| What Reviewers Are Saying |
We sometimes review books ourselves, and it offends our writerly senses when phrases and sentences get lifted out of context. Here's our collection of known reviews -- unabridged and/or with hyperlinks.
If you know of others, let us know!
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Booklist, April 1, 2008
When heaping mounds of garden debris just sit there like so much, well, garbage, many frustrated garden composters bemoan their lack of success and throw in the old pitchfork. Some worry about becoming a slave to elaborate, multiplex bins requiring heavy maintenance, while others fret over locating a compost pile where it won't draw the ire of neighbors. Based on their own trial-and-error experiences, the authors calm the fears that can wriggle through gardeners' psyches like so many burrowing earthworms. Writing in an easygoing, conversational style, the authors introduce such novel practices as underground composting and vermicomposting. Including critical safety tips, indispensable tool recommendations, and extensive guidelines for compostable materials, this comprehensive how-to will persuade novices to give composting a try, and offer accomplished composters ingenious new methods for creating healthy gardens.
Carol Haggas
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May-June 2008 issue of BackHome Magazine:
"[The Complete Compost Gardening Guide] is a
cornucopia of information, techniques, recipes, and
easily built projects designed to make composting
effective and, when possible, less labor intensive.
The authors have dissected their subject and
presented it in a fun and lively manner, defining what
compost is, discussing the necessary tools, and
reviewing potential materials."
| Related Reading on the Web
Master Gardener Susan Smith-Durisek, writing in the Lexington, KY, Herald-Leader, April 12, 2008.
George Wiegel, writing in the Harrisburg, PA, Patriot-News , April 10, 2008.
Perhaps the most thoughtful and thorough review so far from Ed Bruske, president of DC Urban Gardeners, at
gardenrant.com, April 8, 2008.
PlanetGreen.com gives Compost Gardening #1 ranking for spring reading for sustainable gardeners, April 7, 2008.
With suggestions from Deb, Laura Giovanelli lays out the basics of backyard composting in The Winston-Salem [NC] Journal, April 5, 2008.
Garden ranter Amy Stewart asks: Does the World Need 318 Pages on Compost?, April 3, 2008.
A great report on how composting is done in Great Falls, MT by Tribune writer Amy Grisak, March 15, 2008
Comments from wise and generous farmerdill
at Dave's Garden, March 9, 2008
Make the Most of Compost by Gretchen Roberts in Publix’s GreenWise Magazine, March 2008.
How Does Our Garden Grow? by Juan Martinez in Publisher’s Weekly, Feb. 25, 2008.
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| Library Journal
March 15, 2008
With today's concerns over waste, energy costs, and recycling, composting is experiencing a renaissance. Pleasant (Garden Stone: Creative Landscaping with Plants and Stone) and former garden book editor Martin here provide both a reference guide and an introduction to composting. The first section will be helpful to nearly all composting neophytes, though more experienced composters, too, should read it for the excellent prose and colorful illustrations. It includes a number of interesting facts, definitions, and even recipes (e.g., for Miracle Leaf Mold). The second section, on compost gardening techniques, examines easy methods of composting with piles, bins, and cans as well as more elaborate approaches involving pits and trenches. It also discusses the use of earthworms in composting. Finally, the third section treats in detail the kinds of plants that will do well in a composter's garden. Pleasant and Martin conclude with a helpful glossary and a resource list for tools, containers, and worms. Essential reading for any gardener interested in composting, this should find its way into many public libraries with active gardening communities and academic and special libraries with an interest in horticulture and gardening. --Edward J. Valauskas, Dominican Univ. Lib., River Forest, IL
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If you are a gardening beginner or you are totally in to compost (and what organic gardener isn't?), either way I guarantee you will love this book! Veteran gardening writers Barbara Pleasant and Deb Martin have produced what is sure to become the leading how-to, why-to manual about compost. Packed with lively, informative and innovative content, this new book from Storey Publishing is also beautifully designed and illustrated.
Cheryl Long, Editor in Chief
Mother Earth News
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Revolutionary Compost
If you think compost is what happens in that pile around the back, Barbara Pleasant and Deborah Martin would like you to reconsider. They're out to encourage you to blend "gardening" and "composting" so thoroughly that the distinction between the two vanishes. The Complete Compost Gardening Guide (Storey, $19.95, 320 pages, ISBN 9781580177023) glories in the details-where to get good sawdust and coffee grounds, the pluses and minuses of a whole range of animal manures, what plants grow best in what sorts of compost-as it provides countless tips for making and using compost in dozens of different ways. Even if you don't sign up for the whole composting lifestyle, there's enough good information here for any gardener to extract a crop of wisdom.
BookPage, March 2008
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If you’re considering starting a compost pile for your home gardens, you may want to check out "The Complete Compost Gardening Guide” by Barbara Pleasant and Deborah L. Martin (Storey Publishing, $19.95 paper, $29.95 hardcover).
The book offers practical step-by-step advice on how to create a compost system that works for you and answers any questions you might have about how the composting process works and why it’s good for your gardens.
Some tips include choosing labor-saving sites that keep gardens and compost piles nearby and working with compostable items found in your yard and kitchen.
Look for the book at your nearest bookseller.
Springfield (MO) News-Leader
March 5, 2008
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