Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Berry Grower's Companion by Barbara L. Bowling ISBN: 088192489X Publisher: Timber Pr Pub. Date: 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25
Rating: 4
Summary: No California or Southwest
Comment: Covers strawberries, brambles, blueberries, and grapes very well. Other vine crops, such as kiwis, are covered too briefly to be of any value.
From the first chapter: "Recommended cultivars are not provided for California and some of the adjoining desert states."
Rating: 3
Summary: Western gardeners beware
Comment: In the intro, the author warns (paraphrasing) that her experience is mostly in the eastern and midwest US - and her comments will be of most value for gardeners in those regions. That is a fair thing to state.. What I have a problem with, is the complete neglect of the Southwest - to the point I sensed that she doubts people even garden there - and its all commercial growers.
For example: in all the tables that mention regions, she has breakouts for New England, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, South Central, Souteast, and Pacific Northwest... Uh, what about West, or Southwest? We're here trying to grow these things too.
Other things that bothered me: in her very thorough list of Strawberry cultivars, she omits one of the most common varieties grown in the West (Sequoia). In her list of southern highbush blueberries, most of the best ones are omitted (O'Neal, Georgia Gem, Misty, Reveille, Jubilee are all missing).
The ommissions themselves are not so significant, its what it implies - which is the lack of consideration for what Western gardeners would deal with including chilling hour issues, high heat, etc. And in the minor berries, there is a dicussion of hardy Kiwi - but why not mention the regular Kiwi which can be grown many places (my point being the bias toward her native region)
On the positive side, this author has a solid academic background and covers many issues in the kind of detail I enjoy. But that's what makes it frustrating for me to read her book - because she does not apply that know-how evenly to what I consider important and did not seem to spend any time researching what's going on out West.
Rating: 5
Summary: A very useful book
Comment: Barbara Bowling's book is well organized and well worth owning. There's an opening chapter about the general principles for growing all kinds of berries (or small fruits, as they are called, not because of the size of the fruits, but because of the size of the plants they grow on). Then, surprisingly, there is an interesting chapter about using berry plants for landscaping. It says, for instance, that elderberry bushes make good hedges.
There are separate chapters for each of these fruits: strawberries, brambles (raspberries, blackberries and the like), blueberries, grapes and minor berry crops (currants, gooseberries, hardy kiwi, elderberries, highbush cranberries, amelanchiers and still more minor berry crops such as cranberry, edible honeysuckle, jostaberry, ligonberry, maypop, rugosa rose and wineberry).
There's a highly useful appendix listing nursery sources for berry plants. Also, there's a glossary, a valuable list of references and 12 pages of plant name index and subject index.
If you're interested in growing one kind of berry, such as raspberries, you can count on having about a hundred pages of information that are directed toward growing raspberries, including the part applicable to growing any berry. And this is true for each of the other kinds of berry.
The chapter on brambles gives historical background and describes the biology of brambles. It lists many different cultivars of raspberries and blackberries, telling the hardiness, time of berry maturation and relative productivity of each berry cultivar.
Bowling tells how to select and prepare a site, plant berries and establish their growth, apply nutrition and fertilization, prune brambles and make trellises. She tells how to cope with pests such as viral diseases, gray molds, anthracnose, Phytophthora root rot and a long list of insects. Surprisingly, she chose not to include birds in her list of raspberry pests, although she mentions them in connection with other berries. She doesn't mention any mammals as raspberry pests, either. Most likely, these will be local issues. Not everyone has deer, black bear or rabbits in the neighborhood.
Of course, you should supplement this book with information from your local ag extension service or nursery. They will have a finer level of local detail about favored cultivars. Sometimes, your local ag extension agent will disagree with this author. For example, this author says that the "Blackhawk" black raspberry cultivar is tender, with medium productivity. The extension service at North Dakota State University, a state with a brutal winter, says that "Blackhawk" is "one of the hardiest black fruited varieties."
You'll need to adjust the book's information in terms of your specialized knowledge of your own local climate. For instance, this author describes the "Boyne" cultivar as a summer-bearing red raspberry suited for the climate of New England. She doesn't mention it in connection with the Midwest. The North Dakota State University Extension Service, on the other hand, says that "Boyne" is "excellent for [North Dakota] home gardens ... moderately vigorous, sturdy, winter hardy and very productive."
The important thing is that Bowling has listed many, many cultivars, together with enough information for a grower to know the right climate for each one.
 |
Title: The Backyard Berry Book: A Hands-On Guide to Growing Berries, Brambles, and Vine Fruit in the Home Garden by Stella Otto ISBN: 0963452061 Publisher: Otto Graphics Pub. Date: 1995 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
 |
Title: The Backyard Orchardist: A Complete Guide to Growing Fruit Trees in the Home Garden by Stella Otto ISBN: 0963452037 Publisher: Otto Graphics Pub. Date: 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Fruits and Berries for the Home Garden by Lewis Hill, Gwen Steege ISBN: 0882667637 Publisher: Storey Books Pub. Date: 1992 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
 |
Title: Backyard Fruits and Berries: Everything You Need to Know About Planting and Growing Fruits and Berries in Your Own Backyard by Miranda Smith ISBN: 0785813233 Publisher: Book Sales Pub. Date: 1901 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
 |
Title: Strawberries (Crop Production Science in Horticulture, 11) by James F. Hancock ISBN: 0851993397 Publisher: CABI Publishing, CAB International Pub. Date: 1999 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
