Trowel & Error by Sharon Lovejoy (2002, Paperback, Illustrated)

Sunflower Houses: Inspiration from the Garden, a Book for Children by Sharon Lovejoy transformed my gardening style approximately 180 degrees back in the early 90 s. My nose was sort of in the air, I had been working in education at a botanic gardens, hobnobbing with some of the world s reigning perennial experts. Each had very specific instructions for the very proper way to design a perennial garden. Sharon Lovejoy attended a regional conference on children s gardening (at the botanic garden) and since I was one of the organizers, we met over lunch and later over dinner. My style has not been the same since, and there s no going back.

We tend to lose track of favorite authors over time. I did not realize that author/gardener Sharon Lovejoy had officially started writing for adults. Although her earlier books were in theory designed for children, many adults embraced her philosophy. With several books written by her on my shelves, another children s garden book wasn t necessary. As much as I respected her contributions I lost track of her later publications.

Trowel & Error, Over 700 Shortcuts, Tips and Remedies for the Gardener (released 2003) quickly became a classic book for gardening adults (that includes me). It is a cornucopia of homespun solutions, a companion-gardener s perfect companion, a pest-free (also me) gardener s best friend, and the secret unveiled for the brown thumb gardener.

Understand that my gardening experience has grown from decades of gardening. While initially learning from grandparents and favorite aunts, it became serious when working at a botanic garden. Workshops, advice from experts, classes, books, magazines and television shows formed my style. There was also a lot of trial and error, basically because I had access to free plants the orphans from the gardens being disassembled and redesigned.

Sharon acquainted me to the art of garden whimsy. It was her fault that my vegetable garden fence has something strange on each post. She s also responsible for raising bean tepees, creating sunflower houses, and placing toad houses here and there. Although fun for me, her early books were really more for children.

In Trowel and Error she demonstrates that she is still the queen of cultivating wonder in the garden as she advises that "it's fun to expect the unexpected. In this book she combines homespun wisdom garnered from many of her gardening friends with experience, observations, and testing. She challenges the recommendations and has tried each and every one and now offers them to us from personal experience.

What is her secret for success? I believe that my morning walks (and talks) with the hundreds of plants and trees are what keep my garden healthy. Not much escapes my notices and immediate attention, and a quick response can mean the difference between the beginning of a small problem and a full-blown attack or infection.

For the Companion Gardener, The Organic Gardener, and the Brown Thumb Gardening Fledgling

Shortcuts, tips and remedies grace every page. This experienced gardener got in a rut while reading her book by repeating these statements, I didn t know that and wow! So many suggestions were so obvious, yet, I hadn t made the connections. Let me explain (each of these comes from her book and you simply will need to read the book to understand how valuable this is for all of us), I think you will agree.

Provide solar heat for early spring plants with water-filled 2- and 3-liter soda bottles rather than purchasing walls of water that surround your tomato plants.
Tired of bending over to see what s feeding under leaves, attach a small mirror onto a yardstick. Oh yeah, take that yardstick and measure and mark feet and inches on your favorite gardening tools. This simple technique makes placement of plants easier.
Do you want to dry flowers or herbs fast? Place them on paper-covered flat surfaces in your car. Park it in the sun and close the windows.
Aphids a problem? Wrap adhesive tape around your fingers and blot away! (She warns, Some readers who tried this say it can become habit-forming. I can see that.)
Ants? Wish I had thought of this earlier. Rather than trying to block their entrance into our houses, why not entice them away. Spray their routes to the house with apple cider vinegar. This covers up their tracks. Then she suggests sprinkling sugar on paths leading away from your house or your garden.
Fire ants. She recommends dressing for battle and combining strategies. She offers a quick treatment for stings, but I have one to offer. Apply any toothpaste to the affected area, unless you re highly allergic then head for a hospital. The toothpaste seems to reduce the blistering and itching. This advice is homespun wisdom provided by some older Texas men who gardened and whittled.
Mosquitoes, boy do I feel dumb! Turn on fans so they blow away from the area where you are eating, or toward you while working in the garden. We all know mosquito problems disappear on windy days.
Willow water. She recommends using willow twig tea for stimulating growth of newly propagated plants thus avoiding commercial hormones.
Make your pumpkin queen for a season. Create a small cylindrical compost bin above ground. Place your seeds in the compost and when your vines begin to fruit place a pumpkin on the top (the throne).

Ok, I ll stop. You get the idea? She offers tips that encourage successes for all gardeners. She provides solutions for pest problems. She expands upon the ideas of growing plants in combination with other plants. Additionally she offers some whimsical suggestions for garden sculpture. Create yard art from cast-offs. Old garden tools make especially interesting sculptures. Do you garden indoors? The second part of this book is for you?

Indoor gardeners, have you tried these?
Use hand-held vacuums to quickly remove pests from the plants.
Treat ailing houseplants with a dose of castor oil and liquid soap.
Blast mealybugs and aphids with a turkey baster full of liquid soap water and liquid seaweed.
Lure gnats away from plants. Let them check out a bowl of water and apple cider. (There s so much more.)

Ms Lovejoy encourages creating child-safe, pest-free and chemical-free gardens. She offers tried and true, old-fashioned, (pre-World War II) strategies for gardening. Because she has tested her techniques, I trust them to work. As an experienced gardener I can look at these and say, Of course these will work, I wish I had thought of this. There is still so much to learn.

About the Book
Sharon Lovejoy, author/gardener is also her own illustrator. Delightful illustrations complement her light approach to gardening. The book is fun, easy reading. It offers humorous insights as well as environmentally friendly techniques. The book is a small format (approximately 6 x 7 inches) with 231 pages. Part I focuses on outdoor gardening and Part II goes indoors. There are ten chapters.
1. Tricks & Tools that bend the rules
2. Potions
3. Getting the Best of Pesky Pests
4. Repellents and Preventives
5. Using Lures to Attract Allies
6. Great Expectations: Starting with Seeds
7. The Genius of the Ground
8. Lawn & Weed: Four-Letter Words for Work
9. Outdoor D cor
10. Consider the Humble Houseplant

The genius of this book is completed by an appendix that contains additional resources, organizations, and further reading as well as a thorough index.

My Recommendations
There are a few gardeners in my family who do not have this book, who struggle with their conscience when managing for pests, who think their thumbs brown, or who really enjoy the concept of a fun garden but don t know where to begin. They are about to receive this book as a gift. There is so much information packed into this little book that it s difficult to know where to break ground. I guess a nice comfy chair and a cup of hot chocolate will suffice as a starting point. This is a classic. At first I considered taking some of the best suggestions and placing them on laminated cards to hang in my garden shed. (My shed is actually a large corner of my garage.) I soon realized that there would be about 200 cards, so perhaps the best option would be to purchase a second book. Sharon Lovejoy has taken the trial and error out of gardening with Trowel and Error and for that I thank her.

Other Sharon Lovejoy books reviewed by Pestyside include:
The Little Green Island With a Little Red House A Book of of Colors and Critters

A Blessing of Toads: A Gardener's Guide to Living With Nature