The Informed Gardener

by Linda Chalker-Scott

Winner of the Best Book Award in the 2009 Garden Writers Association Media Awards

Named an "Outstanding Title" in University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries, 2009

In this introduction to sustainable landscaping practices, Linda Chalker-Scott addresses the most common myths and misconceptions that plague home gardeners and horticultural professionals. Chalker-Scott offers invaluable advice to gardeners gardeners who have

o Are native plants the best choice for sustainable landscaping?

o Should you avoid disturbing the root ball when planting?

o Are organic products better or safer than synthetic ones?

o What is the best way to control weeds-fabric or mulch?

o Does giving vitamins to plants stimulate growth?

o Are compost teas effective in controlling diseases?

o When is the best time to water in hot weather?

o If you pay more, do you get a higher-quality plant?

o How can you differentiate good advice from bad advice?

The answers may surprise you. In her more than twenty years as a university researcher and educator in the field of plant physiology, Linda Chalker-Scott has discovered a number of so-called truths that originated in traditional agriculture and that have been applied to urban horticulture, in many cases damaging both plant and environmental health. The Informed Gardener is based on basic and applied research from university faculty and landscape professionals, originally published in peer-reviewed journals.

After reading this book, you

o Understand your landscape or garden plants as components of a living system

o Save time (by not overdoing soil preparation, weeding, pruning, staking, or replacing plants that have died before their time)

o Save money (by avoiding worthless or harmful garden products, and producing healthier, longer-lived plants)

o Reduce use of fertilizers and pesticides

o Assess marketing claims objectively

This book will be of interest to landscape architects, nursery and landscape professionals, urban foresters, arborists, certified professional horticulturists, and home gardeners.

For more information go //www.theinformedgardener.com

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Nature, Plants, Horticulture, Self Help, Reference

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2008

About the author

Linda Chalker-Scott is an urban horticulturist and associate professor at Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Washington State University. She is the author of The Informed Gardener, winner of the Best Book Prize from the Garden Writers Association. She is the editor and co-author of Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens, the Washington State editor of MasterGardener magazine, and author of the online column "Horticultural Myths." She has a new blog at gardenprofessors.com.

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Reviews

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

A smug, condescending and rather unpleasant little book of gardening advice. I'm all for science! And the debunking of myths propagated by commercial interests! But Chalker-Scott relies less on scientific evidence than scientific evidence that concurs with conclusions she has already reached.

Her didactic--nay, dictatorial--style might (might!) be justified if her reasoning and conclusions weren't so questionable. For example, she tirelessly promotes wood chip mulch as the cure for every horticultural woe, yet never provides adequate evidence to back up her claims. Then there's her use of Roundup. The author lists glyphosate as an "essential product" for gardeners. Plenty of scientists and environmentalists would dispute this curious assertion.

Finally, there's Chalker-Scott's deployment of the kind of personal anecdote-as-evidence that she decries (in others, naturally) throughout the book. Here she is on the fallacy of compost tea:

"I have a home landscape with many trees, shrubs and groundcovers. I don't use pesticides, except for an occasional shot of Roundup. I don't use fertilizers, unless i can determine a deficiency ... I don't add anything else to the landscape except wood chips as an organic mulch. I don't have disease problems; I don't have insect pests; I have a healthy organic landscape. This tells me that compost tea is not crucial for landscape health."

Right, then!

[Bec · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Informed Gardener and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again by Linda Chalker-Scott dives into a variety of gardening advice, supposed common sense, myth and folklore to debunk them based on current science and research. This is valuable information for the home gardener or landscaper who doesn’t have the time or money to waste on old wives tales.

One such myth that Linda debunks is putting gravel in the bottom of container for plant drainage. She explains why you should no longer do this and how water will not move easily from the fine soil to the coarse gravel below. Both of these books are full of great detailed information on why these myths, even though they might sound good, do not really work. A great guide for all gardeners to have on hand!

[penny shima glanz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several websites (which ones, I don't remember) cited this book as a much read for the home gardener, despite those glowing recommendations I found Chalker-Scott's slim and informative book difficult to get through. I don't deny that it is important to cut through both the biased hype found in many garden centers or the waste-of-time folk-lore that is out there, but her style implying that dot-com as evil and everything peer-reviewed or dot-edu as the holy writ really turned me off. I know there are useful golden nuggets within but I warn future readers to beware the tone. That said, I really enjoyed the citations that allow me to, if I desire, read up and learn more from scientific research. The format includes clear summaries that are helpful and by-and-large color-free. I will find myself turning to this again and again and will just need to remember to ignore the overly opinionated writing and focus on the facts that I'm looking for.

[Pierre · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of newspaper columns. It contains some good, solid, scientific advice. Excellent chapter endnotes. It is a very quick read, but after reading the book, I felt that a lot of the information was superficial and the writing style was quite terse and unfriendly. I felt like the author was talking down to me. Jeff Gilman's books written better and give you more bang for your buck.

This book could have been so much better if it was divided into topical chapters and rewritten as a gardening book...rather than a compilation of newspaper columns.

[Reynold Witmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Very matter-a-fact, show-me- the-data approach to many Landscaping myths. This book may have limited value if you aren't a serious gardener or landscape professional. But I like the idea. Sadly it's a twenty year old book, which in terms of science review is too much. If I find a newer edition, I'll read it.

[jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my biggest scientific pet peeves is the misuse of "common sense" where people rationalize something completely irrational by "common sense-ing" their way down the completely wrong path. I think I'm guilty of it sometimes. We probably all are. But when you do that in the plant world, you can kill plants, waste money and time, create dangerous or unhealthy landscapes, and provide your own personal non-point pollution sources! Linda Chalker-Scott takes on many "common sense" bad ideas with real science based on, you know, the scientific method. She is harshly critical of any pseudoscience that comes from conventional wisdom but can't be reproduced under scientific conditions. She is equally harsh with anyone who is trying to sell a product & uses pseudoscience to promote it. As a WSU Master Gardener & garden blog addict, I have long admired this author's work, but I'm afraid this book might put me in the camp of "devoted fan club member."

Some of the victims of her harsh wit and peer-reviewed science include:

organic superiority
top pruning when transplanting
woody root pruning when transplanting
wire root baskets
tree topping
hot-weather watering (causes leaf scorch)
native plant superiority
well-behaved ornamental plants
high cost = high quality at the nursery
tree staking
soil amendments - boy howdy, Chalker-Scott goes to town on soil amendments. backfilling, phosphate fertilizer, compost tea, bonemeal, high organic content, amending clay with sand, hydrogels, etc.
landscape fabric
killer compost
newspaper/cardboard mulching
bark/beauty mulch
vitamin shots/stimulates/magic



Pretty much. Take-home lessons: right plant, right place. don't believe information from people selling you things. mulch heavily with arborist chips.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned some thing in this book, so it certainly has value. But, I felt that there were times that much more information was provided on what NOT to do versus what TO do. Examples: she recommends planting in native soil without amending it. I've got such hard clay I'm not even sure I could dig some of the areas deep enough to plant even a one gallon pot. Is she really recommending I plant directly in dense clay? As a newbie gardener I've done that and it didn't work out so well (haha). She also discusses wood chip mulch endlessly, as much as 8-10 inches deep. I agree that wood chips as much are great and eventually break down, but, ground covers will not spread on such material - and I grow a lot of ground covers to keep the weeds down and to shade the soil. I also wonder about those plants that did not evolve in a forest environment with plenty of broken down old trees. What about those plants that evolved in gravelly soil environments? I'm sure that she's got answers to these questions, but, I don't want to have to hunt them down.

[Tony Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative book where the author confronts many garden myths with scientific backed reality checks and bottom-line recommendations. This is the first book in the author's series. Both books would be especially useful to master gardeners for the purpose of giving home gardeners logical advice counter to a lot of advertising hype. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys gardening and is looking for way to be more productive without spending money on commercial products that more times than not do not work or are not good for the environment. Topics such as how to effectively mulch gardens, amend the soil, and prepare bare root plants for planting.

The book is well designed with short and to the point article-chapters... easy to read and packed with highly useful information.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't give the nonsense about non-native plants (pgs 63-68) higher stars, but the rest of this myth-busting collection is digestible and helpful. Most of the straight forward lessons are well-researched and supported by my training and experience. I'd love to have read this earlier, barring the misinformed pieces about native plants. Read Doug Tallamy's work first, then this.

[Frank Troth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, science-based collection of columns on common gardening "myths" regarding planting, pruning, growing, etc. Chalker-Scott is an urban horticulturist and associate professor at Puyallup Research Extension Center, WSU. We heard her speak on a panel about pruning at the 2020 Seattle Flower and Garden Festival. Every casual and serious gardener (and garden store) would benefit from reading this. It's a quick read of about 40 columns, as you can pick by subject area from the Table of Contents, each column or chapter being 3-5 pages long, with a bulleted summary. There are references and an index as well.

[Alissa Elderkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some useful tools in this book that I am grateful to know of . As much as the author uses science based evidence to support her research in this book, I found a few that I have a hard time believing, purely based on personal experiences. Overall, this book had some good bits of wisdom and resources to follow up with, but the underlying condescending tone made it almost hard to finish.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The question-answer format of the book was helpful and readable.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative about garden practices that work, to replace the myths that don't work.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good logical advice to save time and money on your garden.

[Susan]

Non-fiction collection of gardening columns

[M Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, science-backed newspaper columns dispelling gardening myths.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Clear information for the home gardener.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few good tips and tidbits I didn't know, but not the most engaging read.

[Mike Veasey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read that taught me a lot---especially dispelling many old wives tales about gardening. Save your money as there is no need to buy expensive (or not so expensive fertilizers), fungicides, wound dressings and the like. Natural gardening really is best.

This book takes a look at 35 or so common "myths"and then explores the science that supports (or doesn't support) the myth. Topics include myths concerning soil additives, organics, mulches, where to plant, magical cures like compost tea and commercial growth enhancers/vitamin stimulants, etc.

[Joy Lanzendorfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book a lot. For one thing, it single-handedly explained why voles are attacking my garden--it's because of sheet mulching. Once I understood why the vole infestation was happening, I was able to correct the situation. (Knock wood.) In a lot of ways, this book simplifies gardening and explains problems that trendy techniques, such as sheet mulching, can bring. I'm curious to try her methods of mulching and root pruning too.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some good evidenced-based information about landscape gardening. It is laid out as a series of articles and some of the information between the articles is repeated (which, in an already slim book meant there really wasn't very much content - - also at the end of each 3 page article, the author provides a bulleted list of "takeaways", which was just more repeated information) and I found the tone condescending and arrogant at times.

[Susan Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good scientific information

Excellent. Amazing how often people believe clearly bogus claims when solid scientifically tested information is available. The author has researched the literature for research on many commonly held gardening beliefs to determine those which are true. Most are useless and serve only to cost money and time. Excellent example of how to use research to support or disprove many old-wives-tales.

[Sonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting work, although a bit dated by 2015. Not for the novice gardener, as it gets a bit technical and may be a lot for a beginner. I would have liked more information on some issues such as wood chips (which she loves) and Nitrogen as well as the role of Phosphorus (as opposed to the issues related to having too much or too little). I will read her next work to see how the issues discussed have changed (if at all).

[Elaine Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even more Science! I love her hard-nosed tone, too. As a bonus, she's at the WSU Extension in Puyallup, practically right up the road. (I even went to a retreat there at a former job.) And nice to know that the Neighborwoods folks are giving the most up-to-date scientific advice about planting and maintaining trees! Shallow holes, good; staking & topping, bad.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of myth/reality exposes on gardening. The author is obviously very experienced and well-informed, my only issue with the book is that its focus is on permanent landscape plants and my interest is primarily annual vegetables and other edibles. However, it was a good reminder to question the popular "wisdom".

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gift from my loving husband, this book had a good collection of short columns debunking some common gardening myth and practice. Each article was short - two pages or so with associated scientific and peer-reviewed supporting biblio. Good stuff, some common sense, but not a "how to" guide - generally useful for re-examining basics.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Informed Gardener by Linda Chalker-Scott (University of Washington Press 2006) (635) was an interesting read. The author reviews gardening myths and legends, runs them through a scientific filter, and then rips the hearts out of many common garden practices. Though the read was interesting, I'm not convinced, and I'm not changing. My rating: 5/10, finished 4/13/12.

[Lily C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read, a book debunking some long held practices, also introduced me to some issues I was unaware of - the biodegradability of water retaining additives and potential toxicity. I have since found the web-site many of the articles were taken from and intend to visit regularly
http://puyallup.wsu.edu/lcs/

[Douglas Larson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at a collection of beliefs about gardening that most people have heard at one time or another. Chalker-Scott thoroughly researches each belief and then presents the scientific evidence that either refutes or supports it.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a horticulturist and professor, Linda Chalker-Scott explains the science behind the choices that home gardeners make. Lots of practical information written in short descriptive chapters that are easy to follow.