Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

I did a quick search on Rand Lee's book, and here's one of the reviews on 
Amazon.com from 2001.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pleasures of the Cottage Garden

My shelves groan from the weight of gardening books, most of which I never 
look at twice. But this book is one of the very few which never gathers dust.

First, there are dozens of exquisite photos of different styles of cottage 
gardens in a variety of locations. Individual plants are identified, as well 
as pictured within a larger garden context; a welcome change from the many 
books which provide relatively useless close-up, glamour shots or large 
landscapes with not a single plant identified. What is truly helpful is to 
see how the plant will look situated in an actual garden. I know what the 
flower of Sombreuil looks like: what I 'd like to see is this charming rose 
actually climbing the front of house. Fortunately, the photos in Pleasures of 
a Cottage Garden happily oblige.

Secondly, the writing is superb: authoritative, experienced and witty. 
Whereas many gardening books are either written like seed catalogs or as 
filler for coffee table photo albums, this book is more like spending a sunny 
afternoon reminiscing with a wise and witty old gardener. Mr. Rand weaves 
together a history of cottage gardening, memories of his mother's garden and 
his own experiences in four different zones, with a wealth of practical 
information on individual plants, not to mention such important topics as 
color, light, and fragrance. Not forgotten are the edibles without which a 
cottage garden would seem only half alive.

Thirdly, in addition to the glorious photos, expert writing, and historical 
research, this books offers a series of excercises which can help today's 
cottage gardener to discover what they truly want from their plot of earth, 
and how to achieve it. Almost a 12-step program for gardeners with creative 
block. The excercises were surprisingly effective...and delightfully 
revealing.

Like a cottage garden, this book will catch you unawares with its depth and 
variety, as it subtly charms you with its humble beau

http://www.amazon.com/Pleasures-Cottage-Garden-Rand-Lee/dp/1567996957/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267489824&sr=1-1
~~~~~~~~~~