for living.

Picture a young girl, naked sitting on a fence in winter singing to the snowflakes. Or a woman up at dawn sampling strawberries at 5:00 a.m. Later in the day the author will fret about schedules and such, but in the quiet morning air all's right with the world.

Ms. McGreevy has suggestions for making the world a little bit better place for yourself: savor the descriptive passages in books; learn the names of five native wild flowers; write your observations of the seasons on the kitchen calendar; come to your senses. How long has it been since you stopped to smell the roses?

The most striking passage for me was Ms McGreevy's thoughts on perfectus negativis. This occurs when you cannot see the beauty in your own garden. Others pick out and admire something, but all you can see is the bare patch or the weed at twenty paces. Ms. McGreevy says you should see the bare patch as the bit of unworked canvas in your painting, and instead of noticing the clover in the petunias, notice the petunias.

I have a beautiful garden. Folks admire it everyday. Sunday, the police came to our house in response to a call my husband made about a radio stolen Saturday night from his car. The policeman wrote up the details, then he stopped in the middle of my front yard which is 100% garden and said "You've got a beautiful garden." For once, heeding Ms. McGreevy, I said Thank you.

The book is a thin volume, 188 pages, with type on only about half the page. When I first opened the box from Amazon I thought, "I've been had" but decided to actually read the book and discovered you can say a lot in a small space if you are as accomplished a writer as Ms. McGreevy.

Steal some moments from your hectic day and let Joyce McGreevy entertain you. You might want to steal more than a few because once you start this book you will not want to be interrupted.

This is a story book of life inspired by her Mother's death and her Mother's garden. And, her Mother must have been a remarkable woman. She certainly seemed to know how to enjoy and transfer, if even subtly, her love of plants.

Now, a gardener herself, Ms. McGreevy shares the wonders of gardening with both practical ideas and anecdotal musings. Her book contains a smattering of recipes and practical tips all peppered with her miraculous insight.  To quote her quoting her Mother, "Life is like a party. It starts before you arrive and keeps on going after you leave, so you might as well celebrate while you are here."

She may call herself The Potato Queen (you will have to read why for yourself), but Joyce is really the queen of her 'party'. Hopefully, after you read her book you will feel like the queen (or the king) of your 'party' too.

I really enjoyed reading "Gardening by Heart" by Joyce McGreevy.A lovely A lovely gentle sense of humour runs through it.The authors command of language and her imaginative writimg is impressive. Of course Im not surprised really,having read, several years ago, her hauntingly beautiful poem "These needles through our own lives, too, have moved." Its a book for all seasions, entertaining,humorous, informative. I have always loved gardening, especially the cultivation of roses, but if I had never gardened before I feel that I would be absolutely compelled to "have a go" after reading this lovely book. All the chapters are entertaining but I especially liked the wonderfully descriptive and inspiring prose of "Sacred Gardens are Everywhere". In "Eating, Sleeping and Living in the Garden" we get wistful, nostalgic recollections plus some mouth watering recipes. However I think Ill skip the "Iced Tea" recipe. I tried it once in Concord, New Hampshire many years ago and found that it was not for me! In "Strawberries at Dawn" we get wonderful imagery - "Ones mind is fertile with dreams whose meanings flower best in a hushed world." However I think my favourite is "Its all Rented". Of course I may be biased - its about Galway! But no, really I just love the mischievous humour. In short the book is full of wit and humour and a joy to read. I would also like to commend "Sierra Club Books" for a beautifully produced product. Sean Stafford, Galway, Ireland.

In My Garden Visits, author Justin Matott masterfully intertwines the magic of being a child with the experience of adulthood.

In his parent's garden, Justin learned to love and to laugh. In his own, many years later, he learned to listen. And listen he did as his mother's soft vioce transcended reality to whisper in his ear.

"My mother would often observe me from her kitchen window as she went about preparing one of her magnificent gourmet dinners. I remember that I would pretend not to notice that she was watching me and I would show off to entertain her."

This heartfelt journey takes the reader to a place deep in the soul where the garden is always blooming, and a mother's love is never far. To plant a garden is to believe in miracles...to read My Garden Visits is to experience them first hand. A beautiful book with exquisite drawings...I would not hesitate to recommend it.

"My Garden Visits" is absolutely beautifully written. The illustrations by Victoria Kwasinski are brilliantly portrayed throughout the book. JM has expressed his childhood linked to the present through flowers. Flowers exquisitely chosen to dipict his cherished memories. I find the Authors' portrayal of his visits in his garden with his mother to be inspiring, and define the loving bond between them, a bond to be envied, and admired. One can only imagine the nurturing care given by the Author as he plants and sows his beautiful gardens. Gardens planted with boundless elegance, carefully planned with the complete understanding, so generously inherited from his father. It's easy to imagine each memory as it unfolds, to see the brilliant flowers, and realize thier fragrances, giving hope that the last page will take foever in making it's presence known. I find Vignette IV, Aquilegia, to be my favorite place to revisit, as I do quite often. This chapter truly captures a mothers love and devotion. As I give my mother and my daughters each a copy of "My Garden Visits" they too will know this book is written from the heart, and will treasure it always, as I do. I anxiously await the next publication by Justin Matott, and thank him for his incredible forte in writing.

This book was not meant to be devoured in a single, can't-put-it-down reading marathon. Rather, each chapter should be meticulously tended to and savored, just as its author meticulously tended his garden and savored each visit from the spiritual presence of his deceased mother. To make this book complete, the stunning watercolor illustrations by artist Victoria Kwasinski add the perfect visuals to Matott's descriptive prose.

My Garden Visits honors mothers everywhere and offers a reminder that those who are dear to us are often close in spirit, even when they are physically far away. This is truly a beautiful book.

A must have for people that want a well written and practical guide to the different Genus of carnivorous plants and how to grow them. Well written and not overly technical, The Savage Garden was interesting as well as practical reading for the hobbyist grower. When I received this book, I read it cover to cover, staying up until 3AM.

The Savage Garden was exceedingly well organized and the information was, by my experience, accurate. I particularly like the way he organized the book, with growing information for the Genus and species grouped logically at the end of each section, instead of spread throughout the book. It makes it much easier to use as a reference for growers.

If you own but on book on these plants, this should be the one.

If you've ever bought a venus fly-trap and had it die on you, but would still like to give it another try, this is the perfect book. And not just for fly-traps, but nearly every other carnivorous plant out there!

This book is packed full of information on all kinds of plants that trap and eat insects. But best of all, Peter D'Amato, who runs the largest retail store selling such plants, gives helpful advice on how to grow them. Pretty much everything from soil mixes to light and humidity levels is detailed out here. He even gives lists of plants that do well in different settings, such as windowsills, terrariums, and outdoor bogs. And the writing style is such that it is easy to understand and follow, and even has a nice sense of humor. And while the author's experience is growing them on the Pacific Coast, the advice is easily adaptable to other climates with some adjustment.

This is a must-have book for anyone interested in carnivorous plants - and the "bible" for anyone who hopes to grow them successfully.

Peter D'Amato displays his incredible knowledge of carnivorous plants in a book that is brilliantly organized. Cultivation and propagation pages are set in pastel green colors for fast and easy reference. The book is full of detailed cultivating information, fascinating historical accounts, and beautiful color pictures. The Savage Garden is an essential part of any carnivorous plant enthusiasts' library.

When I lost my son in 1996 I grew to hate everything I was taught about religion and the meaning of life. I had the extraordinary good fortune to attend a seminar in Seattle, WA where my son came through. Ever the skeptic, I never even thought I would get to meet George Anderson, let alone have a reading, but my son came through with such force (and even his nickname, "paulimon" which knocked me out) to tell me not to give in to my hatred and to understand that we are only separated temporarily. My heart sang at the words George said. I thought he would be wisked away after the program, but he stayed there as plain as can be signing books and talking to people. I have watched ALL the psychics work, but this man is a living saint. The information was too specific to be a crock, and you need only to look at him to know this is no act. He is gifted beyond measure, and his words brought such joy to the people he did readings for that night. I bought this book for everyone I know who is in pain. It helped mine so much--I still struggle with my loss but the book is like a bandaid for the heart.

What a lovely book! The title feels welcoming, and comforting, and explains from George Anderson's whole lives experience....profound wonderful things! "Walking in the Garden of Souls" is a very worthy book, worthy of our time and attention.I wanted to read it all at once, and was interested in every word! As things suddenly became apparent, this gift was given to George just for this moment in time, so he could counsel and educate us on different realms of being, all natural and real, to help soothe our souls and heal our hearts!This is a wonderful and thoughtful walk to happiness...a beautiful place that exists for all of us.

George Anderson and Andrew Barone, who is executive director of the George Anderson Grief Support program, and a co-founder of the Foundation for Hope are two names I had never heard of until now but two names I will remember forever for their kindness in this moment! ...

I read this book over the weekend. I have always liked George Anderson. I have a good feel for people and I can say without a doubt he is very genuine. You can feel the love of the souls from the hereafter reflected right through him. This book is excellent advice for all people. Bereaved or not bereaved. Quite honestly, it's probably some advice we don't want to hear or like to hear but it's what we NEED to hear. I applaud him for helping the people he as helped and for his honesty. I couldn't help thinking as I was reading the book that one day I am going to have to face a more difficult challenge then I ever had before in my life and I hope I remember to pick up this book. I'll need it.

This was an AWSOME book. It had the mixture of things I like in a book. Romance, Supernatural, Mystery, and just a bit of tragety, you can't have a good book without just a little tragety, right?
This book is about a college student named Clare, who goes with her mother to a town called Ravensmere, which she knows nothing about. Then, she finds out her mother, who she thought was from London was born there. She spends her time finding out just how much more of a mystery this secluded town is to her. There is a secret that no one will tell her. Not even her mother.
Then, she meets this guy, named Mark, who in my opinion, would be totally hot, if he were actually real. Anyways, she meets him and finds that she is falling in love with Mark. In short, this book is really awsome! It's one of those books you can read over and over and always find out something new. I've read it about 3 times myself. BUY IT!

I have to admit, the beginning is a bit boring, but when you get to the middle of the book and the story begins to unfold, this book will amaze you.

Liz Berry, the author, did a wonderful job writing "The China Garden." It had all the elements to make a story great. It had adventure, romance, and mystery. I especially loved reading about Clare and Mark's relationship. It makes you want to have a guy like Mark yourself. The funny things they did made me smile all day thinking about it. "The China Garden" also had a lot of twists that had me surprised.

I would recomend this book, but not to anyone under the age of 13. Some parts are unsuitable for younger kids.

Well, to sum it all up, buy this book! If your a person who doesn't like to read, this book will change your mind. It had me staying up on a school night to try to finish.

The China Garden casts a spell on anyone who picks it up to read and will not let go until you are finished. Once you get few the first few chapters, it is almost impossible to put down. Liz Berry magically unfolds Clare's story in the most amazing way. I was so shocked every time another piece of this mysterious puzzle would fall into place. This story has the perfect mix of romance, mystery, fantasy, history, and reality that anyone, no matter what genre they usually read, will adore this book. I usually don't like mystery or fantasy, but this book had just the right mix of everything that I loved it! This book is similar to the Harry Potter books in the way that it incorporates fantasy into real life. The China Garden has a more realistic swing to it instead of Harry Potter which is more fantasy based. Clare and Mark's love is so amazing that every girl would long to have Mark for her own. And this true love story is not too mushy to turn you away, but just enough to pull you in and not let you go. Her quest to uncover her family history, sends Clare on a journey that sends her to talk to the earl himself. As more and more pieces fall into place, I kept rereading the earlier chapters to realize the full effect of Berry's foreshadowing. Over all, this book is the most amazing book that I have ever read.

So many friends and relatives have gravitated to this book (which is always on the coffee table in my home) that I'm going to buy several copies and tuck them away for holiday gifts. We're planning to have a vacation house within the next few years, but this book seems to appeal to just about everyone because it's fun and relaxing to look at and all the places have decorating ideas that work in any home. A good friend borrowed the book for a few days and used one home as a guide to creating a "nautical" scheme, including using a boat paddle as a curtain rod, which one of the waterfront homes in the book shows. Thanks to this book and ( ) great prices, I'm getting some holiday shopping done right now.

The best weekend home book I have found. The homes are beautiful and range from old and new, rustic and traditional, with lots of cottage charm and warmth. But not "kitschy" or cutesy. But the homes are also accessible. This book makes me feel that I really can have the weekend house I've always wanted. Great if you have or want to find a second home but the book works, too, if you're only looking for some "getaway style" decorating ideas. I like the resource list in the back of the book with website addresses for getaway home plans and furnishings.

A lot of books on this subject have a travelogue quality as they take you from place to place. This book does that. But it also has a personal quality that is unique. From cover to cover, the author stops to give information that I can use to shop for real estate or even to decorate. What I haven't seen other reviewers mention is the unique chapter (this is what I think is so much fun) that is actually feeding my daydreams with open-ended questions about where I might like to live, what kind of view I really want (and does my husband agree with that or not). That fun chapter has lots of great pictures of homes as well as second-home settings. One question asks something about where I see myself walking in my second home dreams, which is a fun thought--some possible answers, illustrated with pictures, are a golf course, a snow-covered path, a garden, and that sort of thing. It was fun to compare my answers with my husband's. The book has an interactive quality that other getaway and vacation home books do not have. I highly recommend this.

Allergy-Free Gardening really did change the way I look at plants. I have a background in both horticulture and botany and yet there was so much new material that I learned from this book that I was frankly, amazed. I knew a bit about plant sex, but in retrospect, very little.
In Thomas Ogren's eyes all plants are not created equally--or at least they certainly are not equally of value to us. In the past I planted and never gave much thought to whether or not something would be causing me rashes, allergies or other plant-triggered illnesses. I look at trees, shrubs, vines, flowers, lawns different now though. I use this book to find the best plants, the ones that will be attractive and useful in my garden and that will be healthy choices for me and my family.
I like the way Allergy-Free Gardening is set up. Everything is easy to find, easy to understand, easy to use. This author has a real talent for taking the very complicated and putting it all into easily understood layperson terms. His writing is fluent, personal, interesting. You have the feeling he cares deeply about what he does. I haven't read his newest book yet, Safe Sex in the Garden, but I have two friends who have and they thought it was excellent. I've ordered a copy of it also. But, if you garden or you are concerned about your health, I expect you will enjoy this book. I also find that I use it over and over as a general gardening reference book, since it is full of good, solid, down to earth horticultural advice. This is one of the best gardening books I own, and certainly the best thing written on allergies, asthma, and avoiding pollen.

I just finished reading and reviewing Safe Sex in the Garden, the newest book by Thomas Leo
Ogren. I had already bought and read (several times) Allergy-Free Gardening. I am becomming a real fan of this author, who I would say knows more about health and horticulture than any other writer I've ever read.
Seriously, Ogren is that rare find, an original thinker who can write well. In both of his books the
text moves right along. It is almost like reading a good novel, except that as you read it,
you are learning so many remarkable, often quite incredible new things.
I have a friend who heard this author speak, at the Huntington Museum and arboretum, and
she told me that he is a fantastic speaker too. But that doesn't surprise me at all.
In Allergy-Free Gardening you will see what has happened in modern landscapng, where
tidy plants (male) are so much favored over pollen-free plants (female). There is a huge
section in the book where many thousands of garden and landscape plants are discussed, and
each one is given an easy to understand allergy (1-10) ranking. Everyone I know who owns this book has put it to use, making their own yards allergy-free. I count this book as probably the most useful
gardening book I own, and find that I refer to it over and over, and not just on health matters
either. The culture of plants, how to grow them best, all this is well covered.
I just can't recommend this book too highly. I wish that every single gardener, landscaper, allergist, doctor,
and horticulture teacher owned a copy. The city arborists need to read this book too, since
so often they are the ones who are planting all those allegenic, male, pollen producing street trees.
This is a good one (as is the super intersting Safe Sex in the Garden) and if you have a
garden and care about your own health, you'll simply love reading it.

Finally, an alternative to massive drug-therapy for folks with pollen allergies! Allergy-Free Gardening is a radical book, full of the valuable information allergy-sufferers need to excercise control over their immediate environment, the most likely cause of pollen allergies (unless you live in Tucson, where the city planted fruitless mulberry trees whose highly-allergenic pollen makes it impossible for some to go outside).

Ogren includes a comprehensive listing of plants and gives each an OPALS (Ogren Plant Allergy Scale) rating, so the informed gardener can now plant wisely and avoid plants that make people sick. OPALS is being used by the US Dept. of Agriculture in cities throughout the country-we can hope that with this new information, Recreation and Parks departments can begin making informed choices about what to plant in public areas so the likes of the Tucson fiasco is never repeated.

It's an indespensible guide for any allergy-sufferer who loves to garden, any gardener whose children or family suffer from pollen allergies, and should be required reading for all landscape architects. A real find!

I think this book tops what i would consider other contenders for this type of all-in-one cookbook (joy of cooking and fannie farmer) I love that this book has pictures...missing from the other two books I mentioned. It's a nice LARGE general, basic cook book.

A perfect gift for a person setting up an apartment for the first time, learning how to cook, going off to college (altho sometimes cooking options in college are limited).

I love the extra help sections...how to do things... techniques... examples etc. All around books tend to be at a disadvantage when they try to be all things to all people. While I dont think there is any substitute for regional and specific food type/cooking method/ ethnic cuisine cook books, I also think there is an important place in everyones home for a general all purpose cook book. ( For times when you want to know the *basics*...how long to cook something, for example.)

I have been dissapointed with the fannie farmer cookbook and the joy of cooking... this book would be my number 1 choice for a favorite general cook book for everyones kitchen

My mother gave me an earlier edition of this book thirty-two years ago for my bridal shower. The recipes and instructions, along with the illustrations, are very clear and easy to follow. I have accumulated many cook books through the years, but my Better Homes and Garden is, by far, my favorite for all kinds of references I need to make. From where to properly place a fork at the table to making and canning strawberry jam, I still refer to BH&G, solely, several times a week for all my cooking and baking needs. My BH&G cook book is tattered and worn, but as far as I'm concerned, it was the most useful gift I ever received. Most importantly, the recipes contain ingredients that are usually found in your home or can easily be obtained. I'm an excellent cook and baker and I attribute that to my BH&G cook book, every novice cook should own one !

If I had to cut my extensive (over fifty) cookbook collection back to just one book this would be the "keeper!" When my beloved twelve-year old copy of this cookbook finally fell apart I purchased the 11th edition thinking I would mostly be replacing what I already had and knew well.

There was so much new and useful information included in the eleventh edition I wished I'd let go of my old copy earlier. I am especially fond of the nutrition analysis included with each recipe and the tips for making recipes lower in fat. The prep-times included with each recipe were also a new, and very useful, feature to me. Plus the editors upgraded the book to reflect the wider availability of formerly "exotic" fruits and vegetables now in the everyday market.

The fledgling cook will find everything needed to confidently accomplish any task from hard-boiling an egg to properly setting the table for a family meal or a buffet-style party. Pesky, but common, cooking terms like "al dente" and "crisp-tender" are explained in a straight forward manner in the cooking basics section where you will also find great tips for stocking a pantry or purchasing the basic cooking equipment you might need when just starting out.

Useful features for all levels of cook are scattered throughout the text. For example, there is a full-page photograph of different pastas with the name under each (finally! I now know the difference between Gemelli and Fusilli!). Also very useful are the extensive illustrative photos of retail cuts of meat cross-referenced to the wholesale cut and listing the best way to cook each cut.

One of my favorite things about the hardcover cookbook is the three-ring binder format. This makes it possible to lay the book flat on the counter or prop it up nearby with, or without, a cookbook stand. It also makes it easier to add your own notes right alongside your favorite recipes.

I love to give this cookbook as a gift to a young person just starting out -- inside a big crockpot or tied together with some fun kitchen tools.

This is a great cookbook in so many ways. The recipes are easy to prepare and don't call for strange ingredients. All the recipes are very flavorful, even my husband who runs screaming from anything associated with the word "diet" swears by this book. The recipes are varied enough to be compatable with many diets (e.g. low fat, no meat, high protien, or zone type combinations). Also, the layout of the book makes it very easy to use. You won't be dissapointed!

My picky husband and I love this cookbook! We've made about 35 recipes already, and every single one's a hit. Our favorite is the chicken chimichangas. The recipes range from easy to medium difficultly. This book would make a great graduation gift for a college student (which it was to me!) They should change the name to Healthy Eating Cookbook though, because you don't feel like you're eating on a diet.

My husband and I lost a total of 100 pounds in 5 months by using the delicious recipes in this book. The food is tasty, easy to prepare, and satisfying. The variety of foods from the traditional to the more exotic or ethnic gives the range of choice often missing in "diet" books. I have purchased this book as a gift for several friends who have also found it enjoyable.