The Heirloom Gardener is a multi-purpose gardening and philosophy guide by John Forti. Due out 22nd June 2021 from Workman Publishing on their Timber Press imprint, it's 264 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats. The audiobook format has been released by Hachette Audio on 21st October 2025.
The author has collected culture tips, some traditional skills, and philosophy in an alphabetical primer format. The chapters are arranged from angelica to zucchini and visit such skills as foraging (safely), grafting, and foraging and using kelp to help increase biomass and trace minerals in soil along the way.
There are no photographs nor step-by-step tutorials. The illustrations (see cover) are woodcut primitive style and really suit the "old farmer's almanac" traditional vibe. This one fits in my library alongside the John Seymour books and more philosophy minded conservation books such as Muir and Carson.
The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 5 hours and 29 minutes and is competently read by Timothy Andrés Pabon. The collection includes short (paragraph length) snippets which are arranged alphabetically.
I would recommend this to smallholders, gardeners interested in more gentle, conservation minded, and traditional methods of culture, gardening groups, allotments and community gardens, schools, urban gardens, and similar. Folks who enjoy reading about gardening and floriculture.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment