The Sceptical Gardener: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Good Gardening

by Ken Thompson

From why Matucana and High Scent sea peas are far superior to the Valerie Harrod variety, to the easy way to sex an earwig, Dr. Ken Thompson provides an expert's miscellany of gardening knowledge, aimed at making you not necessarily a better gardener—but quite probably a far more thoughtful one.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2015

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This writer is an ecologist as well as a gardener so there is some really useful information on what actually works (woodcrete bat boxes, south facing) and what doesn’t (sonic cat deterrents) if you want to encourage more wildlife into your garden. Worth reading.

[Robin Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone with even the slightest interest in gardening on a regular basis (so, excluding those who are told once a fortnight that it's time to mow the lawn, again), this is an enjoyable and educational collection of articles on many and varied aspects of horticulture. True, some pieces are a bit obscure for your average green-thumbed tinkerer, but there is lots of useful knowledge to be had in these pages.

Even for those not particularly interested in digging deeper into the scientific, statistical and botanical background to some perennial problems, and potential pests, Mr. Thomson delivers his wisdom with a dry wit, and an eye for a good jape, such that it has been a real pleasure to dip into this volume every day or two for the past several weeks.

Not that I always agree with the op-ed in question. The final article, on the subject of Google trends for example, is pure nonsense. Nobody with any real interest in horticulture (or web searches, for that matter) would use a search term as mind-bogglingly generic as 'gardening'. The use of search engines (generally) is much more targeted than that. So, concluding on that basis that interest in gardening is declining is just lazy. The reality, I am sure, will be that those interested in gardening have become much more knowledgeable over the years about what to search for.

In conclusion however, a very informative and enjoyable read.

[E A M Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of newspaper columns published recently in The Telegraph. The author is not only a gardener but also a qualified biologist and the short articles are informative and sometimes argumentative.
I found them useful and interesting and recommend the book to anyone interested in plants, whether you garden or not.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting content, compilation of articles from a column organised into themes. Good to dip into, a bit much all in one go. Lost my way on the naming of plants. Perhaps 3/5 is a bit tight but 8/10 would be to much.

[Melissa Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love love, very amusing and clever commentary and interesting topics.

[Clivemichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining explorations. Slightly amusing in places

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some interesting nuggets in there (and I probably would have enjoyed it more if I lived in England), but there was also some advice that left me totally shaking my head.

[Valerie Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Explains some interesting science behind myths of gardening, while keeping it fun

[Blorengia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable. A collection of short articles, each about 3 pages long, covering a range of gardening-related topic. A nice little gift for a gardening friend perhaps.

[Judith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stopped reading this book after nearly 100 pages because while it was (to me) somewhat amusing, it didn't really have what I was looking for.

The book really is geared more to a British audience and there isn't much that really crosses over for N. America/the U.S.