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<\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n3.4.2018\u00a0\u00a0 Gardening books offer inspiration, practical tips<\/h1>\n
It\u2019s spring, or almost, and many homeowners\u2019 thoughts<\/span> turn to yards and gardens this time of year.<\/p>\nThree colorful new books from Texas A&M University Press offer inspiration and practical tips to help gardeners make the most of their efforts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/lonestarliterary.etypegoogle10.com\/sites\/lonestarliterary.etypegoogle10.com\/files\/description\/scheick%2c%20adventures%20in%20texas%20gardening_cover%20sm.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/span><\/span>Gardening writer Bill Scheick<\/span> says his Adventures in Texas Gardening<\/span><\/a><\/span> ($26 flexbound, 224 pages) \u201cis designed as a conversational, yet hopefully helpful, account of how things went for me and for some other Texas gardening addicts I met over the years.\u201d He deals with such topics as transforming an entire back yard, coping with pets, squirrels\u00a0 and wildlife, \u201csubversive unlawning,\u201d growing a Christmas tree, and orchids for everyone.<\/p>\n\u201cThe stories told here,\u201d he writes, \u201care about pushing back against gardening challenges, embracing gardening constraints, rethinking gardening possibilities, and learning to care most about those plants that exhibit a can-do spirit in our Texas yards. \u201cIn the course of my gardening adventures,\u201d he adds, \u201cI have zeroed in on some plants and strategies that worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenneth E. Spaeth Jr., a plant soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture,<\/span> suggests a simplified, natural gardening approach in his Circle Gardening: Growing Vegetables Outside the Box<\/span><\/a><\/span> ($36 flexbound, 380 pages).<\/p>\nSpaeth advocates arranging plants in a concentrated circle rather than in rows, a method he claims is \u201cas old as agriculture.\u201d He says his book is \u201ca step-by-step guide for the beginner but also contains more advanced plans that you can use as your confidence and experience grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
He hopes to inspire readers to start a vegetable garden and achieve success using less space, money, resources and time.<\/p>\n
The first section deals with gardening essentials such as ecology, soil, climate, design, and pest and weed control. The second section covers specific types of vegetables with chapters on beans, carrots, broccoli and cabbage, squash and cucumbers, onions, peppers, lettuce and spinach, and tomatoes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/lonestarliterary.etypegoogle10.com\/sites\/lonestarliterary.etypegoogle10.com\/files\/description\/grant%2c%20welch%2c%20the%20rose%20rustlers_cover%20sm.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/a><\/span>In a little different tack, Texas A&M horticulturists<\/span> Greg Grant<\/span> and William C. Welch<\/span> teamed up to write The Rose Rustlers<\/span><\/a><\/span> ($30 flexbound, 244 pages), billed as a personal, in-depth and entertaining account of their efforts to help save antique heirloom roses from extinction.<\/p>\n\u201cWe present tales \u2014 some long, some short, and some tall \u2014 of the many efforts that have helped restore lost roses to not only residential gardens, but also commercial and church landscapes in Texas,\u201d the authors write. Grant enumerates the \u201crules of rustling,\u201d which include not trespassing on private property, asking permission to propagate a plant, taking only cuttings (not the entire plant), tidying up the parent plant, and writing down the name of the owner and the location for future reference.<\/p>\n
* * * * *<\/p>\n
Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> has been writing his Texas Reads column since 2002, focusing on Texas books and authors. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
Three colorful new books from Texas A&M University Press offer inspiration and practical tips to help gardeners make the most of their efforts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>Gardening writer Bill Scheick<\/span> says his Adventures in Texas Gardening<\/span><\/a><\/span> ($26 flexbound, 224 pages) \u201cis designed as a conversational, yet hopefully helpful, account of how things went for me and for some other Texas gardening addicts I met over the years.\u201d He deals with such topics as transforming an entire back yard, coping with pets, squirrels\u00a0 and wildlife, \u201csubversive unlawning,\u201d growing a Christmas tree, and orchids for everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cThe stories told here,\u201d he writes, \u201care about pushing back against gardening challenges, embracing gardening constraints, rethinking gardening possibilities, and learning to care most about those plants that exhibit a can-do spirit in our Texas yards. \u201cIn the course of my gardening adventures,\u201d he adds, \u201cI have zeroed in on some plants and strategies that worked.\u201d<\/p>\n Kenneth E. Spaeth Jr., a plant soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture,<\/span> suggests a simplified, natural gardening approach in his Circle Gardening: Growing Vegetables Outside the Box<\/span><\/a><\/span> ($36 flexbound, 380 pages).<\/p>\n Spaeth advocates arranging plants in a concentrated circle rather than in rows, a method he claims is \u201cas old as agriculture.\u201d He says his book is \u201ca step-by-step guide for the beginner but also contains more advanced plans that you can use as your confidence and experience grow.\u201d<\/p>\n He hopes to inspire readers to start a vegetable garden and achieve success using less space, money, resources and time.<\/p>\n The first section deals with gardening essentials such as ecology, soil, climate, design, and pest and weed control. The second section covers specific types of vegetables with chapters on beans, carrots, broccoli and cabbage, squash and cucumbers, onions, peppers, lettuce and spinach, and tomatoes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/span>In a little different tack, Texas A&M horticulturists<\/span> Greg Grant<\/span> and William C. Welch<\/span> teamed up to write The Rose Rustlers<\/span><\/a><\/span> ($30 flexbound, 244 pages), billed as a personal, in-depth and entertaining account of their efforts to help save antique heirloom roses from extinction.<\/p>\n \u201cWe present tales \u2014 some long, some short, and some tall \u2014 of the many efforts that have helped restore lost roses to not only residential gardens, but also commercial and church landscapes in Texas,\u201d the authors write. Grant enumerates the \u201crules of rustling,\u201d which include not trespassing on private property, asking permission to propagate a plant, taking only cuttings (not the entire plant), tidying up the parent plant, and writing down the name of the owner and the location for future reference.<\/p>\n * * * * *<\/p>\n Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> has been writing his Texas Reads column since 2002, focusing on Texas books and authors. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n