Product Description

Winner of The Garden Writers' Guild Book of the Year Award 2005 The Natural Gardener shows exactly how you can use organic principles to create not only a healthy garden, with the balance to control garden pests and other hazards in an environmentally friendly way, but also one that has a special beauty. The book is brimful of ideas and information on how to create a rich, healthy, living landscape where the snuffle of a hedgehog, the moving shimmer of insects, or a cloud of butterflies are as much a dimension of the pleasure the garden brings as the beauty of the diverse range of flowers, fruits and leaves that sustain them.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #120108 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-21
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Review
The Natural Gardener would be my first choice, not just because Bourne writes so engagingly, but also because of its outstanding photos ... In a subject dominated by the rich and grand, it's refreshing to hear about someone who has achieved wonderful results on a shoestring budget. (Independent on Sunday )

It is refreshing to find a guide to gardening that does not foster the idea that a garden must be weed-filled and wild to attract wildlife . . . I would recommend this book to beginners and experienced gardeners alike. They will find inspiration in the author's enthusiasm and knowledge. (Garden )

Full of detailed observations and sensible advice, showing how to make a garden that is not just wildlife-friendly but also beautiful. There are some lovely photographs taken by Clive Nichols. (Professional Gardener )

About the Author
Val Bourne is an award-winning gardening writer, broadcaster, photographer and lecturer who makes regular contributions to the Daily Telegraph, The Countryman, The Garden, the English Garden and Gardens Illustrated.

Clive Nichols, author and photographer of The RHS Guide to Photographing Plants and Gardens, was the 1993 Garden Writers Guild Photographer of the Year and in 1994 won the Guild Award for the Best Specialist Gardening Book.

Customer Reviews

Inspirational easy guide to 'going green' in your garden.
If you've decided now's the time to 'go green' but don't know where to start, try this book. It is packed full of information and tips for going organic in your garden. The author explains in layman's terms why chemicals are bad for your garden and the environment, and how they affect wildlife, and she tells you all about wildlife-friendly plants and planting schemes to try.

Did you know that many of your garden foes could actually be your friends? The author explains that there's even such a thing as a 'good' slug! Apparently the testacella slug, identifiable by a little shell on its back, is your garden friend and will eat other slugs but not your vegetation... and you'll find plenty more tips like this. What's more, 'going green' doesn't mean leaving your whole garden to become a wilderness and can look good too. Val demonstrates how pretty a natural garden can look with the photographs throughout the book.

An inspirational and easy-to-use book.

A great introduction to a more natural approach to gardening
Val Bourne is a well known garden writer and organic gardener who writes regularly in a number of our newspapers and gardening magazines. This is the first book I've read by her and it won't be the last. Although Clive Nichols is credited with Special Photography on the front cover, most of the sumptuous photographs are Val's, mainly taken in her own garden. They're so vibrant and colourful, thus making a fantastic advertisement for organic gardening before I'd even started to read the text.

Val's road to natural gardening as she calls it was shaped by her early career at the National Vegetable Research Station (NVRS) where she worked on disease transfer by aphids. She quickly noticed the best way to get her next population of aphids was to spray the greenhouse with systemic insecticide. From there she became hooked on growing cottage garden flowers and gradually began to notice her flourishing garden full of wildlife naturally kept the nasties at bay. This she calls her 'living jigsaw' - a way of gardening which encourages wildlife throughout the year by ensuring as plants fade away once their season is over, others are poised to take over and provide nourishment.

Whilst Val doesn't profess to be a scientist, she is observant, has an eye for detail and can explain complex matters in layman's terms. These gifts she brings to bear on gently persuading us that natural gardening is the way forward. Her own Cotswold plot is relatively modest in size and has been created on a shoestring, thus her style of gardening is within the reach of most of us.

Like many gardening books it's divided into the seasons and is like taking a garden tour to see what's looking at its best throughout the year. Even in winter there's lots to see and rich fragrances to sniff. Each sub chapter within the seasons ends with a look at a gardening friend or beastie, mainly from the insect world. There's plenty of information on how to keep the friends (even one of the slug family!) and the natural ways to fend off the foes.

This isn't a campaigning book, but is all the more powerful for not being strident. What better way is there to argue a case than by leading by example and showcasing the results from your own healthy, sumptuous garden?

A great introduction to a more natural approach to gardening
Val Bourne is a well known garden writer and organic gardener who writes regularly in a number of our newspapers and gardening magazines. This is the first book I've read by her and it won't be the last. Although Clive Nichols is credited with Special Photography on the front cover, most of the sumptuous photographs are Val's, mainly taken in her own garden. They're so vibrant and colourful, thus making a fantastic advertisement for organic gardening before I'd even started to read the text.

Val's road to natural gardening as she calls it was shaped by her early career at the National Vegetable Research Station (NVRS) where she worked on disease transfer by aphids. She quickly noticed the best way to get her next population of aphids was to spray the greenhouse with systemic insecticide. From there she became hooked on growing cottage garden flowers and gradually began to notice her flourishing garden full of wildlife naturally kept the nasties at bay. This she calls her 'living jigsaw' - a way of gardening which encourages wildlife throughout the year by ensuring as plants fade away once their season is over, others are poised to take over and provide nourishment.

Whilst Val doesn't profess to be a scientist, she is observant, has an eye for detail and can explain complex matters in layman's terms. These gifts she brings to bear on gently persuading us that natural gardening is the way forward. Her own Cotswold plot is relatively modest in size and has been created on a shoestring, thus her style of gardening is within the reach of most of us.

Like many gardening books it's divided into the seasons and is like taking a garden tour to see what's looking at its best throughout the year. Even in winter there's lots to see and rich fragrances to sniff. Each sub chapter within the seasons ends with a look at a gardening friend or beastie, mainly from the insect world. There's plenty of information on how to keep the friends (even one of the slug family!) and the natural ways to fend off the foes.

This isn't a campaigning book, but is all the more powerful for not being strident. What better way is there to argue a case than by leading by example and showcasing the results from your own healthy, sumptuous garden?

NB This review was written for the hardback edition.