NEWER AND BETTER ORGANIC GARDENING

Instead of the usual exhortations to go natural, Davis offers those who have already decided to garden the organic way a down-to-earth guide to growing ""fresh, tasty, healthful, uncontaminated"" vegetables. Without doctrinaire prescriptions, he summarizes the arguments for compost piles and mulching (he himself goes the latter route) with equally full directions for both methods; as for pests, he gives a recipe for a natural spray, suggestions for attracting helpful organisms, recommendations for pairing plants that repel each other's pests, a reminder that bugs can be removed by hand, and a warning that any organic gardener should expect to lose at least five to ten per cent of his crop. Davis plots some model gardens and follows with crop-by-crop specifics which include recommended varieties as well as seeding instructions and such hints as planting punctured milk cartons, for deep watering, next to tomato plants. Zone maps, planting tables, and seed company and other addresses appended.