Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening

When I need information quickly about organic pest control, companion planting, composting and other organic soil amendment strategies, Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening is often one of the first places I look (in fact, the book is sitting next to me right now). It's well-organized, easy to read, and packed with lots of useful information - for newbie and veteran organic gardeners alike! This book should be in every gardener's library.

A straight forward approach for the biggner, and good for brushing up on items forgotten.

This is the book I pull off my bookshelf the most for my garden! It has everything - vegetables, flowers, lawns, herbs, trees, shrubs, fruits, as well as gardening basics like garden design, water storage, soil care, encouraging wildlife - I mean everything. It is quite a thick book, and very rich in pictures. At the back of the book, it has a short section on every vegetable I've ever tried to look up, as well as the most common diseases and pests that affect plants. I've looked up information like when to harvest garlic, how to harvest/store garlic, how to build trellises for plant supports in the garden, what ornamental shrubs are good for birds, which shrubs will grow in dry soil, how to propagate woody stemmed plants, what kind of mulches are good for vegetables, when to prune plants - all kinds of stuff.

That being said - this is an Encyclopedia. It's a good place to go for basic knowledge and quick reference, but for the nitty gritty details you may need in depth books on a specific topic. For instance, if you are just doing compost for your garden, this will get you started. It will tell you how compost works, how to make a composter, and what kinds of stuff you can put in your compost. However, if you want to know EVERYTHING about compost, like how to make it happen super fast, or what microorganisms specifically are doing the composting - you'll want a book on compost. Similarly with seed starting - it's a very good, basic overview of how to start seeds. It will get you started in the vegetable garden. But for strange wildflowers that take XYZ temperature for XYZ duration, you're going to need a book on wildflowers.

This is still the first book I go to whenever I have a question. And so far it has had a great deal of the answers - all with pretty pictures! I am buying the newest version of this for my library, so they can be up to date, and everyone can use it!

This book was purchased for my daughter. She has found it extremely helpful as she is gardening organically for the first time.

this is a great source for those who are interested in organic (or close too) gardening/growing, etc. answered many questions i had and shed light on some problems i had with plants last season. great book!!!