Groundwork: A Gardener's Ecology

by Roger B. Swain

In this collection of essays, Swain shows why gardeners are in the best position to become the new environmentalists. By focusing on the foundations of gardening, he shows how our most basic choices--what we choose to grow, when we decide to water, whether we return nutrients to the soil, how we deal with chemical and plastic residues, even when we eat fresh tomatoes--all have an impact on our larger environment.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Gardening, Science

162 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 1994

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

635.0974 Gardening essays - These 10 essays by the host of PBS-TV's Victory Garden and science editor of Horticulture magazine all send one key message: gardeners must take a leading role in saving the environment. Swain writes about such concerns as nutrients ("the proper place for organic matter to end its days is at home, not in the outskirts of some distant dump"); water conservation; curbing development of subdivisions, businesses, and highways; the high cost of using plastic; the danger of exposure to loud noises (as in garden power equipment); animal rights; storing the summer's harvest for eating in the winter; and educating the gardener. "Small acts of ecological vigilantism" is just one of the many memorable expressions Swain wields in these important essays, which merit the full attention of gardeners and nongardeners alike.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in 1994, this volume subtitled "A Gardener's Ecology" is still a remarkably useful resource. Issues from almost 30 years ago are still issues today in tending our gardens, whether as food source, wildlife habitat or public parks.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really wish we had more people like Roger Swain. Great essays.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book about the authors garden, and the world that radiates out from it.