BOOK REVIEWS

Gardening in New Zealand Month by Month

Dennis Greville
Published by New Holland
$NZ39.99
Reviewed by Robert Gordon

RESPECTED, knowledgeable Christchurch garden writer Dennis Greville has come up with a foolproof formula for this comprehensive book. And, as he writes in his introduction, "the gardener's ability to trust in the rebirth of the garden . seems to me to be the essence of what gardening is all about."

Starting with spring and working through season-by-season, he explores the features of and tasks for each month to shed light on producing healthy crops, flowers and lawns throughout the year.

There's advice on temperature, climate, feeding and watering, as well as treatment of pests and diseases. How to sow, propagate, plant and prune are among the range of garden skills discussed.

In keeping with the author's approach to his own gardening, this has a no-nonsense, organic emphasis and is not dissimilar to how-to gardening advice carried by Weekend Gardener. Here, though, you get a year in one hit.

Illustrated with more than 200 pictures, this easy-to-read publication has a companion hard-backed journal (In the Garden, $NZ19.99) in which gardeners can jot their seasonal notes and observations. Month by Month specifically targets the Kiwi gardener and deserves to be well received.

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH