Notes From a Sceptical Gardener
Description
What is the best way to kill weeds in paving? How scared should we really be of Japanese knotweed? And what is a weed anyway?
Biologist Ken Thompson set out to write a different kind of gardening column, one that tackles what he calls 'the grit in the gardening oyster'. In this new collection he takes a look at some of the questions faced by gardeners everywhere in a bid to sort the truth from the wishful thinking.
Why are the beaks of British great tits getting longer? Which common garden insect owns a set of metal-tipped running spikes? Why might growing orange petunias land you in hot water? Are foxes getting bigger? How do you stop the needles falling off your Christmas tree?
This expert's miscellany of (mostly) scientifically-tested garden lore will make you look at your garden through fresh eyes.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Content
- Intro
- Praise
- Title Page
- Contents
- About the Author
- Introduction
- Names of things, mainly plants
- The fritillary's chequered past
- DNA opens a can of worms for gardeners
- Will the real laurel please stand up?
- Time's up for rosemary
- Better than wrong
- Garden wildlife
- Darwin meets the bird feeder
- Thumbs down for neonicotinoids
- Hello again, crab spider
- Daylight robbery
- Overlooked pollinators
- Shedding light on the decline of moths
- Running shoes for bugs
- Getting up close to creepy-crawlies
- Making bees count
- Toxic Tilia?
- Plant more flowers
- Flowers for bees
- Ecology at Chelsea 2016
- Almost the last word on native and alien plants
- Pesticides in garden plants
- A balanced diet is the bee's knees
- Bird-brains understand speed limits
- Twenty-first century fox
- Do native plants taste better?
- Urban hedgehogs bounce back
- Not worth doing, or at least not worth worrying about
- Homeopathy for gardeners
- What does biochar do?
- Friends with benefits?
- Japanese knotweed myths examined
- The ifs and butts of garden bacteria
- A growing concern
- More moon beliefs
- Mycorrhizas
- Rockdust part 1
- Rockdust part 2
- Interesting things about plants
- A surprise by the back door
- Darwin on twining
- How to date a meadow
- Leaning trees
- Two authors chasing a ghost
- Orange is the new blacklisted
- A winter plant hunt
- Slippery plants
- A floral conundrum
- Ripe fruit
- Pact with devil's ivy clears the air
- Gooseberries
- aliens in our midst
- Bigger is better in the rain forest
- Nasty-smelling flowers
- Plant killers give border guards the slip
- A volcanic surprise
- The wrong watermelon
- Ecology at Chelsea 2017
- Twigs laid bare
- Two royal flowers
- Turning sunflowers
- Practical gardening
- Christmas tree care
- Saving the world, one bag of compost at a time
- We are all permaculturists now
- Beware of fuchsia gall mite
- For the best meadow, sow the best seeds
- Conflicting tomato advice
- Cures for weeds in paving
- Preparing for climate change
- Plants to cope with flooding
- Plants to keep you cool, and quiet
- My New Zealand favourites
- Hemiparasites for gardeners
- Total parasites for gardeners
- Cold comfort for seeds
- Barriers for slugs and snails
- DIY slug gel
- Prepare for the end of chemical warfare
- Tea bags
- The last word on tree planting
- Viburnum leaf beetle
- Is your lettuce what you think it is?
- Wisdom from Which? Gardening
- On being a gardener
- Green fingers are the test of a true Brit
- Instagram-ready gardening
- Biodiversity for gardeners
- The causes of hay fever
- Science for gardeners
- Gardening similes
- Gardening hitchhikers
- Popular flowers
- Why weather forecasts are mostly wrong
- The weeds we deserve
- What is a plant?
- What is a weed?
- Plants are a breath of fresh air for asthma sufferers
- Do healthy brains need trees?
- Answers to questions
- By the Same Author
- Copyright
- Advertisement
