Principles of Gardening: The Practice of the Gardener's Art

by Hugh Johnson

A manual on gardening techniques and a tribute to the horticultural art encompasses such sections as "Your Local Climate" and "The Many Moods of Water" that explore many modern gardening topics and methods, including organic gardening. 22,000 first printing.

Genres: Gardening, Reference, Nonfiction, How To

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Hugh Johnson, younger son of a London lawyer, began his life-long passion for wine in all its variety as a member of the Wine & Food Society at Cambridge University, where he gained an Honours Degree in English literature. When he left King's College in 1961 he became a feature writer for Vogue and House & Garden, writing, among other articles, travel and wine columns for both magazines and their sister-papers in New York.

In 1963, as a result of his close friendship with the octogenarian André Simon, the founder of The International Wine & Food Society, he became General Secretary of the Society and succeeded the legendary gastronome as editor of its magazine Wine & Food. At the same time he became wine correspondent of The Sunday Times and started work on his first book, Wine, whose publication in 1966 established him as one of the foremost English gastronomic writers. There are now over 800,000 copies in print in seven languages and the book is still regularly reprinted. After a year as Travel Editor of The Sunday Times he became editor of Queen Magazine, in two years doubling the circulation of the fashionable glossy. It was 1969 when James Mitchell of the newly-founded publishing house Mitchell Beazley invited him to write The World Atlas of Wine. The research involved took Hugh Johnson all over the world; the result was a best-seller that might justly claim to have put wine on the map. Its publication was described by the Director of the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine in his Foreword as "un événement majeur de la littérature vinicole".

Reviews

[Jenifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does not really ‘get’ American landscape design (not even a mention of Frank Lloyd Wright). So I was disappointed when the book got to the US when his treatment of other regions seemed so good. But that aside, it is a very helpful and readable book. In particular, Johnson covers the history of gardening going back to ancient China and Persia. Super interesting. Oh, and the last sentence is so strange for a last sentence -

‘Nobody can do everything - least of all gardening.’

I think he was ready to move on to the next project. :)

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most useful books and informative books that I read in my early years of gardening.

[Carole Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been my gardening "bible" since I bought it in 1987. At that time, I was learning how to garden in my yard-front and back. What should I plant and where? I was in my experimental phase. This book has absolutely everything you may or may not need to know about gardening plus this book has beautiful pictures of how plants and trees should look in your garden. This book has types of flowers, bulbs, where our flowers originated, famous gardeners, and seasonal gardening. There are also types of gardens and gardening in other countries. If you are a "serious gardener", I hope you can find or buy a copy. Sadly, my arthritis prevents me from doing much gardening now. But luckily I have mostly perennials in my garden, so other than needing pruning, my garden is well established.