BOOK REVIEWS

The Garden Revival Expert
How to restore or change anything
from a single shrub to your entire garden

Dr D G Hessayons
Transworld
Distributed by Random House
$NZ24.95

IF you're a desperate gardener with an old, tired garden and you're not too proud to admit you haven't a clue what to do next, this book could be more use than a shedful of garden tools.

As the introduction outlines, garden renewal is very different from maintenance gardening - doing the wrong things at the wrong time can be disastrous.

To get you started in the right direction, the book walks through specific problems, feature by feature: roses (tired, ugly and sick ), lawns (worn out and second rate) and perennials (over-aged and flowershy) are among the 10 garden features to be given a makeover. Included in this chapter is an indispensable seven-step guide to renewal pruning followed by a detailed "how to prune" for various shrubs.

The Garden Revival Expert goes on to offer tips on general problems under catchy headings like, "The garden is just too much work" and "The garden seems to be full of weeds". The solutions offered may seem basic to the experienced gardener, but alternatives are clearly outlined and well-illustrated.

If you have a total makeover in mind, the final chapter covers it in nine steps, from choosing the style of garden you want to completing a design plan and actually carrying out the job.

The Garden Revival Expert is the latest in a 11-book "expert" series dealing with gardening. At this price, it's a cheap ticket to help you out of the wilderness.

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