Next up in the review pile is ‘Pests and Diseases‘ by David Hurrion, another book in the Gardeners’ World magazine series.
Glossy, full colour and pocket-sized, it’s a handy reference guide to take out into the garden when you’re experiencing a problem with one of your plants and need to identify it and find a solution.
The book starts off with the basics of raising healthy plants, and a guide to recognising damage that is caused by environmental conditions (also known as physiological damage) rather than a specific pest or disease. There’s a look at why plants are attacked and the different kinds of organisms that attack them. Then you’re in to identifying problems, dealing with them, and helping to avoid them in the first place.
The second section deals with identifying symptoms and is divided up into stem problems, fruit and blossom problems and underground problems. For some reason, attracting beneficial insects has been added to the end of this section, rather than included in the good gardening habits covered in the first section.
It’s the third section that earns this book a place on your bookshelf – the A to Z of basic problems. Although it doesn’t have a picture for everything, there is a description of all the common pests and diseases you’re likely to encounter in your garden, with an idea of how much of a problem they are and ideas on how to control it. Although organic control methods (good gardening practices, natural allies and biological controls and barriers) are discussed, this isn’t an organic book – there are references to pesticides for those who want to use them as a last resort.
The A to Z listing is great if you’re flipping through, but possibly less useful when you’re faced with a problem – you’ll have to have some idea of what you’re dealing with to find the relevant information. This isn’t a bad book, it would be very useful for novice gardeners who are learning to recognise pests and diseases and want a guide to take out into the garden with them. There aren’t too many ‘yukky’ photos, which can be an issue in some of the more detailed publications on pests and diseases, but if you already know the basics then forgo buying this one and invest in the RHS version instead.