What do you think?
Rate this book
An Ear To The Ground. The Uncommon Origins Of Some Common Expressions
How did plants get to be the way they are? Why do they have pretty flowers? How different would things have been if the wrong kind of pollinators had got the upper hand? Why are Latin names so complicated, and why Latin anyway? Why is a weed-free lawn an ecological impossibility?This entertaining book gives the answers to these questions and many more. It shows how a little botanical knowledge can bring not just better results but peace of mind, and that losing sleep over such traditional gardening bogeys as weeds, pests and pruning is not necessarily the best course.In this new edition Ken Thompson grabs the opportunity to explain why any old plant will do for companion planting - but also that it can do as much harm as good - and why planting by the moon is complete and utter nonsense.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
5 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 12, 2017
Here's a list of words;
Ecology, conservation, botany, bio diversity, pedology, entomology, ornithology, taxonomy, natural history and meteorology.
Some of these you will have heard before. Others will mean nothing to you.
This scientific and very readable book covers all of them without mentioning some more than a couple of times and most of them not at all. In so doing it is educational, engrossingly interesting and entertaining, even humorous.
In whatever capacity, if you are a gardener then you will benefit from reading this.
The appliance of science.
Ecology, conservation, botany, bio diversity, pedology, entomology, ornithology, taxonomy, natural history and meteorology.
Some of these you will have heard before. Others will mean nothing to you.
This scientific and very readable book covers all of them without mentioning some more than a couple of times and most of them not at all. In so doing it is educational, engrossingly interesting and entertaining, even humorous.
In whatever capacity, if you are a gardener then you will benefit from reading this.
The appliance of science.
December 4, 2009
A wonderful guide to those who enjoy the science (seasonal colour changes conjured by combinations of carotenoids and anthocyanins) with practical gardening tips for the amateur gardener (lime will raise the pH of acid soils, but it is more difficult to lower the pH of alkaline soil).
The author is a plant ecologist and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield.
The author is a plant ecologist and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield.
August 7, 2012
Quick easy read with several new to me simple science based ideas i shall be putting into practice come spring
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews