A Gardener's Notebook » Books

Book Giveaway: DK Simple Steps to Success – Shrubs and Trees

Douglas E. Welch — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:15:30 +0000

I have been looking through my book stack and found this nice, little, book to offer as an AGN Giveaway item. Complete the options in the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. You can get up to 3 entries by commenting on this post, following AGN or Twitter or giving AGN a Like on Facebook. Giveaway ends at end of May.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Giveaway: DK Simple Steps to Success – Shrubs and Trees is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Check out some of my favorite gardening books and tools in the WelchWrite Bookstore and more!

Douglas E. Welch — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:19:47 +0000

Check out some of my favorite gardening books and tools in the WelchWrite Bookstore and more!

Check out some of my favorite gardening books and tools in the WelchWrite Bookstore and more! is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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New Sunset Western Garden Book available

Douglas E. Welch — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:38:37 +0000

I have written about the Sunset Western Garden Book in the past and always consider it my go-to guide for gardening info. The great news is that there is now a new edition of the book available. My own copy is a bit old now, probably from around 1996, so it might just be time to upgrade. Of course, the danger is I will go “down the rabbit hole” and spend more time reading about gardening than doing it. (LAUGH)

You can find further information on this new edition by visiting the Sunset Western Garden Book Press Room.

Via Garden Rant

New Sunset Western Garden Book available is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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What I’m Reading…Fermentation is your friend

Douglas E. Welch — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandor Ellix Katz

Description from Amazon.com…

“Bread. Cheese. Wine. Beer. Coffee. Chocolate. Most people consume fermented foods and drinks every day. For thousands of years, humans have enjoyed the distinctive flavors and nutrition resulting from the transformative power of microscopic bacteria and fungi. Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods is the first cookbook to widely explore the culinary magic of fermentation.”Fermentation has been an important journey of discovery for me,” writes author Sandor Ellix Katz. “I invite you to join me along this effervescent path, well trodden for thousands of years yet largely forgotten in our time and place, bypassed by the superhighway of industrial food production.” The flavours of fermentation are compelling and complex, quite literally alive. This book takes readers on a whirlwind trip through the wide world of fermentation, providing readers with basic and delicious recipes-some familiar, others exotic-that are easy to make at home.”

What I’m Reading…Fermentation is your friend is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Elsewhere: Books: 100 books about the world around us: Nature, science, math, and applied crafts.

Douglas E. Welch — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Lots of great ideas here for reading online, from your library or buying. I am adding a lot of these books to my To Read list at GoodReads.com, too.

100 books about the world around us: Nature, science, math, and applied crafts.

Sometimes a book is the best way to visit a place, idea, or possibility. Max wants to know how everything- from the hen to a house to a volcano- works. So the world is our oyster. I used an asterisk to indicate the books which can be found for free online. Because so many great and marvel-inducing things can be found for free online.

A Child’s Story of the Animal World by Edward G. Huey

A Practical Guide for the Amateur Naturalist by Gerald Durrell

A Weaver’s Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers by Rita Buchanan

See entire list

Elsewhere: Books: 100 books about the world around us: Nature, science, math, and applied crafts. is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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What are your favorite gardening catalogs? Send me a link…or a copy!

Douglas E. Welch — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Everyone knows that the dark days of Winter is when gardeners turn to gardening and seed catalogs to fill their gardening fantasies.

How about sharing your favorite catalogs with the readers of A Gardener’s Notebook?

Leave a comment on this post with a link to your favorite catalog and where people might order their own copy. Web catalogs work well, too, so link them up, too.

I look forward to seeing the wealth of information, products and shear, unadulterated, garden fantasies you know. Send them along quick so everyone can get the benefit of them before Winter ends.

What are your favorite gardening catalogs? Send me a link…or a copy! is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Giveaway: Melissa’s Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce book

Douglas E. Welch — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:38:46 +0000

I have a copy of this book to give away and the contest will run for the next 2 weeks. You can enter with a comment here on the blog post, following the @gardenersnotebk twitter account or Liking the AGN page on Facebook.

You can read my review of this book in this blog post and see more information and reviews on Amazon.com

Giveaway: Melissa’s Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce book is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Book Review: Garden of Secrets Past by Anthony Eglin

Douglas E. Welch — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:19:36 +0000

Book Review: Garden of Secrets Past by Anthony Eglin: An English Garden Mystery
Minotaur Books, 2011

I have been a big fan of Anthony Eglin’s books since reading the first English Garden Mystery, The Blue Rose. He caught me immediately with his protagonist, Lawrence Kingston, who was a learned and avid gardener as well as a bit of a sleuth in the traditional English model. I considered Lawrence Kingston a bit of a garden-digging Hercule Poirot. Sure, he doesn’t get things right all the time and he is often a bit naive about the personal danger he places himself in, but he loves the hunt like a faithful hound who never strays from the scent. Of course, in these books the scent is more likely to be from a beautiful rose or fragrant lily than that of a fox.

In Garden of Secrets Past, Eglin steps up the mystery several notches with the inclusion of even more shady characters, a secret code and a bit of a love interest for, no longer young, Kingston. He also expands our knowledge of Kingston’s relationship with his his friend, Andrew, who looks staged to become a sidekick in the vein of Poirot’s Captain Hastings or Miss Marples various friends and relations that accompany her on her mysteries.

While the gardening information is a bit light in this episode of the English Garden Mystery series, the mystery is top-notch. Sure, the story revolves around a major garden, but we don’t get lessons in Water Lily propagation or the reasons why a blue rose is basically impossible. It mattered little in the end, though, as the mystery pulled me through the book quite quickly. Despite reading it on a vacation in Sicily, between family visits, long meals and excursions, I finished the book in about 4 days. I caught myself, several times, reading long after I should have retired for the night while I looked for that final twist or clue that would make everything clear. To me, this is the best judge of the quality of any book. You should never really want to put it down.

It is good to see the character of Kingston developing a bit of a “history” as the book continue. Where before people took little notice of the gardening academic, now his reputation proceeds him with both police and those he is interviewing and questioning. I like seeing the growth in the character and his reputation, just as I would in a real person.

As I have said in past reviews of Eglin’s books, the combination of gardening with mystery suits me perfectly. I love both and to find a place where they are seamlessly merged is a bit of reading nirvana. I look forward to the next episode in Lawrence Kingston’s career.

I was provided an advanced review copy of this book from the publisher, but the opinions here are expressly my own.

Book Review: Garden of Secrets Past by Anthony Eglin is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Book Giveaway Winner!

Douglas E. Welch — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:15:20 +0000

A winner has been chosen in our book giveaway contest for March. Facebook Fan Page member Minibox Farm has been selected randomly from the list of members from the Gardener’s Notebook Fan Page.

Join the Fan Page and watch the blog here for upcoming giveaways.

Review: Melissa’s Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce by Cathy Thomas

Book Giveaway Winner! is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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A Gardener's Notebook » Books

Book Giveaway: DK Simple Steps to Success – Shrubs and Trees

Check out some of my favorite gardening books and tools in the WelchWrite Bookstore and more!

New Sunset Western Garden Book available

What I’m Reading…Fermentation is your friend

Elsewhere: Books: 100 books about the world around us: Nature, science, math, and applied crafts.

Top Gardeners Notebook posts for 2011

What are your favorite gardening catalogs? Send me a link…or a copy!

Giveaway: Melissa’s Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce book

Book Review: Garden of Secrets Past by Anthony Eglin

Book Giveaway Winner!