Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I love Amazon. I say this without reservation. I buy all kinds of things here, including many books, but occasionally I run into a situation when I wish I'd seen the book in person at a bookstore before pulling out my credit card...because I might not have decided to shell out 25 bucks in that case. An example of a book I wish I'd seen in person is Rosalind Creasy's Edible Landscaping. It has some beautiful pictures both from Rosalind's garden and from the gardens of others, but not as many as I had hoped for. Overall, however, they are the highlight of the book. Unfortunately, since there are proportionately fewer pictures than I hoped for, there is also proportionately more text, and the text is not as helpful as it could be. (I find that the text is frequently the weak point of gardening books in general, and perhaps of garden design books in particular.) In the case of Edible Landscaping we have the following observations as samples (and I did not have to read closely to pick these out): "Climate has a huge effect on your landscape." "Paved paths are a necessity if you want to keep your feet clean and dry as you move from one part of the yard to another." "A retaining wall holds back the soil on a hillside or slope." "Certain plants or interesting structures and decorative gates or pottery are intended to stand out in the landscape..." "Form (shape) is the most obvious characteristic of plants." "Texture describes the coarseness or fineness of a plant..." The text is very environmentally conscious, which I certainly don't object to. But green advice is sometimes less scientific than other advice, as if the environmentalists' rejection of the products of the highly-scientific chemical industry prevents them from actually backing up their concerns with data. I find some of this tendency in Edible Landscaping. For instance: "Although (rubber) is a recycled material, I don't think it should be used near edible plants because of possible toxins." Well...are there toxins, or aren't there? And will they leach into soil and be absorbed by plants or not? "If your soil has been repeatedly treated with artificial fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, no doubt it is deficient in microbial life." One of the suggested solution is adding mycorrhizae, but this is of debatable value. For instance, one extension article states: "At present, there is very limited, unbiased scientific evidence demonstrating that mycorrhizal inoculations of urban soils with commercial preparations make plant establishment more successful or that the inoculated plants grow better and remain healthier over time". Edible Landscaping is just over 400 pages long; pages 184 and following are devoted to an `Encyclopedia', Appendices A and B (two lists of edible plants), Appendix C on planting and maintenance, and Appendix D on pests and disease, plus resources and an index. There's not much to say about the appendices, but truthfully, I'm not sure for whom most of the information in the Encyclopedia was written. Consider: Broccoli: How to use: "Both broccoli and cauliflower are terrific raw in crudités platters..." Lettuce: How to use: "Lettuce is the keystone of salads of all sorts." Tomato: How to use: "Tomatoes need no introduction." Okay, thanks for giving us at least that much credit. But the entry goes on to mention that tomatoes can be eaten fresh, frozen, canned, dried, or pickled and they can then be used in salsa, soup, or pizza. If your conversations in restaurants sound like this, you may need this part of the book: "Bubba, there's some red things on this plate...what do you think they are?" "I dunno...there's some green things on mine, and I can't tell what they are, but I sure can tell you they're tasty." I think the rest of us can manage without this advice. Overall, this will not be a book I return to frequently or perhaps at all. I have stronger books both on gardening and on design. None of is perfect, but they offer more that is of use to me than "Edible Landscaping." So...why did I buy this book in the first place? Because of rave reviews from Garden Rant and the LA Times. Eh. I guess I'll be a little more careful next time.