Gardening Myths and Misconceptions

These days, garden writing based on a solid careers worth of practical experience is rare indeed. Therein lies the value of this thought-provoking little book. -- Rory Dusoir * Gardens Illustrated * Beginners and experienced gardeners alike can only benefit from Charles enthusiastic and deep understanding of what plants really need. * The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm Blog * It has been proven untrue that watering in sunlight damages leaves. It is also untrue that rhubarb leaves and citrus peel cannot be composted, the latter may just take a while to decay. All this and much more makes for an entertaining and instructive read. -- Mary Davies * The Irish Garden * For anyone who grows edibles or for that matter gardens intensively I would recommend this book. -- Helen Jonstone * The Patient Gardener * Theres enough detail here to make a real difference to your garden, but its cleverly broken down into bite-sized chunks with illustrations, so it never feels hard-going. * The English Garden *

Charles Dowding is an internationally recognised organic gardening expert, and a former winner of the Garden Media Guild Practical Journalist of the Year award. He contributes articles to many magazines, including Gardeners World, Gardens Illustrated and Grow It! He is a veteran organic grower, having practised no-dig gardening and conducted different experiments in his garden for many years to compare differences of growth.

Introduction 1. A web of myths and misconceptions 2. Sowing and planting 3. Watering 4. Vegetable garden planning and design 5. Annual vegetables 6. Trees, shrubs and perennial vegetables 7. Manuring and fertilising 8. Making and using compost 9. Soil structure and care 10. Pest, diseases and weeds Index