The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Withou

Don't start spraying chemicals around just because a few bugs dot the garden, advise Ellis and Bradley in the new edition of this thoroughgoing guide. Instead, first identify the insects--they may in fact be beneficial predators. If they do turn out to be pests, determine whether the damage they are doing merits annihilation or acceptance. Ever in the forefront of the latest developments in organic gardening, Rodale's editors here stress plant health care. As they repeatedly demonstrate, preventive cultural techniques--planting appropriate cultivars, mulching, seasonal cleanup--will keep harmful insects and diseases from getting the upper hand. But for the gardener who wants to know what those red blisters are on the currant leaves, or why the lilac bushes are covered with white powder every July, this is an invaluable trouble-shooting guide. The book's first section contains alphabetical entries for commonly grown edible and ornamental plants, with lists of symptoms and their remedies, all cross-referenced to illustrated entries for insects and diseases and cultural, biological and ``organically acceptable'' chemical control methods. Photos not seen by PW . (July) *CHILDREN'S *BOOKS*