|
|
Post by oxbowfarm on Jan 24, 2014 12:35:59 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by blackox on Jan 24, 2014 19:20:27 GMT -5
Not yet, but for twenty bucks? Heck why not!
I'm sure I'll learn something new, or at least get to see some pretty potato pictures!
|
|
|
|
Post by philagardener on Jan 24, 2014 19:34:19 GMT -5
Nifty - hope Rebsie will have time to be back to plant breeding and blogging! Thanks for letting us know it finally has been released!
|
|
|
|
Post by raymondo on Jan 27, 2014 16:17:49 GMT -5
Thanks for the heads up.
|
|
|
|
Post by trixtrax on Jan 28, 2014 1:05:48 GMT -5
Awesome!
|
|
|
|
Post by Penny on Jan 30, 2014 8:56:27 GMT -5
That's great, good for Rebsie, I still grow some of her peas she sent me years ago.
|
|
|
|
Post by billw on Jan 30, 2014 21:22:35 GMT -5
I read it last night. Really enjoyable! It may not contain a lot of new technical information for anyone who has done some potato breeding and has a reasonable grasp on polyploid genetics, but it will be a great guide for those who don't. I was already figuring out which family and friends to lend it out to first as I read it. I particularly enjoyed the philosophical bits, encouraging the reader to embrace diversity, rather than run screaming from cross pollination. Well worth the $20 just to read opinions that I agree with for once.  |
|
|
|
Post by ottawagardener on Jan 31, 2014 7:44:28 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by homegrower on Feb 6, 2014 15:31:09 GMT -5
Great!
|
|
|
|
Post by oxbowfarm on Mar 18, 2014 18:19:57 GMT -5
Finally have my own copy, took a bit longer due to my recent vow to stop using Amazon if I can find an alternative.
I'm really enjoying this book. I must say that it doesn't break any new ground in state-of-the-art potato science, but it isn't intended to. It is primarily intended to encourage British gardeners to resume amateur potato breeding, as they once did enthusiastically as recently as a century ago. The book is well written, funny, well organized, and covers all the important bases of potato breeding from pollination to varietal maintenance. She also extensively covers alternative strategies that she doesn't use, and explains in detail her own experiences, both successes and failures. This is a great book and well worth the long wait we've had for it. I hope it becomes a cult classic in the UK and Europe so we can expect more printings. This can be the kind of book that only gets printed once and becomes rarity rather than a useful reference for those who need it.
It has many gems that are uniquely Rebsie: "One of my newly planted out seedling batches had a devastating visitation from my ginger cat and his dreaded Arse of Doom, which left evil deposits followed by a savage ground raking in which several plants were damaged."
And the best defense of genetic diversity (and landraces etc by extension) I've ever seen in print: "Conventional gardening wisdom has it that all plants should be uniform and consistent: any kind of plant that doesn't come true from seed is not worth growing. This is one of the most insidious lies ever sold to the gardening public, repeated endlessly on TV shows and in gardening books. It simply isn't true, and is aimed at making you go back to the garden centre each year to buy new seed instead of saving your own. "Doesn't come true from seed" is really another way of saying "contains lots of exciting diversity". "
A fantastic book overall, and I wish Rebsie would come back so we can all congratulate her on it. Writing a good book that is accessible and does exactly what it sets out to do, while being vastly entertaining is a great achievement.
|
|
|
|
Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Mar 1, 2017 19:15:50 GMT -5
I finally got my copy this past week!  |
|
