Product Description

"Weeds" is packed with down-to-earth, practical tips and solutions to help you deal with weeds easily, gently and organically in any garden situation, without resorting to weedkillers. From great bindweed to creeping thistle, dandelion to stinging nettle, full colour photographs help you identify some the commonest garden culprits. Specific information is given on preventing and controlling all of the weeds covered and includes an at-a-glance guide to dealing with weeds in different garden situations. The book also shows how weeds can be used to help create and nurture a healthier and more balanced, chemical-free garden.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #348161 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

Review
Weeds can be useful indicators of soil type, be beneficial to insects and wildlife, warm and aerate the soil and feed other garden plants in the form of liquid fertiliser. But most people believe they are unwanted intruders, reaching for sprays and potions without further thought. This in-depth look at weeds offers an "earth-friendly" approach to dealing with them, from utilising them to destroying them. Author John Walker, an avid wildlife lover, takes the reader on a chatty, informative tour of the world of "weeds", from the thugs such as Japanese knotweed to the deceptively pretty alchemilla. Highlighting each weed's good and bad points, he leaves it to the individual to decide what to do - keep the nettle patch as a "bug bank", turn it into liquid fertiliser, digging it out or even turning it into nettle soup. Alongside each weed profile is a colour photograph to aid identification and a colour code to indicate its perniciousness. Both botanical and common names are listed which in itself makes fascinating reading: eggs and bacon (Lotus corniculatus), devil daisy (Tanacetum parthenium), and John-go-to-bed-at-noon (Anagallis arvenis). A long overdue, infinitely useful guide which should find a home on every gardener's bookshelf. - Lucy Watson

The English Garden, August, 2003
This guide, illustrated with photographs, will help you work out the best strategy to put weeds in their place.

Gardens Monthly, August, 2003
This useful, lightweight reference book...explains how weeds grow, spread and survive...while photographs help you identify common garden culprits.

Customer Reviews

Weeds by John Walker
I really liked the 'earth-friendly' theme of this book, which is also a very good read. It’s great for anyone who's concerned about using chemicals in their garden, whether they are already 'organic' or heading that way. I particularly like the way the weed directory is laid out, with each one colour coded to give you an immediate idea of how important and/or difficult it is to control it.

The author's whole approach is to encourage the reader to see weeds in a completely new light and to appreciate their benefits. You definitely get the feeling that the author has tried and tested the weed control methods described and really does know what he’s talking about. He has written a friendly, easy to read book that gives simple, effective, yet gentle solutions for removing any weeds you don't want. How refreshing to find a book about weeds filled with good gardening advice that isn't just telling you to spray everything in sight!

I was amazed to see all the different ways in which stinging nettles can be used to actually benefit a plot. Apparently, they help attract good bugs which eat pests, make good compost and liquid plant food, and you can eat them too. As well as that there's plenty of useful and easy-to-follow advice on how to rid your plot of nettles and other tough weeds if you really can't live with them!

In fact the advice is all excellent and put across really well by the many colour photos. The picture of the weedy roots being 'drowned' in a bucket of water is such a simple idea and means I won't need to guiltily dispose of my bindweed roots into the dustbin any more! This book shows that there is no need to bin weeds, when they can actually help make your garden more fertile.

I would definitely say buy it, use it and enjoy it!

Lets have more!
Lets have more from this practical gardener who clearly loves his subject and has tried most of the tricks in this book - caring enough to pass his experience on to us as well.

John W. is the kind of gardening writer real gardeners enjoy - not keen to tell us more about some commercial product which will make the producing company yet more millions. Instead firing us up to get to know our weeds and cope with them intelligently - without spending so much cash. Weed control really is fun if you adhere to the first rule of any battle - know and respect your enemy in order to outwit ...

I specially liked the illustrated guide to weeds which the book offers and was pleased to see pretty aliens like Himalyan balsam in there...as well as weeds which sometimes disguise themselves as garden plants (honesty, lady's mantle.) Quite a few surprises in this list - as unexpected as the rest of the book is thoughtful...

John's book will join the few gardening books I have on my shelf whose authors are a bit like old friends sharing acquired knowledge - taken off the shelf for its hints and insights into the way my garden really works rather than pretending to offer instant cure-alls for problems with which plant lovers have grappled for centuries.

The Daily Telegraph is to be congratulated for publication,

earth-freindly, weed-friendly
Reader review by Peter White of Vegan-Organic Trust

WEEDS an earth-friendly guide to their identification, use and control by John Walker
ISBN 1 84403 061 X. Card back, 144 pages. Published by Cassel.

As a gardener who wishes to avoid using chemicals and any animal by-products, I was pleased to read this book, and recommend it to any gardener.

This book is not only earth-friendly, it's weed-friendly too! For although much of the contents are devoted to preventing, clearing and controlling them, due respect is paid to the plants we call weeds being one of natures success stories

The book was not written from a vegan-organic point of view as such but it is certainly organic and there is no reference to any animal inputs whatever. John obviously has an affinity for the land and also for.....weeds! "For me, working with weeds, realising then releasing their potential, is one of the basic tenets of an organic approach". John explains how even Japanese knotweed has its benefits.

So 'Weeds' will appeal on many levels. It is a very practical and detailed guide to organic weed control, easy to read, clearly written and with many excellent colour photos. Among other things, it's a guide to edible weeds, an identification guide with pictures and descriptions of all the usual suspects in the weed world and a treatise on how to use weeds for our benefit, explaining how to make a 'bug bank', for example. I particularly liked the section describing the role of weeds as fertility builders.

Enjoyable, well presented and robust, there is a good glossary and a useful list of sources of information.