The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers

by Teri Dunn Chace

The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers identifies the 100 most common gardening mistakes and gives gardeners the techniques to prevent them. Or, if it's too late and they've already goofed, there are tips to fix the mistake. The book's 24 chapters tackle every kind of gardening disaster, whether it has to do with plants, tools and techniques, or general care and maintenance. Gardeners looking to prune their roses will learn to hold off until late winter to avoid damaging plant tissue. Gardeners that have allowed their mint to overgrow? Dunn advises pulling it out and replanting it in a container to control the root. Organized by common garden topics and designed to be easily dipped in and out of, The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers offers nuggets of wisdom based on Teri Dunn Chace's years of hands-on gardening experience. Advice is humorously supported by Colleen Coover's delightful illustrations. This accessible guide will transform an anxious gardener into an informed, confident, successful gardener with a mistake-free garden

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Linda B · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are planting your first garden or perhaps have just had your first garden disaster, this is the book to find out where things went wrong. As much as I would like to stick a few plants in the ground, scatter some seeds, and come back to a bountiful garden, it doesn’t work that way. There are planting times, weeds, pests, and a variety of problems that can occur.

The Anxious Gardener’s Book of Answers is written question and answer style with topics covering most of the important aspects of good garden care. The book covers proper planting times and depths, soil, weed control, fertilizer, pests, different plant types, and much more.

Most topics contain information on what can go wrong, the right way to do it, and if it can be fixed if a mistake is made. This book is more for beginners because there is just basic information on each subject, but it is certainly enough to get started and a great quick reference guide if you are not sure about something that has gone wrong.

[Kim Van orden · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have appreciated the author pointing out areas where there are divergent opinions on how to manage issues. She presents her suggestions as truth. A more balanced discussion on pros and cons of handling different issues would have been more useful to me. This book does not use organic gardening practices and many of the suggested methods for managing pests do not fit with my values. There were some useful tidbits, however.

[jiji]

This was a good, general overview that answered some of my questions. It's pretty broad and I will have to read more specific books of growing vegetables, herbs and flowers in zone 7 (where I live), but it's a good starting off point.

What I learned/though:
-Bulbs sound complicated and not worth the trouble (at least at this stage in my gardening career....)
-I found myself wondering why certain kinds of grasses are preferred to others. Why can't we make peace with the diversity of weeds that grow in patches in our suburban lawns? I mean...as long as it's mowed, it looks orderly enough, and it's less pesticides!
- You can turn leaves into free mulch by gathering them in a pile and running them over with the lawn mower a few times. Then, just sprinkle on your lawn to protect plants in winter and add organic materials back into the soil.
-Don't plant your seedlings/starts/flowers between noon and midafternoon. The sun is strongest at that time, and it's hard on the plants. Better to plan on a cool, cloudy morning or later in the evening.
-There are some pretty inslugane ways of killing slugs.
-Acid vs. Alkaline soil. Two very different things.
-Plant flowers and vegetables native to your soil. Where I live in Virginia we have semi-rocky, red clay soil, so I guess I will have to find out what grows in this kind of soil.
-You can get your soil tested by buying a kit at a garden shop or some state agencies.
-Tilling the soil can be good, and it can also bring weeds seeds to the surface.
-Deep, infrequent soakings are better than frequent, light soakings.
-You should water the roots, not the leaves.
-I need to further explore cover crops.
-Mulch kills weeds because it cuts of sunlight supply.

All very basic, practical stuff that I mostly didn't know. This is definitely a book for clueless, beginner gardeners, which I am.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of the book (pose a problem and then talk about the solution) is actually a drawback here. So many answers were basically "stop doing that" or "pull the plant out and start over again" or "vow to do better next time" which isn't helpful. But the questions were often very informative, and it's obvious the author has a lot of useful information to share.

[ButterPoached · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize that what I needed was a book that is 70% plant knowledge, 30% reassurance that you're not making terrible mistakes. I appreciate the book's dedication to being reassuring, although I do have to admit that it is very much beginner's knowledge. A lot of times, the answer is actually "read more in a different book", which isn't great if you're looking for answers in THIS one.

[Ensley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect simple, short book for a newbie gardener like myself. Easily flipped through it in an afternoon and it helped give me the confidence to actually get some plants into a flower bed that had otherwise been a pile of weeds.

[Bach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely broad read. There are some good lessons in here, but in general it’s such a sweeping glance at things. I think I prefer finding a more detailed, specific gardening book on things rather than return to this particular piece. Easy to comb through though.

[Bailey Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book if you're a first-time home owner/gardener and truly don't have much experience. The title describes me perfectly. Haha.

[Kevin M. Labadessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is filled with helpful hints for successful gardening. It’s a light and easy read but filled with many ways to enhance your gardening experience.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick book to thumb through. I enjoyed the overview but found it overly simplistic.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe I am a more anxious gardener than this book could anticipate.

[Kristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book probably would have been really good if I already had a yard/garden and just needed to trouble shoot some problems. Unfortunately, I have a disaster zone that this book couldn't possibly hope to trouble shoot.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely for the anxious....

[David Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers by Teri Dunn Chace (Timber Press 2012) (635) is a simple but interesting book of gardening answers and advice. My rating: 4.5/10, finished 5/31/12.

[Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super handy for novices and presented in an unintimidating format

[Pam Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very easy to read, easy to understand and it helped me ALOT with my garden questions. Great book.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3 of 5

Recommended for garden newbies. I was looking for something a bit more intermediate to advanced.