White Trash Gardening

Rating:
Summary: Get the Low-down before you put your Hoe down.
Review: Half gardening how-to, half humor, "White Trash Gardening" is guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows along with lots of other plants. It's not for your great-Aunty Matilda, who gets the vapors when things get a little off color -- but everyone else, gardener or not, should love it. I first read the book about three years ago when I was working full time at a newspaper. It was so hilarious that I went around the newsroom quoting from its pages -- and had everyone cracking up. Benton is as funny as Dave Berry, only with a down-home Southern-fried sense of humor.And a green thumb. The book is actually supposed to be "written" by Benton's alter-ego, one "Rufus Thiabeaux Firefly," who is from Arkansas and supposedly a distant cousin of everyone in the state, including a certain president. Rufus, like his (in)famous kinsman occupying the White House, is not the sort Martha Stewart would like at her garden parties. To put it mildly. He's more like the American version of Hyacinth's brother-in-law Onslow in the PBS series "Keeping Up Appearances" -- as common as mud, in other words. Rufus tells you what kind of vines are good for covering up your rusty trailer, and which kind make good ground cover. Not wanting to spend lots of dough on his landscaping, he doesn't advocate grassy lawns. Ground cover, therefore, cuts out the mowing, watering and most work. For "high falutin' people," ivy makes a good ground cover; Firefly's own ground cover, however, is a '64 Chevy Impala on cinder blocks. You don't need a rototiller to prepare your garden. According to Rufus, just tell the neighborhood kids your garden plot is an Indian burial ground and they can have all the arrowheads they dig up. Two ideas for potted plants in your living room: either some ivy or your teenaged son -- you'll get about the same level of conversation from them both. And when you're trying to classify your plants, Rufus's aunt categorizes them as perinnel, annual and bisexual. Rufus says no gardening tasks should take any longer to finish than a six-pack of beer. Now, the book really does have some good gardening tips in between its jokes. And some history behind them all: in less prosperous times a century or so ago, the "po' white trash" truck farmers had to raise vegetables and crops, making sure they got maxium yield with a minimum of money. That was the only way they survived. So they came up with some ingenious methods that really work. These tips were handed down from one generation to the next, but prior to Benton's book, seldom if ever written down. Now that everyone's leaving the farm and getting citified, these methods may be lost forever if not for books like "White Trash Gardening." You'll want a copy for yourself this gardening season, but buy several. They make great gifts and are guaranteed to have Yankees and Southerners alike doubling over in laughter.

Rating:
Summary: Get the Low-down before you put your Hoe down.
Review: Half gardening how-to, half humor, "White Trash Gardening" is guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows along with lots of other plants. It's not for your great-Aunty Matilda, who gets the vapors when things get a little off color -- but everyone else, gardener or not, should love it. I first read the book about three years ago when I was working full time at a newspaper. It was so hilarious that I went around the newsroom quoting from its pages -- and had everyone cracking up. Benton is as funny as Dave Berry, only with a down-home Southern-fried sense of humor.And a green thumb. The book is actually supposed to be "written" by Benton's alter-ego, one "Rufus Thiabeaux Firefly," who is from Arkansas and supposedly a distant cousin of everyone in the state, including a certain president. Rufus, like his (in)famous kinsman occupying the White House, is not the sort Martha Stewart would like at her garden parties. To put it mildly. He's more like the American version of Hyacinth's brother-in-law Onslow in the PBS series "Keeping Up Appearances" -- as common as mud, in other words. Rufus tells you what kind of vines are good for covering up your rusty trailer, and which kind make good ground cover. Not wanting to spend lots of dough on his landscaping, he doesn't advocate grassy lawns. Ground cover, therefore, cuts out the mowing, watering and most work. For "high falutin' people," ivy makes a good ground cover; Firefly's own ground cover, however, is a '64 Chevy Impala on cinder blocks. You don't need a rototiller to prepare your garden. According to Rufus, just tell the neighborhood kids your garden plot is an Indian burial ground and they can have all the arrowheads they dig up. Two ideas for potted plants in your living room: either some ivy or your teenaged son -- you'll get about the same level of conversation from them both. And when you're trying to classify your plants, Rufus's aunt categorizes them as perinnel, annual and bisexual. Rufus says no gardening tasks should take any longer to finish than a six-pack of beer. Now, the book really does have some good gardening tips in between its jokes. And some history behind them all: in less prosperous times a century or so ago, the "po' white trash" truck farmers had to raise vegetables and crops, making sure they got maxium yield with a minimum of money. That was the only way they survived. So they came up with some ingenious methods that really work. These tips were handed down from one generation to the next, but prior to Benton's book, seldom if ever written down. Now that everyone's leaving the farm and getting citified, these methods may be lost forever if not for books like "White Trash Gardening." You'll want a copy for yourself this gardening season, but buy several. They make great gifts and are guaranteed to have Yankees and Southerners alike doubling over in laughter.