Synopses & Reviews
Can beer make plants grow? How about buttermilk? Or music--classical or rock? Are you sure about planting trees in deep holes? And how about chasing insects with hot sauce and stopping slugs with eggshells?
Whether in ancient books, on television, or in gardening publications, remedies for all your garden woes are here for the taking: the challenge is to know what will work and what won't.
Fearlessly conducting original experiments and harvesting wisdom from the scientific literature, horticulturalist Jeff Gillman assesses new and historic advice and reveals the how and why‚ and sometimes the why not‚ for more than 100 common and uncommon gardening practices. The results will surprise even experienced gardeners.
Review
"Gillman teaches gardeners to think about what they do, know why they're doing it, and observe the results, trusting their knowledge and experience over claims made by companies, 'experts' or garden folklorists."
Publishers Weekly
Review
"
The Truth About Garden Remedies is a great read, with humor, pearls of wisdom, common sense, and garden lore intertwined. . . .Enjoy one of the best gardening tours ever assembled on paper."
—Michael A. Dirr, author of Viburnums and Dirr‚Äôs Hardy Trees and Shrubs
Review
"Whenever I hear someone offer a solution to a garden problem, I immediately check [
The Truth About Garden Remedies] to see if it will work."
Horticulture
Review
"The results are fascinating and occasionally disappointing. . . .
The Truth About Garden Remedies is a book many of us will want to consult frequently."
American Gardener
Review
"While entertainingly relating his experiments and his research, Gillman also packs in a wealth of useful information."
Chicago Tribune
Review
"
The Truth About Garden Remedies showed me what and how remedies work (or don't) and why. I was interested to learn about potentially hazardous 'quick fixes' and, as always, to have nonsensical myths busted. If I so keep any of my harmless homemade concoctions around, I know now that I'll probably be doing it for their placebo effect--on me."
--Ken Druse, author of The Natural Habitat Garden and The Collector's Garden Newark Star-Ledger
Review
"[A] book that shoots down many fabled solutions that are really a waste of time." Buffalo Spree
Review
"Both these books [The Truth About Organic Gardening and The Truth About Garden Remedies] are refreshing, lucid and enlightening. Their spare style, with no illustrations, and concentration on facts rather than 'inspiration' even gives them an old-fashioned charm." American Gardener
Review
"Wondering how best to keep your garden healthy? Let Jeff Gillman ... do the research, so you don't waste time and money trying to add nutrients to the soil, keeping slugs and deer away, or protecting your roses from powdery mildew and black spot."
Review
"Gillman's goal is to get gardeners to think--to make sure there is a reason behind everything they do for their plants."
Review
"This is a must-have book for both its information on home remedies and its survey of commercial remedies. Clearly, we need fewer gurus and more people like Gillman." Newark Star-Ledger
Review
"The book is organized in a no-nonsense and user-friendly manner, setting out the theory and practice of each claim as well as the bottom line for the gardener. The results are fascinating. This is a book that many of us will want to consult frequently."
Buffalo Spree
Review
"Some of these may come as a shock or upset your favorite long-held ideas, but the book is worth it and is a fun read. It gives you lots to talk about with your gardening friends."
Synopsis
Can beer make plants grow? And how about stopping slugs with eggshells? This fearless book assesses new and historic advice and reveals the how and why—and sometimes the why not—for more than 100 common and uncommon gardening practices. The results will surprise even experienced gardeners.
About the Author
Jeff Gillman is an associate professor in the department of horticultural science at the University of Minnesota, where he has worked since 1998. He specializes in nursery management and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in nursery production and pesticide use. Gillman earned his doctorate in horticulture and a master's degree in entomology from the University of Georgia. He has published research papers on topics as varied as how silicon affects plant resistance to disease and how lime affects plant growth. He has also done extensive research on organic pesticides. When not teaching or conducting research, Gillman participates in numerous master gardener programs in Minnesota and nearby states.