Synopses & Reviews
This year's heirloom tomato is a melon!
Acclaimed gardener Amy Goldman, known to viewers of Martha Stewart and PBS, is a dedicated seed saver working to preserve fast-disappearing varieties of heirloom melons. Her book, Melons for the Passionate Grower, is a celebration of the speckled, bumpy, oh-so-sweet world of the melon-from Minnesota Midget and Georgia Rattlesnake to Ali Baba and Sweet Siberian.
Here she profiles more than one hundred varieties, each showcased in a full-color photographic still life recalling eighteenth- and nineteenth-century botanical paintings and engravings. Goldman also offers expert advice on cultivating and selecting your own melons, as well as the rudiments of seed saving. The book includes recipes, gardening how-to and sources for seeds for heirloom melons.
Review
"Melons for the Passionate Grower is the rarest of garden books, the kind that seems utterly complete and completely useful." The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Browsers enticed by the eye-catching photos should also enjoy reading about melon history and lore, while serious gardeners will be motivated to try their luck at growing some of these exotic and nearly forgotten heirlooms." Library Journal
Synopsis
More than 100 varieties of heirloom melons in stunning portraits, with gardening how-to, recipes, and commercial seed sources.
Synopsis
In the same way that passionate gardeners rescued heirloom tomatoes and roses from oblivion and brought back old varieties full of character, flavor, and fragrance, so Amy Goldman has made it her life's work to bring back the amazing heirloom melon. Melons long and swiggly, mottled or striped; melons in every conceivable hue; melons that taste like cucumbers or pineapples, melons sweeter than any you've ever tasted. And you can grow them too.
Here are a hundred melons, each photographed exquisitely by Victor Schrager, and each with a story. Also included are directions on how to grow, propagate, and harvest them, sources for seeds, and how to become, like Amy Goldman, a seed saver and do something important toward preserving our agricultural heritage.
About the Author
Amy Goldman, a self-described "melon maniac with a mission," works to preserve the agricultural heritage and genetic diversity of the world's fruits and vegetables. She has written for
Garden Design magazine and has been profiled in publications including
Martha Stewart Living,
Country Living Gardener, and
Organic Gardening.
Victor Schrager's photography has been featured in exhibitions across the country. He is the photographer for Bird Hand Book (2001) and Artisan's fall 2002 title Anatomy of a Dish.