Annie Spiegelman - Talking dirt: the dirt divas down-to-earth guide to organic gardening

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Table of Contents

Its hard to resist a gardening book thats both chock-full of information and fun to read. It doesnt matter if you are a novice gardener or more experienced, Annie shows the way to growing and enjoying a natural, sustainable, organic garden.

Nell Newman, cofounder and president of Newmans Own Organics

Annie Spiegelman (aka the Dirt Diva) understands what gardening is really about: having fun... even when you arent having fun! This book is laugh-out-loud useful and smart. Frankly, its the best book on organic gardening that Ive seen in 11 years (since mine came out). The Dirt Diva Royal Horticultural Society is the only gardening club I really want to be a member of.

Maria Rodale, CEO of Rodale Inc., MariasFarmCountryKitchen.com

Talking Dirt is wonderfuleven for those who dont have a garden... yet.

Christiane Northrup, MD, author of the New York Times bestsellers Womens Bodies, Womens Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause

Fun, factual, and filled with ideas. What sets Talking Dirt apart from all other organic gardening how-to guides is Anne Spiegelman. Her writing has an easy style, is easy to understand, and makes organic gardening easy to put into practice. The information is presented with personality and wit, making this book a must-have resource for the aspiring organic gardener.

Michael C. Metallo, president of the National Gardening Association

Beautifully combining passion, humor, and a deep-rooted care for the planet, Spiegelman is the organic femme fatale. She understands the importance of our own backyards to build a better future, one shovelful of compost at a time. What a funtastic book.

Helge Hellberg, executive director of Marin Organic and host of An Organic Conversation Radio Show

What Skinny Bitch did for vegetarianism Talking Dirt may do for organic gardening. Annie Spiegelmans book is the perfect primer for a generation raised on supermarket food and flowers but who are searching for something fresher and more satisfying. As comfortable among the cabbages as she is in a fashion boutique, Spiegelman succeeds in making the intricacies of gardening without toxic chemicals exciting and rewarding. With a light, swift tone and ample instruction, this is the organic gardening book for busy people.

Brian Clark Howard, environmental journalist and web editor for The Daily Green

Spiegelmans tone is reminiscent of the Samurai Shopper column in the New York Times... entertaining and effective.

Brian Halweil, author of Eat Here and senior researcher for World Watch Institute

Spiegelman tells the lighthearted story of her own transformation from weekend gardener to a Dirt Diva. Talking Dirt is full of tips all gardeners should take to heart to make their plot organic and nurture their plants the way nature intended.

Tom Szaky, CEO and founder of TerraCycle Inc.

To my dad, Simon Spiegelman,
for teaching me to work hard and aim high, and for taking me
out for coffee when I wasnt in the mood to do either.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A huge bouquet of thanks to my editor, Maria Gagliano, coach, slave driver, and word-pruner extraordinaire. I am grateful to my steadfast literary agents, Sophie McManus and Fredrica Friedman, for having faith that a book about worm worship and soil strategy could stand a chance.

Extra special credit goes to my eco-centric pals: Helge Hellberg, Veronica Valero, Marie Chan, Kimberly Pinkson, Gerald Prolman, Debi Tidd, Gina Purin, Miguel Villarreal, Blair Randall, Jeanne Santangelo, Stephen Andrews, and Lisa Ludwigsen, for inspiring me to step away from the craft service table on the film set and join them in their passionate efforts to create a healthier and sustainable future for us all.

I am indebted to the botanical wizards, farm advisers, soil scientists, and entomologists at the University of California, Davis and Berkeley, and at Cornell University, who returned my calls and explained scientific theories to me in shallow terms that a person coming from the movie industry could digest. I promise I wont call you nerds anymore, and I hope I do your environmental and horticultural explanations justice. (Geeks!)

Kudos to Linda Xiques, past managing editor at the Pacific Sun, for giving the Dirt Diva garden column its start, and to Jason Walsh, present editor, for allowing me to continue ranting on behalf of Mother Nature, and for sending me out to write stories on rare, threatened, and endangered plants that havent been seen or heard of by historical botanists for one hundred years. There will be payback, Jason. (A shout-out to the irrepressible Pacific Sun art department!)

Im a huge fan of the radio station WUMB in Boston. They kept me sane in my backyard office under the redwood tree while writing. Except for the day there was a guy yodeling. Seriously.

Big squeezes to Betty, Elissa, Gwyneth, Barbitchin, Pucci, and Cecily, for all those pep talks and for making me dance and allowing me to bring you buckets of homemade compost tied with a bow. Hugs to my friends and family whove been with me on the rocky path to book deals and beyond: the A List; the Circle; the Santa Cruz Posse; Aunt Ceil and the yummy Feldmans, Rebecca, Madison, Morgan; Virginia Alyea; the superstar sisters-in-law; and my many unruly cohorts in the Bay Area film community, especially Gunderman, Otewalt, Herzig, Condiotti, Mickey Freeman, Lisa Ewald, Brahna Stone, Mindy Hall, and Genevieve Sister Sledge Haag. (And Paul Chaput, sort of.) Where are my people?!

Thanks to my big sister, Augusta, for leading me into the garden; to my twin sister, Carol, for actually reading my gardening articles; and to my sister, Sharon, for asking, Why?

Thank you to Bill, for cheering me on every morning in my writing shed, and for letting me exist in my make-believe, flowery world, as if that were normal.

Jack, youll always be my sunshine (even with your iPod on).

I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

INTRODUCTION

I cant quite explain how a girl raised and hardened on the streets of New York City became a Master Gardener, passionate environmentalist, and utterly obsessed with old English roses. But it happened, to me.

When I first arrived in northern California, I shared the same enthusiasm for the natural grace and dreamy charms of a perennial cottage garden like so many other wistful gardeners. The problem was the lot I acquired was overgrown with waist-high weeds, shards of old timber and glass, chunks of busted up patio, three sadly worn-out fruit trees, and a large rusty object I never was able to identify. Among the strewn rubble were patches of some old, forgotten, and overcrowded perennial plants. I felt, somehow, I was needed. I was at that moment inspired (some might say possessed) to revive this old abandoned garden.

Of course, having a harebrained idea isnt the same thing as actually making it happen. I had no conceptual clue of what to do or where to start. Back then, I was traveling to Hollywood to work on nonsensical TV movies and on the weekends would flee back home to my garden sanctuary, to cleanse my soul and repent. My two cats would lazily perch on the back deck yawning, as I dug, watered, turned and tossed, cursed and mumbled, and prayed for something, anything to bloom.

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