Month-by-month Gardening In Michigan

Do I prune my hydrangea in the fall or do I wait until early spring?
When is it safe to put out tomatoes?
Can I divide iris now?

If you have ever asked yourself questions like these, Month-by-Month Gardening in Michigan is for you. Gardening is a journey, not a destination. The day-by-day gardening experiences - planting a few onion sets in the first warm afternoon of spring ? the surprises - a purple crocus before the snow has even gone ? the satisfaction - fresh green beans on the dinner table, or tomatoes, bright and red, safely in quart jars ? these are the things that keep the gardener coming back year after year.

Month-by-Month Gardening in Michigan is packed with information that explains what needs to be done and when it needs to be done in the Michigan garden. Topics include:

• The most effective planting techniques.
• How and when to prune.
• The best season for fertilizing your lawn.
• The differences between bare-root, container, and balled-and-burlapped plants.
• Eleven plant categories, including Annuals, Bulbs, Herbs, Vegetables, Houseplants, Lawns, Perennials, Roses, Shrubs, and Trees.
• Twelve monthly calendars for each plant category - 132 calendars in all! - that make is easy to find the proper gardening advice.

Whatever your gardening interests or the time of year, you can take the guesswork and mystery out of gardening. You will become a more satisfied gardener ? and your garden will show it!

And Fizzell is pesticide- and herbicide-crazy! Forget it if you're an organic gardener. (I'm still looking for a book on organic gardening in Michigan.)


Useful guide to the Michigan gardening year   March 22, 2001
 12 out of 12 found this review helpful

"Month-By-Month Gardening in Michigan" is split into chapters on types of plants, e.g. Annuals, Bulbs, Herbs, Houseplants, Lawns, etc. Each chapter is then split into the following subchapters: "Introduction", "Planting Chart", "January", "February", ... "December". Here is how to use this book:

Suppose you live in Michigan and want to know whether to prune your climbing roses in March. Turn to Chapter 7, "Roses" and the subchapter called, "March". This subchapter has sections on "Planning", "Planting and Transplanting", "Rx Care for Your Roses", etc. In the section entitled "Pruning", the author recommends, "Prune climbing rose plants to fit their supports. Remove thin canes, and pinch back overly vigorous canes to force branching."

This book is very easy to use, as you can see from the above paragraph. I used to live in Winter Hardiness Zone 3 near Cadillac and am now a Zone 6 gardener down near Lake St. Claire , so I know from experience that you might have to adjust Fizzell's time-table of recommendations by as much as three or four weeks, depending on your specific zone.

Organic gardeners probably won't want to use some of the author's "Rx Care" suggestions (Fizzell recommends actual products such as "Orthene" and "D-Con"), but other than that, "Month-by-Month Gardening in Michigan" should prove useful to all of us who garden in this state, whether it be the 'helpful hints', the planting charts, or the month-specific instructions for tending to your water garden.

This is a handy reference for any Michigan gardener (like myself) who needs an occasional reminder not to start her pepper plants in January.


A useful guide   April 5, 2000
 2 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is a useful guide in an easy to follow format. Month by month comments and useful advice especially for Michigans' unique gardening needs.