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Practical Science For Gardeners
Informative and entertaining, this book will stimulate experimentation and encourage gardeners to review and improve their current gardening practices. Once gardeners learn how plants are constructed, it is easier to envision how they'll grow and flourish. An understanding of the structure behind good, healthy soil gives clues as to how to improve one's own garden tilth. This practical guide helps readers identify what plants need to survive and how these fundamental scientific facts are at the heart of good plant care. A chapter on seeds and germination will encourage gardeners at any level to try their hand at propagation, while discussion of soil, pests, and diseases adds to the skills of all gardeners. The final sections of the book take a closer look at biodiversity, ecology, genetic engineering, and nomenclature. For the enthusiastic beginner or the master gardener, Practical Science for Gardeners unravels the mysterious inner life of plants.
Hardcover
First published July 25, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 18, 2023
Excellent. I’m reading it mostly for my apartment jungle, but also for the hypothetical garden I’ve been building in my mind since I was twelve.
January 22, 2018
As someone with a very basic grasp of plant biology and gardening, loved it. I learned so much about why plants do or don't like certain things. It's very practical and has helped me keep some plants alive that would have died otherwise.
It's made me notice and understand things while walking, like why a tree stump has mushrooms growing out of it, or why a certain vine is thicker in one area than another.
It's made me notice and understand things while walking, like why a tree stump has mushrooms growing out of it, or why a certain vine is thicker in one area than another.
December 16, 2022
It's extremely well thought out, comprehensive and a joy to read: practical wisdom for real life application in all our gardening pursuits. I would put it up there with Brian Capon's Botany for Gardeners but this has a more down-to-Earth, hangin'-with-Grandma feel to it. It is approachable to the beginner and master gardener alike.
January 12, 2009
This was a nice refresher course (at least for anyone who buried their early plant biology studies into the back of their memory closet) of the basic plant system and makeup with a tone that is devised specifically for the typical garden enthusiast.
What Mary Pratt set out to do with this (her unfortunately final publication) was to show the hobbyist the practical application of scientific knowledge in the garden beds. I think she delivers this knowledge marvelously, and not just because i picture this very pleasant English lady kindly explaining each chapter in my head.
Sadly, after the preface comes a note mentioning that after Ms. Pratt sent her work for review she succumbed to a brain tumor and the remaining to-do's were completed by her husband. She did however live to know that this work of hers would indeed be published.
The way that the material is presented is quite simple and thorough. It was a quick read (not including the Appendices it is around 150 pages) but it is full of basic information pertaining to plant structure and how a greater understanding of the way that plants "operate" and how they live together in harmony with other living things such fungi, bacteria, and various helpful insects.
I think that the difference between this book and many of the other gardening books is that she doesn't try to cover "too much" information but instead suggests how to interpret the world of plant studies and to encourage the reader to gain an understanding of what science has taught us and incorporate the sense of learning by observation. The chapter on genetically modified plants includes a concise review of gene transfer and mutation, an important aspect of farming and production.
In regards to the organic versus synthetic gardening argument, Ms. Pratt had taken the middle ground. She asserts that all gardening is in some sense unnatural, and that to plants the necessary chemicals are just that: chemicals. whether or not they have been synthesized makes no difference to the plant. She suggests a steady balance of organic and man-made options, and moderation is paramount.
All in all it definitely got me jump-started for spring. It's a nice book to keep on the shelf for reference as well.
What Mary Pratt set out to do with this (her unfortunately final publication) was to show the hobbyist the practical application of scientific knowledge in the garden beds. I think she delivers this knowledge marvelously, and not just because i picture this very pleasant English lady kindly explaining each chapter in my head.
Sadly, after the preface comes a note mentioning that after Ms. Pratt sent her work for review she succumbed to a brain tumor and the remaining to-do's were completed by her husband. She did however live to know that this work of hers would indeed be published.
The way that the material is presented is quite simple and thorough. It was a quick read (not including the Appendices it is around 150 pages) but it is full of basic information pertaining to plant structure and how a greater understanding of the way that plants "operate" and how they live together in harmony with other living things such fungi, bacteria, and various helpful insects.
I think that the difference between this book and many of the other gardening books is that she doesn't try to cover "too much" information but instead suggests how to interpret the world of plant studies and to encourage the reader to gain an understanding of what science has taught us and incorporate the sense of learning by observation. The chapter on genetically modified plants includes a concise review of gene transfer and mutation, an important aspect of farming and production.
In regards to the organic versus synthetic gardening argument, Ms. Pratt had taken the middle ground. She asserts that all gardening is in some sense unnatural, and that to plants the necessary chemicals are just that: chemicals. whether or not they have been synthesized makes no difference to the plant. She suggests a steady balance of organic and man-made options, and moderation is paramount.
All in all it definitely got me jump-started for spring. It's a nice book to keep on the shelf for reference as well.
June 4, 2010
Mary Pratt delivers the perfect antidote for those of us permanently afflicted with garden-fever, and solves many of the perennial "whys" and "hows" that plague us. Each chapter concludes with a list of suggestions of ways to make simple garden science work in our favor. And when giving advice on plant propagation, it doesn't get more down-to-earth than this:
"Maybe one day genetically-engineered people will grow genetically-modified plants in artistically-designed trays containing scientifically-predetermined solutions. But it's pretty clear that the expenditure of energy required would, in present circumstances, be prohibitive!"
Even as she herself was a fading flower, Pratt effectively passed onto us a collection of vital secrets for the healthy function of any garden.
"Maybe one day genetically-engineered people will grow genetically-modified plants in artistically-designed trays containing scientifically-predetermined solutions. But it's pretty clear that the expenditure of energy required would, in present circumstances, be prohibitive!"
Even as she herself was a fading flower, Pratt effectively passed onto us a collection of vital secrets for the healthy function of any garden.
January 30, 2014
If one ignores all of the author's patronizing ("now don't be scared, here comes some terms from chemistry!" "Don't freak out, it's just biology!"), this was a very nice review of a college biology 101 and chemistry 101 class. The diagrams looked a bit like they were drawn on a napkin at the bar, but the information is useful.
It was difficult to write these honest comments, for the author wrote this book on her deathbed and her husband finished the manuscript after her passing. Perhaps if she had had more editing time, the finished product would have been more polished.
It was difficult to write these honest comments, for the author wrote this book on her deathbed and her husband finished the manuscript after her passing. Perhaps if she had had more editing time, the finished product would have been more polished.
May 10, 2012
This was a nice review of a lot of basic biology concepts I had forgotten from grade school and high school science class. It was nice to learn about soil science, plant structure, and environmental issues as they specifically pertain to the garden. It was written simply enough that the scientific concepts weren't overwhelming, but I still feel like I learned a lot.
March 25, 2010
There wasn't all that much new that i learned from reading the book, but i appreciated the scope and simplicity of the book, and her approach of commensensical, evidence-based skepticism and wonder.
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November 29, 2012loved it
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews