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Does anyone read gardening books these days?

RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511
in Problem solving
This question is prompted because so many questions on this forum are about very basic gardening; the sort of stuff people over 40 would have looked up in books and got the answer pretty quickly.  It seems to me that  some people are kind of lazy in that it's easier to ask knowledgeable people on a forum what to do then look it up.  In the last few days I've noticed simple questions about how long grass seed takes to germinate and if March is the right time to sow it, how to lighten clay soil, when to sow tomatoes, when to apply manure, what is ph and so on.  I don't mean to begrudge people new to gardening and I do like to encourage them, including answering some questions myself but.......investing in a basic book or two never did me any harm and I learned an awful lot.....plus it's fun to peruse books. What do you think?
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
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  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    I still read Gardening books. Plant books rather than general gardening though. Love the smell of paper.
  • JoeXJoeX Posts: 1,783
    Asking questions online is like talking to people. It’s more sociable than reading books.

    I don’t see why there should be any expectation to study books before entering a magazine forum.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    After being dragged around second hand bookshops for longer than I care to remember, the smell makes me gag. I've even watched new book sniffers. It's worse than watching someone lick skin from hot milk off their top lip😖
    Thank God for kindle.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I have quite a few gardening books which I like to peruse but they don't always have the answers I need and the more specialist ones can be daunting for beginners whilst the older ones old fashioned in the plants, techniques and products they use and recommend.

    This forum is a great place to come for chat with like-minded people, exchanges of info,  views and experience with all sorts of people and a great place for beginners to ask basic questions and learn from people who've been there, done that.

     
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    edited March 2021
    I still read gardening books, and still buy them occasionally. But when I was young, skint and knew next to nowt about gardening I would borrow them from the library, and obviously that's not been possible (or at least, not easy) for the last year.
    Edit: I forgot the obvious, that when I was young, skint etc there was no internet :D
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • WilderbeastWilderbeast Posts: 1,415
    I like both one can give a long winded answer that can sometimes confuse the other can be short and simple. Mind I'm not saying which is which 😀
  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    I do read books but probably spend more time now reading material on the internet. What puzzles me about some of the questions asked about gardening on forums is the answers are often easily found by just typing the question into the internet browser. There is loads of garden information already published online so a lot of the questions asked are already answered on some internet site and the browser will usually list a number providing the answer to a particular question. Not trying to discourage questions on forums as I think its nice to communicate about gardening anyway.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • Cambridgerose12Cambridgerose12 Posts: 1,134
    I love my gardening books and own far too many. Some of the old classics are wonderful for capturing the precise character of a plant in words, and others have beautiful and evocative pictures. I wouldn't be surprised if I am keeping the plant book trade alive single-handedly. Unfortunately I'm running out of space on my bookshelves :wink:
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    I have quite a few gardening books, but especially for plant IDs, it's much easier to come on here and ask. You can be gone a long time flicking through plant pictures trying to find a match and 30 seconds after you post a pic on here someone will pop up and say 'I've got one of those it's a xxxx'. And THEN you go to the books and find out what to do with it.

    Books have gone out of fashion, or had before lockdown. Now there are second hand booksellers making a fortune stocking Zoom background shelves for people who want to give the impression they are well read. Ill wind and all that  :)
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
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