The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers

February 20, 2012
As all gardeners know, mistakes go with the gardening turf. From the too-big plant in the front of the border to the badly pruned shrub, making ugly and visible errors is the tuition gardeners pay. Garden writer Chace offers help in this well-organized compendium of common mistakes that can be avoided or, if not, fixed. In separate chapters, Chace covers everything from bulbs (how deep to plant? which end is up?) to weeds (how did they get into a new planting bed?). She first explains correct techniques and then offers fixes if the gardener has goofed, an especially helpful feature. (Some things can’t be fixed, so, for example, never top a tree.) Illustrations by Colleen Coover help the anxious gardener lighten up. Less experienced gardeners will most appreciate this book of answers, but everybody makes mistakes.

March 1, 2012
The mint by the back door is rapidly making its way toward the front; the slugs think the hosta is an all-you-can-eat buffet; and that really expensive tree, newly planted at the end of the driveway, is starting to look like the hall coatrack. Every gardener, new or experienced, encounters those uh-oh moments when hasty decisions exact their own revenge or when well-intentioned advice goes horribly awry. In an age of information overload, it's helpful to have a quick, easy, and reliable source to help gardeners learn how to put things back to rights. Chace's handy, do-this, not-that manual covers everything from upside-down bulbs to over-the-top vines. Counseling readers in pithy, easily understood terms about what to do when what's been done needs to be undone, pronto, Chace also advises on how such pitfalls can be avoided next time around. Combining common sense with practical experience, Chace's answers will have gardeners questioning how they can ever go wrong again.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)