Yates Garden Guide 2011

This 43rd edition of the classic Yates Garden Guide is special because it celebrates 125 years of Yates in Australia. I have always loved the clear layout and carefully chosen pictures. It is really easy to find an answer quickly to almost any gardening question. The obvious drawback is that many of the solutions to pest and disease problems are not organic. But Yates are also working to improve their organic profile and they now have (and have had for many years) several allowable organic products. The book has a chapter on the history of the guide, as well as one on organics and no dig gardening. Also soils, composts worms, propagating, gardening for the kitchen and then all the other things you can grow and do in the garden. I love it and refer to it often, but have learnt to ignore the non-organic advice. If you don’t have a recent edition then this would be a lovely one to buy with its links back 125 years. Buy if from your local independent bookshop, or borrow it from your library.

Yates Garden Guide 2011, HarperCollins, 2011, soft cover, 506 pages, $39.95