Bexley Library Gardening Book Collection Summary, Part II

Here’s two more books from the Bexley Public Library that may be of interest to new and even experienced gardeners.

The Quotable Gardener by Charles Elliott. This book contains over 1000 of quotations about gardening. There is nothing here to help aspiring gardeners who seek something more than motivation. Most of the quotations are from gardening books by master gardeners, and thus, are not well known. Other quotations are anonymous, such as “one for the rock, one for the crow, one to die and one to grow” and “all gardeners know better than other gardeners.” Yet others are from famous personages, such as Thomas Jefferson: ”But though an old man, I am but a young gardener” and Abe Lincoln: “Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who know me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.” A few are from works of literature, but only a few are truly funny. I imagine that I will try to incorporate a few – particularly about weeds – into this site from time to time.

The 20 Minute Vegetable Gardener by Tom Christopher and Marty Asher. This is meant to be an informative how-to book, but it is written like a novel or short story. When I want help with something, I want to turn to that page and find the tip immediately instead of having to wade through pages of made-up dialogues between imaginary or real characters who are simply discussing the particular problem. I found this book very tedious and not very helpful. There might be some good ideas in here, but you’ll spend an eternity reading through froth trying to find them.