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Plants Are Still Like People Jerry Baker Book Review
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Book: Jerry Baker's "Plants Are Still Like People"
Guide Review
Guide Rating Pros • contains info not readily available elsewhere
• provides numerous useful lists
• each chapter ends with a practical Q&A
Cons • a bit preachy in places
The Bottom Line - Famous for his 'home remedies' for plants, Baker is
just as adept at offering chemical solutions. And he is not just a plant
doctor, but also has a keen eye for what makes a landscape beautiful.
Description
• Reading "germination labels" when buying grass seed: germination and
purity should be close to 100%.
• Don't let blooms die on your shrubs: "a dying bloom takes too much from
the rest of the plant."
• "Beating" your trees to make them grow better!
• In rooms where houseplants grow, paint walls bright colors: "These colors
will reflect more light".
• Jerry's own fertilizer formula, which includes epsom salts, beer and soap.
• Measuring how deeply your lawn is being watered by a sprinkler: catch
some of the water in a can.
• Bugs don't like their mouths washed out with soap any more than we -use soap for bug control.
• Edging makes a garden "look neat and as though it were designed to fit
into the overall landscape."
• A hole is not just a hole -- or 'how to plant trees properly.'
• Wear spiked shoes when you walk around on the lawn to aerate the soil.
Guide Review - Book: Jerry Baker's "Plants Are Still Like People"
The title is not only catchy, but reflects the contents. Baker is persistent
with the premise that plants are like people, drawing one analogy after
another. Take the chapter on lawns. Grass is compared to the hair on
people's heads. Dethatching a lawn is like removing dandruff. Mowing is
like going to the barber. But the book is not all fun and games: we are told
why, when and how to mow, and when and how to water. We are,
however, reminded in the same breath that grass is like people, in that
"Grass can't swim," meaning too much watering will drown a lawn,
depriving it of oxygen. And so it goes, chapter through chapter, whether
on trees, shrubs or herbs, Baker shares his rich plant wisdom on an
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