Author: Lolo Houbein
Published by Wakefield Press, Kent Town, SA 5067
Sometimes you just want a book to work. Its looks like a great idea, it’s got the right credentials and its heart is obviously in the right place. One Magic Square is one such book. The author is a skilled writer and is clearly motivated by her deep concerns of an impending global food crisis and the failure of food production on a mass scale.
As a child, Lolo Houbein suffered the deprivations and hunger of post World War II Holland and this experience has formed her attitudes to food production and to food security. She writes, from her own hands-on experiences as an adult, of trying to establish and grow food in her various homes around the Adelaide Hills thus fulfilling her childhood dream of having a garden full of treasures. She recounts the difficulties of trying to establish home produce gardens that never quite looked as bountiful as they did in the picturesque garden books she learned from. And so she sets out to make it easier for others to learn from her mistakes, one square metre at a time.
This book is divided into 4 parts but before you even begin to enjoy its contents, read the page ‘How to use this book’. This is not a book to be enjoyed cover to cover but rather dipped into and used when needed. The first part is an extensive list of different plot ‘combinations’ of vegetables. Adherence to the plots will prevent the glut of garden produce that so typifies the early attempts of novice produce gardeners. However they are a bit prescriptive for people who want to ‘play’ and experiment in their garden – even if that does mean running the risk that things may go wrong!
The second part of the book is a mixture of terrifying facts about a global environmental crisis coupled with some homespun philosophies and real life experiences. Again dipping in and out is probably the way to go!
The third and fourth parts of the book were my favourite as this is where the practical gardening information kicked in. And after all that’s what gardening books should be about. The information on individual food plants is excellent and easily understood. The comprehensive information covers all the usual suspects with plenty of unusual plant species thrown in for good measure. The growing tips promote chemical free gardening with the proper emphasis on soil health, plant diversity and natural pest management.
The book does suffer from a lack of pictures although this was a conscious decision by the author so as not to influence gardeners into having unrealistic expectations. She rightly points out that rarely do these pictorial books show vegetables with holes in their leaves, whereas the reality is that in a chemical free garden there will also be holes! However I think having pictures helps as it gives the reader a true sense of the garden perspective that diagrams cannot.
One Magic Square is available from all major booksellers and retails for $45.
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