Wednesday, August 15, 2001
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Wednesday, August 15, 2001 |
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Book Review: Month-by-Month Gardening in Georgia
By SALLIE
SATTERTHWAITE
There are two ways to garden in Georgia. One method, practiced religiously, and futilely, by a busy local professional couple, was to shout "Grow! Grow!" to their yard as they backed out of their driveway on the way to work. The other, vastly more effective, is to own and consult "Month-by-Month Gardening in Georgia," by favorite-Fayette-son Walter Reeves and horticulturist and garden designer Erica Glasener. Arguably the most comprehensive green thumb instruction manual published for the region, the genius of the 355-page book is in its organization. Where do you start, when trying to cover such a broad subject in depth? By the month? That would mean 12 huge chapters on everything from garden planning to soil preparation to planting to maintenance of every plant from bulbs and annuals to ornamental grasses, vegetables and trees. Or should you pour out watering tips on each plant species in one chapter, pruning directions in the next? Or perhaps beginning with beginners and advancing to the advanced? Glasener and Reeves approached their huge subject by identifying the major types of plants and giving each a chapter: annuals, bulbs, edibles, houseplants, lawns, perennials and ornamental grasses, roses, shrubs, trees, vines and groundcover. Each of these chapters is then subdivided into months, each month on one spread, and within each month, the needs of the subject are addressed consistently. For example, the section on lawns includes planning, planting, lawn care, watering, fertilizing and pest control, in that order, for January, for February, and so through the year. Pruning instructions are included each month within the tree and shrub chapters, while grooming is included for houseplants and annuals. A helpful hint or perhaps a clearly drawn construction project may vary this format, preventing tedium, and each chapter also gets a preface that provides an overview to the subject. Lists of plants recommended for Georgia's climate, with a description of their size and sun requirements, for example, open the chapter on perennials and ornamental grasses. The book begins and ends with basic instructions that pertain to all horticultural endeavors in Georgia: soil testing, sun versus shade, composting, important tools, a glossary of gardening terms, the use of chemicals, basic planning, and detailed zone maps that finally! make it clear even to "Grow! Grow!" gardeners when it's safe to plant. Best of all, for the organizationally challenged, the book includes a table of contents, an extensive bibliography and list of gardening resources, and two separate indices one listing every plant in the book and the other referring to gardening techniques from air layering to xeriscaping. No one should get lost in this exceptionally well-edited book, other than in the sense that it's hard to put down. Reeves' credentials as a popular former DeKalb County extension agent are well known in the Atlanta area, where he hosts a lawn and garden radio show and publishes weekly columns in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His "Gardening in Georgia" is shown weekly on Georgia Public Television. Reeves now lives in Macon. His son Grey contributed to a children's gardening guide sponsored by Pike Family Nurseries and included in "Gardening in Georgia." Even dearer to the hearts of Fayette countians is Reeves' local familiarity as the son of Frances Reeves and the late Frank Reeves, lifelong Inman residents and wide-ranging county activists. In virtually every interview, Walter Reeves credits his hard-working farmer-parents with instilling in him his love for the soil. What he can't say, however, is that his amiable personality and accessibility precisely reflect his parents' best-loved characteristics. Glasener lives in Atlanta and is a contributing editor to Fine Gardening magazine. She also writes a gardening design column for the AJC. Formerly a director of education for the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pa., she has written frequently for The New York Times, The Farmer's Almanac and Atlanta magazine. Glasener and Reeves collaborated earlier on the "Georgia Gardener's Guide" and "My Georgia Garden: A Gardener's Journal," also published by Cool Springs Press.
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