Food, Not Lawns, by HC Flores

Okay, this book stood out so strongly, it gets its own post!

It's that time of year when gardeners the climate over are getting the itch. If You garden, then you know what I mean.

Your basement, like mine, is full of those plastic 6-pack thingies from last-year's plants, brimming with new planting soil and 5 year old seeds from your freezer that you hope will still sprout under flourescent lights. Tomatoes, basil, parsley, oregano, cilantro, bell peppers, and flowers that Sienna and Grace picked out, all dreams about to sprout into living color.

The one thing impending Spring always brings about other than seed-planting is gardening books. How to garden more easily, cheaply, quickly, with less space and water! Every book has more great ideas. (Well, almost every book...)

Anyway, I really found a doosy this year. This book is soooooo loaded that I am at a loss for accurate words.

First, the good: Food, Not Lawns' First chapter is like "How to build a community super-garden for FREE. Period." WHOA! You've got my attention, baby!
Chapter three is like "How to reuse the water you're already paying for, or that is draining off your roof, to create a paradise garden with pond in your yard." WHOA! COOL! More stuff that saves money.

Now, I was so awe inspired by the water chapter that I had to stop for a few days. That's all I've got so far. I would absolutely love my yard to be one giant manicured, sculpted garden, with pond, and rivers flowing throughout it all to prevent the need for all other manual watering. I love this book.

Now, the necessary evil: I must give some disclaimers about the book. First of all, the authors stated purpose is not only to help you get food where you now have lawn. It is also to convert you and the world to the gospel of "Humans are the cancer destroying the earth. We must stop them and save her!" Unfortunately, I'm not even slightly exaggerating here. Bummer. Her goal in helping you garden for free, is NOT EVER to save money. It is to save the earth's "already polluted, depleted, and nonrenewable resources, including water." Yes, she called water nonrenewable. She is teaching you how to "tap into the waste stream" of society, so you don't strip anything else out of bare, haggard mother earth. We already owe her big, you know.

But, hey, if you can overlook that part, This book is loaded with outside-of-the-box cool gardening ideas. Most of them save money and waste. I dig it!