Just Add Water

By Jim Koweek

Book Overview

The Realistic Guide To The Land, Landscaping, And Gardening In The Higher Elevations Of The Great Southwest. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0615174655
• ISBN13: 9780615174655
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Jim Koweek
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.4" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Who knew dirt could be so fun to read about...

As someone who grew up in the Midwest, the Southwest can be a real puzzle when it comes to landscaping and gardening. I have caused the death of many beautiful plants! While I love to read, I certainly am not into reading about plants. A bit boring for my taste; however, "Just Add Water" is like having a conversation with the author, Jim Koweek, who has a fabulous sense of humor. It is a very enjoyable book with a great amount of knowledge packed in. I highly recommend it.

Great Book

This is a great book by a guy who knows his bugs and bushes. He is also a fair to middlin mando player.

High Desert Gardening--A Guide for the Perplexed

If you're a newcomer or potential newcomer to the High Deserts of the Southwestern United States or have lived there long enough to appreciate the difficulties of gardening in that harsh land, this is the book for you. The author, Jim Koweek, is a commercial landscaper and nurseryman from Sonoita, Arizona. His book, a compilation of articles he wrote for local newspapers over many years, is filled with the distilled wisdom of 30 years of professional experience--what works and what doesn't work. Jim is a self-described "talker on paper" with a breezy over-the-backyard-fence style. Don't be deceived, however. Behind the folksy façade lies an enquiring and perceptive mind and an encyclopedic knowledge of native plants of the High Desert. Unlike many authors, Jim understands that climate averages in this High Desert are nearly meaningless to the gardener. Because the High Desert of the Southwest is located near the boundary between the Tropics and the Temperate Zone the weather is fickle. What worked one year won't always work the next. As Jim reminds his readers throughout the book, recommendations for what to plant and when based on past experience can only lead to a chance of success in any given year, not certainty. So what will you get out of his book? Well, you will pick up a wealth of information about the kinds of plants--both for landscaping and for food production--that grow in the High Desert, their strengths and their weaknesses. You will learn how best to care for your plants and make most efficient use of water, the most precious resource in this land of drought. And you will learn how best to combat the numerous pests that threaten your plants. Along the way you will gain a deeper appreciation of the High Desert and people who love it passionately.