The Manic Gardener

A hefty discount, but whoa, Nelly! A weighty shipping fee

March 24, 2010 by The Manic Gardener

So, er, remember the fine offer I told you all about a few weeks back? You know, the publisher's generous
40% discount off that new Black Dog alternative gardening book
Growing Stuff? Well, um, it turned out that there was a slight
hitch to that offer: a shipping fee that in some cases completely
wipes out the discount.

I was alerted to this by my friend Feed Store Girl, who sent me her invoice, with all the gory details:

Book price: 24.95

with discount 14.97 So far, so good.But then comes the kicker:

Shipping 14.81

TOTAL: 29.78

Now, wait up a minute there! This is not book rate as I remembered it.

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Posted in Books

Organic lawn care: a matter of definitions, or a moral dilemma?

March 16, 2010 by The Manic Gardener

I’ve got a question for all of you: Can an organic garden service that farms out toxic weed control still call itself organic? Has it sacrificed its integrity, its very soul, or is such language uselessly hyperbolic in such a case?

Let me explain how the question arose. Given the paucity of garden-related businesses that had booths at Bozeman’s poorly-named home and garden show (subject of one of my more acerbic posts), I had time for conversations with the folks staffing all three. Indeed, I swooped down on the two booths for organic gardening services, partly out of sheer delight that they existed, but in part to ask a highly pertinent question: How did they handle bindweed on a residential property?

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Posted in Landscaping, Lawns & Grass, Organic Gardening, Out and About

Bozeman home and garden show: not so much

March 15, 2010 by The Manic Gardener

A lesson learned: be chary with your guilt

Last year I missed this show. I saw a sign or heard an add, and the next time I turned around, it was over. Immediately, I was stricken with guilt. After all, as a garden blogger, shouldn’t I be running around the country to see garden shows? If I’m not flying to England for the Chelsea show, at least I can attend the local one. But I didn’t. Hence the guilt.

This year, I actually got to the show (thanks to my friend Ellen), and I have to report that last year’s paroxysms were a complete waste of good guilt.

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Posted in Landscaping, Out and About

Awards, accolades, aclaim, etcetera

March 3, 2010 by The Manic Gardener

The Manic has come for more than its share of praise recently.

Last November, distracted by surgery and by a family emergency, I entirely failed to mention (or even to notice, till someone pointed it out) that Horticulture Magazine had incuded the Manic in its list of 20 — well, most grateful recipients have called it Horticulture's “favorite” or “top” garden blogs, but interestingly, the title actually used is a far more even-handed, non-committal one: “Visit the not-so-secret gardens of on-line writers.” (Click here for pdf.) But you know what? Buried in the URL, one can find the words “topgardeningblogs.” So I’m chuffed.

Just yesterday I learned that the blogmeisters at Dobbies (a string of garden centers in the UK) have named the Manic Garden Blog of the Week. They e-mailed me a while ago to say I’d made their short-list of 37 favorite gardening blogs; did I mind being included? That was a tough one, since I had to suppress the confession that I’d willingly sell my soul for less. (I love it that they name 37; they seem not to feel constrained to reach a round number.)

Thank you both.

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Discount offer (& book review) for Growing Stuff

February 13, 2010 by The Manic Gardener

Blogging, like beauty, is of course its own excuse for being. However, perks are always appreciated, and surely one of the best that comes with blogging is free books. Case in point: Asked if I would link to information about a new gardening book, I entered a counter-request: could I review it first? A week later, it was in my hands. Thank you, Jessica.

Even better, she has made an extraordinarily generous offer to all of you out there:

Quote the Manic Gardener review in an e-mail to jess@blackdogonline.com, and get 40% off on this book!

If most gardening books leave you feeling utterly overwhelmed, try Growing Stuff, put out by Black Dog Publishing. It truly deserves its subtitle, An Alternative Guide to Growing, because where most books assume that you have money, space, and time, this one does not. You might guess that this book takes an unusual tack since the foreword was written by Guerilla Gardening guru Richard Reynolds, but even if you don’t, you’d figure it out as soon as you leaf through a few pages.

Open most gardening books at random, and you’ll find yourself in the middle of a chapter. Open this one, and you’ll almost always find a two-page spread devoted to a single topic, plant, or project. (One or two topics are given more space, while a few get less.) Illustrated with enticing photographs, drawings, and the occasional recipe (including a couple for herbal hair rinses), these short articles all emphasize accessible projects and inexpensive tools and methods.

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Posted in Books, Organic Gardening