Book Review: Good Bug Bad Bug (2nd Ed.)

Good Bug Bad Bug:

Who's Who, What They Do, and How to Manage Them Organically

by Jessica Walliser

95 pages

St. Lynn's Press, 2nd Edition, Updated, 2011

List price: $17.95

The fact that this book is in its Second Edition (Revised and Updated, previous edition 2008) speaks of its popularity and value as a guide for the home gardener when it comes to the love/hate relationship we have with bugs. We struggle with them, knowing that some are good and some are bad, but how do we tell the difference?

Once again, Jessica Walliser gives us the lowdown on 41 of the most common bugs that we come face-to-face with in our gardens. Three new ones have been added as a result of climate change's effect on the insect world and ours. I really like the spiral, vertical format of this book, with its sturdy and coated pages, making it durable enough to take to the garden with you. But besides its physical traits, the information it gives about each insect is thorough enough to give gardeners the confidence to identify the good guys as well as the bad, and how to deal with all of them organically, if we find it necessary.

Hooray for this concise guide that should be on every gardener's reference shelf!

Jessica Walliser co-hosts The Organic Gardeners on KDKA radio in Pittsburgh. She is a contributing editor for Organic Gardening magazine where you can read her 'Good Bug, Bad Bug' feature in each issue. Her column ‘The Good Earth’ appears weekly in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and she is a regular contributor to Urban Farm, Popular Farming, Hobby Farms and Hobby Farm Home magazines.