The Plant Doctor: A Practical Guide to Having a Healthy Garden

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

Sonia Day writes gardening columns for the Toronto Star and Canadian
Gardening. The Plant Doctor is her fourth gardening book.

The table of contents reads like a frequently-asked-questions list and
is almost as informative as the index. Entries deal with practical
topics such as “How much sunlight do plants need?” and “Does
companion planting work?” I particularly appreciated the sections on
planting roses in cold climates, dealing with early frost, and what to
do when winter comes. I was excited to see the heading “Volunteers: a
mixed blessing in many gardens.” I thought it might give me advice on
how to deal with friends who want to “help out” in my garden, but it
turned out to be about volunteer or “rogue” plants.

Day’s approach to gardening is that there are no quick fixes. A good
garden is the result of good decisions and gardening practices from the
beginning. She takes the reader step-by-step through gardening,
beginning with preparing the soil, purchasing plants appropriate to the
zone, arranging them, feeding them, keeping them healthy, and preparing
them for seasonal changes. There is a handy section on chemical
pesticides, common plant pests, and plant diseases.

Day’s text is readable, and she presents a lot of information in
bulleted lists. Her advice is quite thorough; for example, she devotes
seven pages to different types of shade and shade-loving plants.
Throughout the text there are red and green sidebars giving helpful
hints on such things as how to avoid damaging plants along sidewalks
with salt and snow shovels, how to avoid having clay pots crack over
winter, and how to use tags to identify plants.

The images in the book are plentiful, often illustrating a particular
gardening process, but the production quality is not high. Many of the
shots look over-enlarged and not sharp.

Overall, though, this is a good introductory handbook for novice
gardeners.