The Reassuring Truth About Wildlife Gardening

No Nettles Required

New packaging for this refreshing and much needed counterpoint to other books on wildlife gardening, blowing away the many myths and misconceptions on the basis of unique detailed research.

A well-researched gem. I love it. Buy it and read it.

BOOK OF THE MONTH...Attractive and highly readable follow-up to his excellent An Ear to the Ground

A good read: informative and well-explained.

A cheerful hand grenade of a book...fantastic science writing for a lay audience.

I finished this book torn between wild feelings of omnipotence and a nagging sense of guilt for poisoning the mice in my garden shed...he guides us around the millions of varieties of insects that most of us either ignore or abhor...even slugs, the gardener's most persistent foe, are given respect.

Top Title: Hints and tips from a plant ecologist who maintains that encouraging wildlife in your garden and promoting biodiversity is cheap and compatible with ordinary gardening. Delightfully readable, and attractively packaged, too

The author...[demystifies] and [simplifies] wildlife gardening in a friendly and accessible way. A must for anyone interested in this subject.

A fresh look at wildlife gardening which punctures myths and gives sold, science-based advice. Hoorah!. The book many of us have been waiting for: wildlife gardening backed up by science....Essential reading for anyone with a garden - even a tiny one

Written in an easy, popular style, No Nettles Required analyses the hard scientific data behind biodiversity in gardens, whilst gently poking fun at well-worn principles promoted in a plethora of 'wildlife gardening' books...My own advice...is never to manicure the lawn...But don't listen to me - read No Nettles Required.

Discover how you can enjoy the pleasures of a wildlife garden, and how a whole host of wildlife can enjoy your garden, too!

Packed with tips and sensible, easy-to-follow advice, this is a timely and welcome book to add to any gardening collection.

It's full of tips on how to fill our gardens with everything from foxes and frogs to butterflies and ladybirds...He also makes us more aware of the struggles for life that go on among the inhabitants of our garden every day, but that we rarely take time to notice.

Full of helpful hints and tips, this book reveals how easy it can be to fill our gardens with everything from foxes, frogs and mice to butterflies, ladybirds - and thousands of creepy-crawlies

Fascinating reading. It dispels myths and offers science-based advice.

This little book is a thoroughly readable, amusing, fact based, accessible account of a research project that will be relevant to anyone with a garden or outdoor space. The advice is unfailingly practical and the received wisdom questioned. The book does not simply regurgatate the same old advice about wildlife gardening, but offers in many cases a new approach, based on the empirical evidence of the research. The author is clearly aware that wildlife gardening is viewed by many gardeners as expensive and/or unattractive, and he offers lots of sensible suggestions for things that cost next to nothing, perfectly in keeping with the most traditional garden and are proven to be effective. He stresses that anyone, no matter what size garden, can garden with wildlife in mind with very little effort.

KEN THOMPSON is a plant ecologist. he is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield where he was a key member of the first of two 'Biodiversity of Urban Gardens' (BUGS) projects investigating the significance of urban gardens as habitats for 'natural' biodiversity. 
Ken Thompson has written over 100 articles for scientific journals and writes a regular column on the science of gardening for Organic Gardening magazine. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed An Ear to the Ground: Garden Science for Ordinary Mortals.

In 2003 a MORI poll for the Royal Horticultural Society revealed that an extraordinary number of us are interested in attracting wildlife into our gardens. It also indicated, however, that many of us have no idea how to go about it. Information is sparse, and public opinion seems to suggest that gardens that are plentiful in wildlife are unattractive, expensive to upkeep and hard work to maintain. But this couldn't be further from the truth. 
 
In this illuminating book, Ken Thompson explains that encouraging wildlife is actually entirely compatible with ordinary gardening, costs next to nothing and is almost completely effortless. Packed with helpful hints and tips, the book shows us how easy it is to fill our gardens with everything from foxes, frogs and mice to butterflies, ladybirds and literally thousands of fascinating creepy-crawlies. Why should we? Because we'll be promoting the biodiversity of the UK, we'll be reconnecting with nature, getting more from our gardens, and we'll be doing our plants a favour.

Ken Thompson

An excellent read for the beginner gardener who wants to understand the science of gardening without getting bogged down in formulae and graphs.

This neat little book will bring peace of mind from worries about weeds, pests and pruning for all those anxious gardeners who'd rather be up at the allotment than down on the beach.

Good popular science books for gardeners do not come along every day. Those that are also easy to read, witty and do not insult the intelligence of readers are rarer still. So I can't recommend too highly An Ear to the Ground by Ken Thompson, which gives up-to-the-minute answers to all those questions that nag at you when you are bottom-up in a flower border or floating off to sleep at night. Its style - forthright, breezy and authoritative - is most appealing. Thompson politely, but firmly, puts the boot in. It is about time someone told it how it really is.

An entertaining guide to the biology behind green tomatoes and red cabbage, brambles' peculiar sex lives and why not to be afraid of Latin, it is learned and authoritative without blinding with science.

This amusing and very useful book is a must for any gardener, whether highly knowledgeable or rank amateur.

An essential gardening book:Ken Thompson's book should be on every gardener's bookshelf. It is a well-written, easy to read publication with a nice touch of humour. Ken Thompson makes gardening science easy without trivialising it - and, throughout, there are useful practical tips. As a professional gardener, I highly recommend this book.

A delightful read: A lovely diversion from the dumbed down style of gardening you see on TV, this small book runs through the science background of gardening without coming over at all too technical. 
I was slightly disappointed with the chapter on Latin names, but the rest of the book was just packed with interesting facts and anecdotes. 
If you're interested in how your garden works then you'll enjoy and be informed by this book.

Understanding Your Garden

How did plants get to be the way they are? Why do they have pretty flowers? How different would things have been if the wrong kind of pollinators had got the upper hand? Why are Latin names so complicated, and why Latin anyway? Why is a weed-free lawn an ecological impossibility? 
This entertaining book gives the answers to these questions and many more. It shows how a little botanical knowledge can bring not just better results but peace of mind, and that losing sleep over such traditional gardening bogeys as weeds, pests and pruning is not necessarily the best course. 
In this new edition Ken Thompson grabs the opportunity to explain why any old plant will do for companion planting - but also that it can do as much harm as good - and why planting by the moon is complete and utter nonsense.

Ken Thompson

Praise for An Ear to the Ground

An excellent read for the beginner gardener who wants to understand the science of gardening without getting bogged down in formulae and graphs.

This neat little book will bring peace of mind from worries about weeds, pests and pruning for all those anxious gardeners who'd rather be up at the allotment than down on the beach.

Good popular science books for gardeners do not come along every day. Those that are also easy to read, witty and do not insult the intelligence of readers are rarer still. So I can't recommend too highly An Ear ...

An excellent read for the beginner gardener who wants to understand the science of gardening without getting bogged down in formulae and graphs.

This neat little book will bring peace of mind from worries about weeds, pests and pruning for all those anxious gardeners who'd rather be up at the allotment than down on the beach.

Good popular science books for gardeners do not come along every day. Those that are also easy to read, witty and do not insult the intelligence of readers are rarer still. So I can't recommend too highly An Ear ...

An excellent read for the beginner gardener who wants to understand the science of gardening without getting bogged down in formulae and graphs.

This neat little book will bring peace of mind from worries about weeds, pests and pruning for all those anxious gardeners who'd rather be up at the allotment than down on the beach.

Good popular science books for gardeners do not come along every day. Those that are also easy to read, witty and do not insult the intelligence of readers are rarer still. So I can't recommend too highly An Ear ...

Books by Ken Thompson

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