The Healthy Vegetable Garden reviewed

It is interesting to think about how digging and turning the sods for your vegetables used to be seen as the necessary job to do. Whereas in recent decades no-dig and no-till gardening has become much more popular, and possibly a healthier way to manage your soil fertility. Morgan mentions that previous generations of her family found it a healthy work out to dig their soil, but it might not have actually been particularly good for the crops themselves. This book is very much positioned from the perspective that digging your gardening trenches is not even something to be debated about anymore. Which is slightly liberating as it enables Morgan to just get on with some good insights and ideas about how to garden well.

First up though, who knew there were zombie ladybirds. As most of us know ladybirds are great for eating aphids and other pests in your garden. For this reason they are to be encouraged. Sometimes though, unfortunately the ladybird itself gets attacked by a parasitic creature which then commandeers the ladybird’s body. This is tough and it does all the bad things you might imagine it will do, but, fascinatingly Morgan suggests that 1 in 4 ladybirds actually survive this experience. The more we learn about nature the more fascinating it is.

As a gardening handbook we feel it works well as a future reference book for your library. The photographs and illustrations are colourful and well presented. The chapters on soil fertility, pests, plants and predators are all organised well and useful for answering specific questions you might have. The text is readable and accessible. At this time of year when you often overhaul you summer plants, vegetables and flowers, this is a good book to read and digest over the autumn nights, check it out.

More about the book

In The Healthy Vegetable Garden, expert organic gardener Sally Morgan explains how to use natural approaches to cope with the challenges of a changing climate through principles from regenerative gardening, agroecology, and permaculture—all to help your green space thrive.

The Healthy Vegetable Garden shows you how to:

• Combat disease and keep pests at bay with natural predators, companion planting, and trap and barrier crops
• Choose the right plants to attract pollinators and pest predators
• Build a healthy soil full of organic matter, earthworms, and mycorrhizal fungi
• Regenerate soil through no-dig practices, composting, cover crops, and mulching
• Boost biodiversity through the use of crop rotations and polyculture
• Rewild your garden by creating a range of habitats, making use of walls and fences, log piles, water features, and wild corners
• Understand plant defenses and use biocontrols
• Make natural barriers, traps, and lures

A healthy, productive garden should work in harmony with nature to produce and protect delicious fruits and vegetables and build a rich soil that is full of life. With The Healthy Vegetable Garden, growers of all levels will start reducing incidents of pests and diseases while creating a verdant habitat—all without the need for fertilizers, pesticides, or weedkillers.

About Sally Morgan

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