Yes, I read gardening books (about 75% of my reading, I would guess), and yes I love books (former reference librarian, and before that a bookseller, with a family history of over 100 years in the bookbinding trade). I also obsessively research stuff online. But still I sometimes need to ask a question on here that to others might be obvious or simple - usually because I'm looking for the lived experience of other gardeners, or to make sense of all the different approaches I've read about. In reference librarianship we called it "the horse's mouth method", ie (pre-web) if a reader came and asked a question that we could find the answer to in books with much research and analysis, or we could research an organisation / expert in the field for them to ask direct, we would do the latter and refer them on. Better to go to the horse's mouth. I also accept that not everyone has the resources, the experience or the research skills that others do, so seemingly basic questions are a way in to the resources of expertise here. Not to mention the social aspect, which is key.
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
Just reading a question about parsnip seeds and thinking of this thread - the other thing you get from asking here is the sense that 'the book', and especially the advice on seed packets and plant labels, can be misleading, depending where you live. On here you get a wide range of experience of the varying climate in the UK, western France and even Australia. So you learn to trust your own judgement of your own micro-climate far more quickly, and you find out that there is far more leeway than you might think from reading a book about what you can do and when
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I still read gardening books but many younger people have been brought up using electronic material rather than physical. They can use Google to search for things, but if they don't know what the 'thing' is they are stuck.
I still read gardening books but many younger people have been brought up using electronic material rather than physical. They can use Google to search for things, but if they don't know what the 'thing' is they are stuck.
That's exactly why reading widely around a subject for pleasure rather than for specific research is so helpful, whether it's books or online. Much of what you read won't be immediately useful, but when you do need it, it's tucked away in the back of your mind ready to drift to the surface.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I’m trying to get back to using my gardening books having realised that I was using my iPad to look everything up and they used to be so well used. ButI have to say it’s a mixed experience so far. Enjoying looking through some again and re-reading my favourites, mostly those about design, specific gardens etc, But very frustrating when I look through my various A-Z of plants type books and can’t find the plant I’m interested in or more often quite enough information about a plant to answer my question.
I’ve definitely got used to the breadth of information you can find on the internet and as already said it’s often the real life experience I’m after. Often I know the textbook information on a plant such as whether it likes sun, shade etc but I want to know how much shade or sun I can “get away with etc..
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
"the other thing you get from asking here is the sense that 'the book',
and especially the advice on seed packets and plant labels, can be
misleading"
Amen to this. Reading website advise from sellers or the RHS or GW you will get a huge range of different answers. Different areas of the country having different sowing dates. Unheated and heated greenhouses make a great difference to timeframes - it's a complicated business. I personally find the detail on packets and labels pretty incomplete and useless. I think books are fine if using them to supplement existing knowledge from family etc. If starting from scratch, videos and forums are invaluable. Even the discussions here about when to sow tom seed in the south, outside, came up with about ten different answers.
I personally learn best by asking questions. But yes, Google is your friend and it does surprise me that people don't just look simple stuff up more often.
I recently inherited a set of RHS gardening books dating from the 1970's / 80's.
If I tell that you that their advice then regarding honey fungus in the garden was to "dig up and remove as much affected material as possible" (so far so good) and then sterilise the soil using a solution of Jeyes fluid or some other chemical ....
So many pesticides, fungicides, herbicides we no longer use for gardening - they're all in there. It is now illegal to use most of them in the garden. Just one reason why an up to date reference source is so important and t'interweb is best for that.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
I use t'interweb for basic searching for initial info, but much prefer books for in-depth information. Trying to flick back between sections when working on-line is a nightmare.
Interesting answers and reading different people's perspectives. I still use gardening books and have a collection from the 70s and 80s. I've kept the best and I sometimes use them to look up things. Varieties have changed in a lot of cases, not all though. I also use the internet a lot for research.
I suppose my point really was that some people can't be bothered to do a little research to find answers to what are sometimes very basic gardening questions which they could find the answer to by quickly googling, for example, when is the best month to sow grass seed. On the other hand there is so much knowledge among some people on this forum that when you do have a specific problem or question that requires a specialised answer Gardeners World forum is a great place to ask.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
I've read this thread with such interest. When I began gardening in earnest, the RHS Encyclopaedia of Gardening and Hilliers' Manual of Trees and Shrubs were constantly in use. I also got The Hillier Guide to Connoisseurs' Plants, and then from the library Rosemary Verey and Penelope Hobhouse. Slightly later, I then discovered Graham Stuart Thomas and Christopher Lloyd. I now find that observations by these gardeners often come to mind when I am looking at plants. The disadvantage of the internet more generally is that, like a garden centre, it tends to offer a colourful parade of what's new or in fashion. But when you read the words of these gardeners who designed and planted, then looked after their gardens for decades, you get a sense of the precise needs and character of plants--whether it's Beth Chatto with her knowledge of plant ecology, or Christopher Lloyd's sense of fun and colour. It really pays, I've found, to do lots of research on individual plants if you are planning to buy a certain species or variety that you don't know. So I tend to couple reading books, asking questions and going on sites like this for that closer familiarity. (I try not to quote Christopher Lloyd too often though)...
Posts
I also accept that not everyone has the resources, the experience or the research skills that others do, so seemingly basic questions are a way in to the resources of expertise here. Not to mention the social aspect, which is key.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I’ve definitely got used to the breadth of information you can find on the internet and as already said it’s often the real life experience I’m after. Often I know the textbook information on a plant such as whether it likes sun, shade etc but I want to know how much shade or sun I can “get away with etc..
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
If I tell that you that their advice then regarding honey fungus in the garden was to "dig up and remove as much affected material as possible" (so far so good) and then sterilise the soil using a solution of Jeyes fluid or some other chemical ....
So many pesticides, fungicides, herbicides we no longer use for gardening - they're all in there. It is now illegal to use most of them in the garden. Just one reason why an up to date reference source is so important and t'interweb is best for that.
I suppose my point really was that some people can't be bothered to do a little research to find answers to what are sometimes very basic gardening questions which they could find the answer to by quickly googling, for example, when is the best month to sow grass seed. On the other hand there is so much knowledge among some people on this forum that when you do have a specific problem or question that requires a specialised answer Gardeners World forum is a great place to ask.