BOOK REVIEWS

Secrets and Tips from Yesterday’s Gardeners

Published by Reader’s Digest
Distributed by Bookwise
$NZ69.95

If you can turn a blind eye to the gratuitous inclusion of ‘New Zealand’ as a marketing afterthought in this Aussie title, this is a sturdy primer of tried and true gardening techniques.

The first of six chapters deals with planning a traditional garden. Successive sections deal with flowerbeds and borders; ornamental trees and shrubs; the vegetable garden; fruit from the garden; and garden basics.

Clearly illustrated step-by-step guides pepper the book, with additional tips throughout, under the headings Yesterday’s Secrets, Did You Know and Gardener’s Choice. Once you get beyond the bandicoots and banana-spotting bugs, a fair introduction to gardening downunder – at a price.

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