A lot has happened in the worlds of food and gardening since 1977, when Hendrickson published The Great American Tomato Book
, now updated, revised and renamed in paperback. The new edition attempts to cover everything from history to recipes, but Hendrickson's no-nonsense approach is a minor addition to the market in today's local–produce– crazed, foodie world. He's at his best when he takes home gardeners by the hand and walks them through the complexities of growing tomatoes, either in the ground or in containers. Other authors have written more artfully of the tomato's history, and any local gardening columnist will have more to say about why to choose one Heirloom varietal over another, but Hendrickson is a man who knows his seedlings, soil, sun and sowing. When it comes to practical problems like staking, mulching and fertilizing, home gardeners will find him to be a useful and informative guide. Most will also welcome the too-brief canning and preserving chapter. However, there are few surprises in the perfunctory recipe section. The appendixes include descriptive lists of hundreds of early, main season and late season tomatoes. But photographs—which were integral to the original edition—would've helped the book fare better among the stiff gardening competition. (Jan.)
