cover image The Complete Illustrated Guide to Everything Sold in Garden Centers (Except the Plants)

The Complete Illustrated Guide to Everything Sold in Garden Centers (Except the Plants)

Steve Ettinger, Steve Ettlinger. MacMillan Publishing Company, $24.95 (368pp) ISBN 978-0-02-536301-4

Just as the title says, it's all here in this volume, a valuable addition to the gardener's bookshelf. Part I covers garden supplies; Part II tools, equipment and accessories. Soil mixes, gardening tools, pesticides, ornamental plaster statues of saints--each receives the same reasoned consideration in frank, easily understandable terms. Every item inspires entries detailing how to recognize and use it and how much to pay for it. Yet what can be most confusing for gardeners, particularly novices, is the welter of brand and common names often employed for gardening merchandise--and Ettlinger ( The Complete Illustrated Guide to Everything Sold in Hardware Stores ) helps clear it up by listing synonymous terms wherever applicable. And when it's cheaper to concoct, say, a soilless mix than to buy it, the author isn't bashful about telling how. Although the title makes an exception of plants, an appendix contains a simplified yet user-friendly buying guide to the ``greengoods'' sold at garden centers. Other appendixes list items for gardeners ``who have difficulty gripping, bending, kneeling, reaching, or are confined to wheelchairs''; information sources; and mail-order catalogues. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Oct.)