Starting a Garden or Landscape Business
by John Mason, Simon & Schuster Australia, $19.95
This book follows John Mason's other titles, Starting a Nursery or Herb Farm and Farm Management, Nursery Management and Sustainable Agriculture.
Starting a Garden or Landscape Business goes through all the necessary steps to starting a business. There are many specialised areas within gardening and landscaping which offer expanding business opportunities. Mason helps the reader identify these, then goes step by step through the process of getting started, establishing a company, setting goals and achieving objectives.
Mason, who lives at Worongary in south-east Queensland, writes specifically for the businessperson in the Sunshine State.
Review: Sunday Mail, 28 September 2000
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Nursery Management
Second Edition
by John Mason, Landlinks Press, $49.95
Nursery Management is an introduction to setting up and running profitable and efficient nursery businesses. It covers production, wholesale and retail nurseries at various scales of operation. It discusses the practical aspects of nursery management from site selection, production systems and plant propagation to materials and equipment.
Products and services, budgeting, production management, work scheduling and staffing are all explored in detail while management issues for production nurseries, wholesalers and retail nurseries are treated separately. Nursery Management looks at the major changes that have taken place in the nursery industry, particularly the roles that landscapers, garden centres and hardware stores play in retailing.
Review: The Weekly Times, February 2005
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Sustainable Agriculture
Second Edition
by John Mason, Landlinks Press, $49.95
The technological revolution in farming practices has allowed us to clear and cultivate more land, grow plants and animals faster, and kill a greater variety of pests and diseases than ever before. Unfortunately, these efficiencies are proving to be unsustainable in the long term and have created problems such as soil structural decline, erosion, salinity, soil acidification, loss of fertility, nutrient loading of waterways, dams and a build up of chemical residues.
Sustainable Agriculture examines all these problems and explains the concepts and long-term benefits of sustainable farming systems such as permaculture, biodynamics, organic farming, agroforestry, and conservation tillage. This text will be an important guide for students, farmers and policy makers as well as conservationists and environmental groups.
Review: News @ CSIRO Publishing, August - October 2003
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Profitable Farming - Making More Money From Your Farm
by John Mason, Kangaroo Press, $19.95
In a world where markets, technology and climates are changing as never before, it is not enough for today's farmer to do things as they have always been done. But change need not be bad news. Profitable Farming shows that for the farmer who is willing to think laterally and has planned ahead, there are many new opportunities for making money from the land – whether by changing the core business of a farm or simply diversifying, for extra income and security.
Profitable Farming features a comprehensive survey of new possibilities and explains why change might be warranted and how to change with the minimum of risk.
John Mason is a qualified horticulturalist, the founder and principal of the Australian Correspondence Schools and a Queenslander to boot!
Review: Sunday Mail, 27 February 2000
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Growing Conifers
by John Mason, Kangaroo Press, $19.95
Gold Coast author John Mason thinks conifers are remarkable. So remarkable he has written a book to spread the word about them.
"In many ways they offer things we can't get from flowering plants," said Mr Mason. "Perhaps their best feature is their ability to look good all year round."
Mr Mason, principal of the Australian Correspondence School, wrote Growing Conifers to introduce people to a new world of gardening. He hopes it will give people ideas on how to create something unique that will be the envy of neighbours and friends.
Mr Mason said flowering plants often looked great at one time of the year, but not so great at other times. "But well grown conifers always look good," he said, "and they come in all shapes and sizes, from the tallest trees on earth to bushy shrubs and spreading ground covers.
"You can find almost any colour you want in the foliage of a conifer, from reds and blues to greens and golden yellows." Mr Mason said that when conifers were planted together in a well planned combination, they provided a clump of vegetation that would be colourful and stunning all year round.
"Most conifers are also very hardy, provided you choose the right plant for the right place.
"There are conifers that will grow in almost any climate, from the hot humid tropics, to cold, snow-covered mountains.
"Conifers provide us with all sorts of practical things too; from timber for building and furniture, to edible nuts and herbal medicines."
Mr Mason first propagated conifers from cuttings in 1969, as a diploma student at Burnley Horticultural College. In the early 70s he worked first as a landscaper and nurseryman, and later as a parks director. During this period Mr Mason worked with hundreds of different conifer cultivars, developing both a love for, and understanding of conifers.
He has written about conifers for many magazines and books over the past 20 years, as well as running a correspondence course on growing conifers.
Review: Local Queensland Newspaper
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Orchids, A Beginner’s Guide
by John Mason, Hyland House, $19.95
Another little gem to add to author John Mason's growing list of titles. Having written such titles as Growing Pelargoniums and Geraniums, Growing Terns, Growing Conifers and Growring Australian Natives Mason has, once again, in a concise and easily-understood manner covered the general principles of orchid growing. Mason is a horticulturalist of 30 or more years' standing. He frequently writes for magazines and is seen on TV and heard on radio.
Having overcome many obstacles, in 1979 he established The Australian Horticultural Correspondence School and for the past 10 years has run a course in orchid culture. This book illustrates with both line drawings and colour photos the systematic manner of identifying and growing orchids successfully. Skills required which many find difficult are outlined clearly for novices and experienced gardeners alike.
With Mason's help you, too, will be able to recognise and grow orchids.
Review: Bill Stubbs, Ballarat Courier, 27 December 2001
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