The Truth About Garden Remedies: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why

"In an era where anti-intellectualism is on the march, where many people on both the conservative and liberal wings equate education to elitism and oppression, it's become increasingly difficult to stand for rationalist and scientific thinking. Keeping up on the latest in ecological science is almost pointless for a lay person, since the entire public face of the subject is an echo chamber of accusations of conspiracy and cover-up. In the face of all that, organic growing has grown mightily as agricultural science is tarred by association with the corrupt giants of agribusiness such as Monsanto. After all, natural is better than synthetic, right? So all-natural must be better... right?

I was wary when I first saw this book. Sad as it is, "truth" has become a loaded word in the modern press -- too often a book that purports to tell you the "truth" is little more than a fringe polemic, more political than evidence-based in nature, raving about cover-ups and frauds and gushing with prejudice and paranoia. This is not that sort of book. Jeff Gillman, a University of Minnesota professor of horticulture (and therefore a card-carrying member of The Conspiracy) puts forth a simple, well-researched book on gardening techniques in the tradition of skeptical writers such as James Randi, Carl Sagan, and Martin Gardner, with critical examinations of many gardening tips and nostrums both commercial and homemade. They're graded individually (from one to five flowers) based on how they conform to the body of scientific knowledge; extensive journal references are provided to allow the persistent reader to judge the facts for themselves. Among the findings: hydrogels do nothing useful as far as supplying water to plants; soaps, used as pesticides, can actually be dangerous to plants; organic and synthetic fertilizers are about equally useful and suffer from the same problems as synthetics; tobacco insecticides work but are expensive and rather toxic; and praying mantises are a terribly inefficient method for natural insect control, as they don't like to congregate.

Despite the mildly unfortunate title, this is a great book to have for any gardener who needs a guidebook to the body of gardening advice out there. There's a lot of advice out there, good and bad, and this book (and its sequel) are absolutely essential to anyone who needs to figure out whether that Jerry Baker recipe they're reading is any good. (Baker is never mentioned by name, but the ingredients in his concoctions seldom get better than mezza-mezza ratings.) Some investigation of things like biodynamics (basically a mixture of organic gardening and dime-store witchcraft) would be helpful, but he's got another book out too, and I've got that on order."
~ Written on 2008-04-30

"I throughly enjoyed reading this book. It was a lot of fun reading how the author has gone about dismantling most of the long held garden remedies. However I cannot say I learned a lot since I was already convinced (but now I have the proof!!!) that most of them do not work"
~ Written on 2007-09-30

"I read this book after reading several others by a so-called master gardener who recommends mixing up various potions in the kitchen. I'm glad I haven't used any of the old-time remedies, because I could have destroyed my garden in numerous ways. Beer, alcohol, ammonia used for house cleaning, and vinegar can all harm plants, although they are recommended for liberal use in the other books.

This book explains what helps and hurts your plants, and why. This will save you lots of trouble, time, and money. Ditch the old superstitions and go with what works!"
~ Written on 2007-03-28

"I purchased this book because it came as a package deal with other Amazon books that I purchased (you know, the whole free shipping thing).

I checked the index and browsed a couple of topics that I have personal experience with and couldn't believe what I was reading. This book is so far off base on so many subjects I can't begin to describe. If you're new to gardening or even an old pro, don't waste your $$$.

I know that there are many ways to achieve the same results with gardening, and while some of his statements may hold truth; the general manner in which he dismisses so many proven techniques leads the reader to doubt most of his writing.


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~ Written on 2006-11-06

"Everyone has heard stories from self-proclaimed master gardeners, this book is the mythbuster of those stories. Although, I didn't gain any knowledge of use, I aquired some history of gardening and enjoyed a fun read."
~ Written on 2006-08-01