Notes from The Virginia Gardener

Vol I
edited by Diane Relf

As far as I can figure out, this is a reprinting of selections from The Virginia Gardener Newsletter (1983-1989) which publication comes from the Department of Horticulture at Virginia Tech in Blackburn, VA. It's the first item I've borrowed from my local library that wasn't a regular book. Notes from the Virginia Gardener is a little spiral-bound volume, with un-numbered pages divided into sections by season. It's mainly a collection of gardening tips. I was pretty pleased to discover this, because I wanted to find information specific to gardening where I now live. Although a lot of the tips have to do with things I don't have in my yard- roses, tons of perennial flowers, fruit trees- it gave me a good idea of what grows well here just by reading about them. There's lots of information on what time of year is best to do certain things in the yard like planting, pruning, dividing perennials, fertilizing certain flowers, etc. Also some info on seasonal care for houseplants. I really appreciated the ideas on reusing common household items for things like making garden labels or measuring inches of rainfall. Charming, antique-looking woodcuts illustrate the pages very nicely. And I really liked the little tidbits like this:

An experiment at the University of Massachusetts demonstrated that a hubbard squash can lift a John Deere tractor. As it grew within a set-up of springs and beams, the squash raised the tractor off the ground. Now if only that power could be harnessed for garden work!

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