Book Description
Compost your old "complete" gardening guide. There's a new way of gardening in Texas that's healthier for people and the environment, more effective at growing vigorous plants and reducing pests, cheaper to maintain, and just more fun. It's Howard Garrett's "The Natural Way" organic gardening program, and it's all here in
Texas Gardening the Natural Way.
This book is the first complete, state-of-the-art organic gardening handbook for Texas. Using Howard Garrett's new mainstream gardening techniques,
Texas Gardening the Natural Way presents a total gardening program:
- How to plan, plant, and maintain beautiful landscapes without using chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides.
- Gardening fundamentals: soils, landscape design, planting techniques, and maintenance practices.
- Includes more native and adaptable varieties of garden and landscape plants than any other guide on the market.
- Trees: 134 species of evergreens, berry- and fruit-bearing, flowering, yellow fall color, orange fall color, and red fall color.
- Shrubs and specialty plants: 85 species for sun, shade, spring flowering, summer flowering, and treeform shrubs.
- Ground covers and vines: 51 species for sun and shade.
- Annuals and perennials: 136 species for fall color, winter color, summer color in shade and sun, and spring color. Also seeding rates for wildflowers.
- Lawn grasses: 10 species for sun and shade, with additional information on 16 native grasses, seeding rates for 32 grasses, and suggested mowing heights.
- Fruits, nuts, and vegetables: 58 species, with a vegetable planting chart and information on organic pecan and fruit tree growing, fruit varieties for Texas, grape and pecan varieties, and gardening by the moon.
- Common green manure crops: 29 crops that help enrich the soil.
- Herbs: 66 species for culinary and medicinal uses.
- Bugs: 73 types of helpful and harmful bugs, with organic remedies for pests, lists of beneficial bugs and plants that attract them, a beneficial bug release schedule, and sources for beneficial bugs.
- Plant diseases: organic treatments for 55 common problems.
- Organic methods for repelling mice, rabbits, armadillos, beavers, cats, squirrels, and deer.
- Organic management practices: watering, fertilizing, controlling weeds, releasing beneficial insects, biological controls (including bats and purple martins), and recipes for Garrett Juice, fire ant control drench, vinegar herbicide, Sick Tree Treatment, and Tree Trunk Goop.
- Average first and last freeze dates for locations around the state.
- Organic fertilizers and soil amendments: 61 varieties, including full instructions for making compost.
- Organic pest control products: 30 varieties.
- Common house plants and poisonous plants.
- Instructions for climbing vegetable structures and bat houses.
- 833 gorgeous full-color photographs.
Customer Reviews:
The best Texas Gardening book!.......2007-04-09
If you garden in Texas you need this book! The book offers solutions to many of the unique problems of Texas gardeners: The best plants for your area, organic ways to improve your soil, get rid of pests, plants to avoid, this book is great!
Doing it the natural way . . ........2000-05-07
I've checked this book out from the library twice. Both times I returned it late because I didn't want to give it up. I finally realized that I needed to buy one for myself. It is an excellent resource for beginners and experts. Howard Garrett teaches us that working with nature is easier, more effective, and safer for our planet than trying to master it. Nature cannot be controlled. This book helps you learn how to work in harmony with your natural surroundings. Also included is a handy month-by-month guide to organic gardening.
A MUST-HAVE read for organic gardners in Texas.......1999-02-28
Howard Garret has provided an easy reading, informative view aimed toward those of us in Texas that prefer the natural, organic methods of gardening. The subjects flow smoothly from basics of soil preparation and maintenance, through dealing with pests in environmentally freindly ways.
Much of the information strikes familiar chords for Texas gardeners, like dealing with our perverse soils, doing battle with our average (?) weather conditions, and deciphering seed catalogs mostly from nothern climates that don't provide satisfactory choices for out USDA zones.
I enjoyed this book so much that I ordered his Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening : The Total Guide to Growing Vegetables, Fruits,Herbs, and Other Edible Plants the Natural Way - I,m sure it will be just as good.
Book Description
This book shows you how to have a healthy soil and recommends environmentally safe products and even some homemade remedies to control pests and disease in your garden. You'll get nuts and bolts information on companion planting and the use of beneficial insects.
Customer Reviews:
Extension Agent information only.......2007-01-10
This book is nothing more than a compilation of information that can be had for free from the county extension agents. I found nothing new in it. Your time would be better spent talking to the county agent and getting specific information for you county, as it would be easier to find that way, than in this book.
Best Texas vege gardening book!.......2004-07-25
This book has been indispensable to me!!! This book, along with The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, have been my "text books" in starting a garden. Without them, I wouldn't have such a great garden. These books take the guess work out of what to do. Thanks Mr. Garrett and Mr Beck!!!
Great Book On Organic Gardening.......2000-02-28
Howard covers the essentials of Basic Organic Gardening as well as the how to's. I bought the book at Rohde's for about the same price before shipping. If you can't get to Garland; but it here. We just completed our 20'x20' raised bed garden. Our front yard is the lushest greenest yard in the neighborhood with NO CHEMICALS. We have been a fan of Howard for a few years now.
Grant Wiscour Irving, TX
Book Description
Covering Texas and beyond,
Plants of the Metroplex is the only Texas book available giving practical landscape advice from a landscape architect's point of view. Howard Garrett uses his years of experience as a gardener, landscape contractor, maintenance contractor, and landscape architect to give you clear-cut, money-saving advice on the proper selection, installation, and maintenance of landscape plant material for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and beyond. Garrett also explains his organic approach, "The Natural Way," which gives gardeners greater success with lower costs and without the risks of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. All of this information has been revised and updated from Garrett's popular
Plants of the Metroplex III.
J. Howard Garrett has converted several commercial projects to organic programs. They include Frito-Lay National Headquarters in Plano, Johnson and Johnson Medical in Arlington, and Collin County Community College in Plano.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent!.......2007-02-25
This is a wonderful gardening guide for the DFW area. I highly recommend it. The ideas are aplenty and next to none should fail you. I love it.
Good and concise.......2006-05-03
A great book in an easy to read format, good for quick reference and deeper study. Great pictures and info on locating local specimens to see how the plants look in a real setting.
Best Guide for Plants in the DFW area and similar climates!.......2005-04-13
Impressive! This is the most comprehensive and informative plant guides for this part of Texas and anywhere else with a similar climate. The categories include: "Trees", "Shrubs", "Flowers", and "Groundcovers, Vines and Grasses". Many photos! The category "Trees" alone has over 150 photos! Soils vary quite a bit here, so this includes a lot of plants! It even names the plants and trees you DO NOT want to plant and gives the reasons why. The book illustrates the proper way to plant and has fantastic recommendations on how to manage various problems with pests, "weeds", etc. Highly recommended!
Nice Pictures.......2003-06-07
I bought this along with Neil Sperry's Texas Gardenining. This is a simple book with excellent pictures for planting in the DFW area. I wouldn't recommend this book as guide/reference, but it is a very nice accessory for deciding what to plant.
Review.......2002-06-17
A must book for residents of the Dallas area. Has a good outline style with the high points on plants for Dallas. For a very detailed look this reference may come up short.
Book Description
Everything you need to identify over 100 varieties of Texas trees is here in this one source--along with easy-to-follow directions for selecting, planting, and maintaining your trees. Concise descriptions and photographs of tree varieties, methods for dealing with tree pests, organic planting and maintenance program, treatments and recipes for homemade organic remedies, detailed information on growing patterns and requirements.
Customer Reviews:
OK, I guess.......2006-01-27
This is mostly a listing of the hunderd tree species that are recommended for planting in Texas gardens. Usually per tree there is one page, of which more than half will be devoted to pictures (some trees rate two pages). Printing quality is good with full color photographs throughout.
The information given appears in order (I only browsed through). Picture quality is only so-so. We live in an age of splendid photography, and there are plenty of tree books with pictures of a Wow! quality. The pictures in this book fall well short of such a standard. It looks to be mostly a matter of composition.
I guess this book is OK, but I see no reason for enthousiasm.
Excellent starting point!.......2004-04-28
According to his web site, "Garrett received his Bachelor of Science degree in Park Administration and Landscape Architecture from Texas Tech University in 1969. He is a registered landscape architect, I.S.A. certified arborist, horticulturist, broadcaster and writer."
Howard's observations and preferences have not been developed casually, but are the result of a lifetime of experience. He maintains a firm committment to organic horticulture, and explains his reasons for this more thoroughly in other books.
I would like to see more information crucial to the small city lot (which is after all the realm of most beginning home gardeners), such as appropriate trees for the front of the lot that won't eat the sidewalk. However, it is a fact that a book which covers every issue in tree gardening would be huge and quite costly. For instance, the appearance of oak leaves can vary greatly, even from the same tree. Howard has merely presented pictures covering some of the varying appearances, rather than delving deeply into this subject. He has hit the highlights on most of the important issues, giving us a manageable and affordable book.
Someone who wants an extensive education on this subject will of course want to consult additional books and additional authors. But the beginning gardener (or someone who is new to Texas) would do well to follow Howard's advice, because it does provide an excellent starting point. Many gardening issues are of course a matter of opinion, but Howard's opinions are built on a firm foundation.
Nice pictures, short on info.......2003-12-30
I read the book from front to back. Nice pictures, glad to have a listing of the different tree groups in the back (flowering, shade trees, ...) and for the insight into some of the tree's uses (medicinal, neem properties, etc.). I was a bit disappointed on the lack of information that I would have liked to have seen - for instance - up close pictures/sketches of tree leaves and fruit for reader's use in identifying a tree. Was glad to see pictures of entire tree along with up close shots, it helps me determine what the mature tree will look like in the landscape.
I also would have liked to see a more expansive description on the leaves (ie this tree can be distinguished from look alikes by it's 7 points and fuzzy underside). There were two pictures of Shumard Red Oak leaves and the leaves were shaped differently on the two pictures, so now I am unsure if I actually have a Shumard Red Oak. A drawing of the leaves would have helped.
I felt like the author was too harsh when comparing his way of doing things (like not pruning newly transplanted trees) with the advice of other gardening gurus. I would have been more accepting of that advice if he had conducted some controlled experiments of his own and published those results rather than to just say "this is the way it should be because this has been my observation." As an amature gardener, its a big risk of time, effort and money for me to follow this type of advice without something concrete to back it up. Also felt like the author was really pushing his home remedies for ailments without offering alternatives for folks who can't/don't want to brew those treatments up.
As an urban gardener, I was also interested in knowing which trees are more likely to damage sidewalks, pipes, etc with aggressive roots. I saw some information on that in the book but it was not comprehensive as I am aware that some of the trees listed are known to have agressive roots and this was not indicated.
Would have also liked to have known what parts of the state are considered alkaline versus neutral versus acid soil (even though this might be common knowledge to native Texans).
Overall, I'd say that this is a good book to read if you are worried about planting the wrong tree, but don't look for this book to be an end all of information on the tree species listed.
Book Description
To learn all you need to know about gardening in Texas, you could collect a whole shelf full of specialized books on topics ranging from soil preparation to tree care. But all you really need is
Howard Garrett's Plants for Texas. In this one book, you'll find a virtual encyclopedia of over 500 Texas plants—trees, shrubs, flowers, vines, grasses, vegetables, fruits, weeds, and cover crops—along with complete, easily understood instructions for planting and maintaining them.
Gardening expert Howard Garrett draws on years of landscaping experience to provide "all-you-need-to-know" about each plant:
- Latin and common names
- sun or shade requirements
- mature height, spread, and recommended spacing
- type of bloom and fruit
- propagation
- habit and culture
- recommended uses
- problems
- tips and notes
To help gardeners avoid costly mistakes, Garrett also specifically notes which plants grow very well or very poorly in Texas.
In addition to the species descriptions (which are beautifully illustrated with color photos), the book includes reliable, easy-to-follow instructions for planting design, soil preparation, planting techniques, and plant maintenance. Garrett advocates a sensible organic gardening program that works with nature to create healthy yards and gardens.
Whether you're a first-time homeowner planting a new yard or a seasoned gardener looking for new ideas and information,
Howard Garrett's Plants for Texas is the book you need.
Customer Reviews:
Howard Garrett's Plants for Texas.......2005-07-30
This book has good pictures of plants and their flowers as well as good information on the many plants in all of Texas. It is alphabetized so that finding a plant is easy.
Also, included in the notes are some interesting comments about the plant and its use.
The Source.......2004-04-01
I am new to Texas gardening, and I am more familiar with the Northwest, where we have the wonderful Sunset books to help us with our planting advice. Garrett's Plants for Texas comes close to the excellent format of those Sunset books that I have depended on for years. It covers nearly every plant I have researched for my difficult caliche-filled yard, and the advice is right on. It sometimes takes a few page jumps to find the information, as I am redirected from the common name to the more obscure Latin, but I eventually find the plant. At points, he seems a little over-the-top with organic gardening, and a few newer plants seem to be only briefly covered. The scant information on palms is disappointing. Still, I find myself using this book nearly every week. I recommend it. With this and Scott Ogden's Gardening Success With Difficult Soils: Limestone, Alkaline Clay, and Caliche, I have all my Austin gardening needs covered.
Just What I Wanted!.......2002-04-03
My significant other lives in Houston, and I, a Californian by birth, have lived in Philadelphia most of my life. An avid gardener at home here in PA, I felt uncharacteristically unsure about tackling the long-neglected flower beds in Houston.
Then I read the reviews for Howard Garrett's charming and fabulous "Plants for Texas," and ordered it immediately. It arrived yesterday and I could not put it down until I had read it cover to cover.
Every single question I have had is answered in this book in a format so clear, so concise, and so heartwarming to any gardener, that I found I was smiling ear to ear. From the beginning pages, where Garrett presents his no-nonsense advice on design, maintenance, and care of everything from trees to turf grasses to annuals, to his staunch anti-chemical point of view (YES!), I gained a wealth of information.
By the time I got to the alphabetical pages with the full-color pictures of everything a Texas gardener could ever want to plant, I was thoroughly and totally delighted. Already I have made a rudimentary list (way too ambitious, of course). Already, I have page after page bookmarked and highlighted. Already, I have planted perfect gardens in my mind's eye.
Perhaps my favorite part of the entire book is the page on hackberry (celtis), which nastily eats up a major portion of my friend's flower beds, and which I secretly, and guiltily, hate. Garrett's take: "Do not plant and cut down the ones that sprout up!" Gotta love a man who shares my views on hackberry. I love this book. Plain and simple. I recommend it to anybody who gardens, or who plans to garden, in the Great State of Texas!
Excellent book for the Texas Gardener!!.......1999-04-03
He lists almost all the plants that can grow in Texas and ones that don't-- The best part are the color photos of each plant along with details on mature height, distinguishing attributes and cultural requirements for each. An excellent reference for the Texas do it yourself home landscaper. His info on trees was invaluable to me
Book Description
Plant growers of all kinds are turning to organic products and procedures for vigorous, healthy plants. Since 1988, J. Howard Garrett has been in the forefront of the organic gardening movement, dispensing well-tested advice through "The Natural Way," his radio program and column in the Dallas Morning News. In this expert guide, he offers a complete program for organic gardening. After an opening chapter on the basics of organics, he covers soil management, fertilization and composting, pest control (even fire ants and mosquitoes), landscaping (including tree care, wildflowers, and lawn care), food crops, and wildlife (attracting helpful animals and repelling harmful ones). With this information, professional and home gardeners alike can learn how to eliminate their chemical dependency and grow plants "the natural way." Let The Dirt Doctor's Guide to Organic Gardening be your one-stop source for cost-effective, earth-friendly, complete, and easy-to-understand gardening information.
Customer Reviews:
Great information.......2006-02-21
I am in our state Master Gardener program, and the advice is to go organic. You can read contradictory advice out there on the best way to grow crops, flowers, healthy lawns and trees. So far this is the book I've found that clears up the contradictions I've heard and read about and tells you why.
I'm reading a library copy, but just ordered a copy for personal use. I'm sure it will come in handy.
The only way to grow!.......2002-11-03
This book is extremely informative, both for the beginning gardener as well as the more experienced. Contains basic planting techniques, how to begin gardening the organic way, (not as daunting or expensive as you might think!) and maintaining your new masterpiece. Disease and pest control, (MANY bugs are beneficial!!) building healthy soil, (which in turns builds healthy plants,) soil and water management, etc. Written in clear, easy-to-understand language, this is the first book I would recommend to anyone with an interest in gardening, or someone looking for a better, safer way to care for their corner of the planet. If you have children or pets, and a yard, this book is for you! If you enjoy spending time outside relishing your greenspace, this book is for you!
Book Description
From reviews of the first edition:
"This book is so convincing that if you know anyone who is hard-headed and opinionated about not using organic gardening or least-toxic pest-control methods, this is a good place to start them on a change of perspective."
—
Common Sense Pest Control
"This [book] ...leaves no stone unturned on the subject of chemical-free gardening. Garrett offers persuasive arguments in favor of a holistic approach to gardening that considers composting, soil enrichment with natural ingredients, mulching, alternative pest control.... This volume serves well as an up-to-the-minute reference, one that gardeners of an organic persuasion will likely consult repeatedly."
—
Publishers Weekly
"[This] is one of the most practical and comprehensive works on gardening the natural way we've seen, a manual of condensed logical wisdom providing a complete program for today's gardeners."
—
Avant Gardener
"This is a 'must-read' for home gardeners. It should be mandatory reading for commercial growers.... Add the Dirt Doctor to your library, keep it handy so you can refer to it from time to time as you would to your
Sunset, your Bailey, or to your
California Garden as an essential and reliable source of information."
—
California Garden
Howard Garrett has converted gardeners throughout Texas and beyond to gardening the natural way without chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides. In this revised and updated edition of
The Dirt Doctor's Guide to Organic Gardening, he uses a question-and-answer format to present a wealth of new information on organic gardening, landscaping, pest control, and natural living. The book also incorporates valuable feedback and suggestions from gardeners who've successfully used Howard's methods.
Book Description
"Herbs are the world's most interesting plants," says Howard Garrett. "They make beautiful landscape choices, are useful for cooking, controlling insect and disease pests, healing wounds, and are effective for improving the immune system." In this fully illustrated, easy-to-use guide, Garrett and veteran herbalist Odena Brannam offer expert advice on growing nearly 150 herbs suited to Texas and Southwestern gardens, along with detailed information on each plant's landscape, culinary, medicinal, and other uses.
Individual entries give each herb's common and scientific names and instructions for planting, growing, harvesting, and storing it. The entries also include ideas for using each herb in gardening and cooking (with occasional recipes) and discuss its medicinal uses. A special "insight" section that offers intriguing, often little-known facts about the herb rounds out each entry, as well as a color photo.
In addition to the individual herb descriptions, Garrett sets forth the basics of organic gardening, including pest control, and discusses how to design a herb garden and also raise roses, pecans, and fruit trees without chemicals. Of special interest are his instructions for making teas from dozens of herbs and his list of trees, shrubs, vines, and groundcovers with edible and/or medicinal properties. This wide range of information, not available for Texas herbs in any other single source, makes this book the perfect guide for homeowners, gardeners, landscapers, chefs, herbalists, and health care providers.
Customer Reviews:
Good "all around" herb book.......2001-07-08
I've been an herb enthusiast for 15 years. With my personal home library of herb books reaching over 90 volumes, I've read many approaches to this topic. This particular book is large, full of quality color photos, and contains useful information for Texas herb growers (what I used to be). Latin names of herbs are given (along with proper pronunciation). Mr. Garrett includes pertinent information on planting, height and spread of plants, problems, harvest and storage, and culinary, medicinal, and landscape uses. One of my favorite portions of this book is the "insight" paragraph of each herb's profile. Did you know that there is evidence that alfalfa may trigger lupus in sensitive individuals? Also, did you know that although you can use angelica in salads, the juice of the plant should never come in contact with the eyes? I'd recommend this book for those new to herb growing or as an addition to an already diverse herb library. Mr. Garrett includes information that makes this book worth owning. My paperback copy has been a valuable resource.
Books:
- The Art of Being a Woman: A Simple Guide to Everyday Love and Laughter
- The Art of Landscape Detail: Fundamentals, Practices, and Case Studies
- The Candlemaker's Companion: A Complete Guide to Rolling, Pouring, Dipping, and Decorating Your Own Candles
- The Candlemaker's Companion: A Complete Guide to Rolling, Pouring, Dipping, and Decorating Your Own Candles
- The Complete Book of Bonsai
- The Complete Illustrated Guide to Furniture and Cabinet Construction
- The Complete Illustrated Guide to Furniture and Cabinet Construction
- The Complete Table Saw Book
- The Curtain Sketchbook 2
- The Garden Primer
Books Index
Books Home
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General
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Howard Garrett's Plants for Texas
Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening: The Total Guide to Growing Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Other Edible Plants the Natural Way
Texas Bug Book: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Native Texas Plants: Landscaping Region by Region
Month-by-Month Gardening in Texas: Revised Edition: What to Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year (Month-By-Month Gardening in Texas)
