cover image Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally

Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally

Robert Kourik. Metamorphous Press, $25 (370pp) ISBN 978-0-9615848-0-1

Kourik's color photos and Massion's art effectively illustrate a text that fulfills the title's promise. The author's advice is sound and practical although the reader may bridle at his tone at times. (Attempting a chatty informality, for example, he orders one to ""find a comfortable chair and leaf through the book.'') Otherwise, this is a valuable guide to the holistic approach to gardening, which relies on natural fertilizers and avoids chemicals. The author begins with suggestions for designing plots according to environment, space available, personal preferences. (The pictures prove that areas featuring vegetables, herbs, fruit- and nut-bearing trees and other edibles can be beautiful.) Kourik, who frequently appears on TV and lectures nationally, includes recipes that use the wide variety of foods featured here. (July)