Month by Month Gardening in Louisiana

I got this book for my mom for her birthday. She loves working in the garden. She was very impressed with how organized the book was and she references it all the time.

I hadn't gardened seriously since I was a kid. I needed something that was geared to our hot weather in La. this fit the bill perfectly. I got off to a late start but thanks to this book, I now have a garden growing.

There are few people in the world who are known by one name only; Cher is one I can think of off hand. Dan is another. Here in Louisiana, if you are talking about gardening and say, "Dan said.......", everyone knows who you mean and everyone believes what you say. Dan is not only the casual gardener's gardener; he is the professional gardener's gardener. Month to Month Gardening can guide anyone through necessary tasks in the garden and yes, here in Louisiana we are lucky enough to be able to garden 365 days a year. There are always flowers blooming, always plants growing and we who live here are dedicated gardeners. We garden in the winter, the summer and the two or three weeks of fall and spring that come our way. Dan does a regular Saturday morning radio call-in show and a weekly segment on a morning TV show. During the 20+ years Dan has been disseminating plant knowledge in the New Orleans area, his reputation has spread and we rely on him for all sorts of growing information. And since he continues to write this knowledge down in a weekly Times Picayune Newspaper column and now in Month to Month Gardening, we are indeed fortunate to be able to share his Louisiana gardening information. Now readers can learn what grows and what doesn't, how to care for it, what to try, when to try it, what will fail, what will flourish and what to watch out for. Dan emphasizes organic growing methods in his gardening approach as much as possible and as an organic gardener myself, I appreciate that. If you wish to learn of Louisiana Gardening, and have a good read and reference source, have this book in your library.

I moved to Lousiana from Chicago and although I know a thing or two about gardening up north (or Zone 5) I didn't have a clue how to do a darn thing down south, especially in Louisiana! This book is a must have for the new or novice gardener - it not only includes information on just about anything you can grow in the soil, it gives you a month-by-month list of what you need to do in order to succeed. I've used it to learn about my lawn, plant a new tree in my yard, keep my flower beds looking great and even for beginning my vegetable garden. There isn't any info on growing fruits, (tomatoes excluded!) but I don't really have much interest in that part of gardening yet so it didn't bother me a bit.

Timing is very important in gardening, and in Louisiana with its variations of climate it is dangerous to take generic Internet sourced advice about timing. Dan is the man to listen to here. Especially if you've got huge tracts of land, this book is for you.