Great reference piece on gardening and family gardening, I like the distinction place here and how the author writes this book is very easy to follow within that scheme. This would be a great book to gift for someone interested in the subject and one that I would happily keep on the shelves as a reference for the future.

Make sure to check out Gary Pilarchik's "The Modern Homestead Garden" it is a must read for those looking to reap larger crops and be more self sufficient in the process. I loved the section on filling raised garden beds and demystifying the idea that you have just fill the bed with top soil and you're good, it is much more nuanced than that! Pilarchik lays the book out in an easy to follow progression from seed starting to preserving the bounty, and all the large steps in between. This book is highly informative without being an info dump and the photos are very compelling. I know I will be implementing some of the edible landscaping ideas in my own fledgling backyard garden!

Beautiful Book! Great pictures and knowledge! It was hard to read it during winter but it brought me comfort of spring/.summer!

This was really helpful for me. I do NOT have a green thumb, and I wanted to start growing veggies and fruits. Things are still alive, so I would recommend this.

I enjoy watching Gary’s YouTube channel, his videos have helped me to start my own garden 3 years ago. His book was just as good as his videos, very informative and helpful. I will be purchasing my very own copy.

Over the last few years, tv shows have made homesteading seem like an amazing, but difficult, task. I decided to read The Modern Homestead Garden to get an idea of what homesteading really entails and what I could accomplish in my limited space. This book was full of great information but wasn’t long-winded like many of the gardening books I have read in the past. Pilarchik discusses techniques for growing a vast variety of plants, including technical details. The book is full of beautiful photos that add depth to the information. I would highly recommend The Modern Homestead Garden to any gardener.

The Modern Homestead Garden is a tutorial gardening guide written by Gary Pilarchik. Due out 27th April 2021 from Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint, it's 160 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats (ebook available now).

This is a well written and efficient guide to planning, siting, building, planting, growing, and harvesting a garden (mostly aimed at food production) for beginning to intermediate home/suburban gardeners. The author's aim is to show readers how to increase their food security by tending and growing their own vegetables. It's a flexible book and there are good information-dense takeaways for suburban (and possibly urban) dwellers in addition to people who live in rural areas and probably have more room for a large garden. In fact one of his good pieces of advice to beginners is to proceed slowly and systematically and NOT just try to provide for your family's entire food needs in one go (guaranteed to result in disappointment).

The book has a logical layout with information arranged intuitively: what homesteading means in the modern use of the word, first gardens, choosing what to grow and planting, choosing and starting seeds & transplants, growing, semi-permaculture with earthen and raised beds, container gardening, garden tending, troubleshooting, edible landscaping, and how to use/store the harvest. There's also a cross-referenced index.

This is a good beginner to intermediate guide for people who are interested in decreasing their impact on the environment and find themselves floundering a bit to know where to start. I would recommend this one for public or school library acquisition, gardening and maker's groups, community gardens, and related groups as well as would-be home gardeners. There is unlikely to be much in-depth info which would be of use to truck-farmers or actual homesteaders. (In fact, the author himself says in the introduction that it's not necessary to leave your community or move off grid to have a homestead).

Four stars. Beautifully illustrated in color throughout.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

***4.5 stars*** I am basically a novice, backyard gardener who started with basic herbs and over the past few years has added a variety of tomatoes, lettuce and peppers. There is nothing more satisfying then growing your own food!

The Modern Homestead Garden is a wonderful and resourceful book for those (like me) wanting to expand their gardening knowledge and skills. This garden book contains easy to read chapters on many topics from soil preparation to pests/disease control to different ways to grow your garden in container, raised beds or earth beds.

This is a very good, all-around, informative gardening book. Author Gary Pilarchik also has a YouTube channel called The Rusted Garden which I recommend along with his book. Happy Gardening!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Cool Springs Press for a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. #TheModernHomestead #NetGalley

I love to read gardening books, although i am a horrible gardener. I love to buy and plant different things but fall when it comes to the actual cultivation. This book gave me a lot of inspiration. The photos were wonderful. It contains many tips to help the inconsistent gardner keep growing. This is a nice book to have.

Good info about planning, planting and growing various types of vegetables and fruits, although it was more high-level and beginner-oriented than I expected or hoped from a book marketed for "homestead" type gardens. I would've liked more info on things like how much to grow to feed x number of people for x time period, and how that translates into garden size and layout; more information on storing your harvest (how and where could one build a root cellar? If we don't have one, what else could work?). The book did have lots of good photos, and the sidebars/callouts broke up the text to make the book easy to read.

Good starter book with a wealth of information…

I am just getting back into the veggie garden game and I’ve been browsing a number of starter books, needing all the help I can get! He cover caught my eye of this one and it lived up to the delicious carrots it captured…

There is a LOT of information here with lots of details from talking soil types and care, ph levels and why they are important, to the benefits and variety of composting methods. It lists a number of vegetables, when to grow them and how best to get good results. The book is full of beautiful pictures, something for me to aspire to, and laid out in a logical format.

The read itself was a mixed bag for me. On one hand it was an excellent beginner’s gardening book, whether you have an apartment container garden or a full-fledged, grown in the soil patch, there was something for everyone. It was also full of stats and figures that overwhelmed me in the first go round though I know I will be going back and reviewing every one of these charts when I start planting very soon.

I would recommend this book if you are just starting out, it is an excellent primer. If you are looking for cutting edge technology when it comes to your home garden, there are newer techniques not found here. I would use this as a table book (the photos are lovely) but also a reference guide to use whether I am starting my veggies from seeds or starters. Lot of great information that I would recommend for any beginner veggie enthusiast. I will be looking for this in print form as the photos and the information I will be using again and again.

The Modern Homestead Garden by Gary Pilarchik is a very informational book for those who want to grow a good homestead and have the land to do it. It has some good, although sometimes somewhat basic information for gardening. The book is laid out very well and the pictures were wonderful.

So I'm kind of torn here. There's a wealth of information here, but it feels very front loaded and overwhelming. And at the same time, it doesn't quite cover self-sufficient growing adequately enough. You will probably get a lot out of this but I feel like this is both too much and not enough.

An informative and well laid out book good for gardeners working with any size plot. Covers the basics. The "profiles" are useful for growing specific plants.

This is exactly what I wanted... a look at sustainable gardening and some of the methods that might help a beginner. It has a step by step and covers all the basics....pests, containers, seeding, cold weather crops, and warm weather crops.

What did I like? This is a great book for starting a homestead garden. This is my first year gardening and this covers a start of doing it yourself. With the recent pandemic more people are moving from the cities and it’s clear that survival may include growing your own food. I was tickled to be offered this book to peruse since I’m one of those people that want to eat my own crops.

Would I recommend or buy? It’s really a beginners basic but still has a ton of tips and tricks. I would definitely buy a copy, and recommend to people looking to grow their own food. You don’t have to have a huge yard but it’d be difficult for people in apartments to get a ton out of this book. I really enjoyed it.

I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left a review! Five stars! Huge enjoyment for me!

The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-sufficiency in Any Size Backyard by Gary Pilarchik
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group – Cool Springs Press
Genre: Home & Garden
Release Date: March 23, 2021

The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-sufficiency in Any Size Backyard by Gary Pilarchik is a beginners guide to starting a homestead garden and increasing self-sufficiency.

I found this book to be filled with so much great information and it was written in a easy to understand way. The pictures were beautiful and really added to the book.

I would definitely recommend this book to someone who is looking to start their own garden.
I'm so grateful to Joanne Fluke, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This book had a lot of helpful tips but I felt that it was better suited for those very seriously interested in modern homesteading and have the land to give it a serious go. I think those living in apartments or smaller spaces would find some of the suggestions not very accessible.

This is now one of my favorite vegetable and fruit gardening books. It is comprehensive but doesn’t dwell on textbook style minutiae, which makes it an excellent how to reference for both new and experienced gardeners. The author covers growing techniques for a variety of vegetables and fruits that are suitable for home growers, with helpful information on cool and warm season crops, optimum soil temperatures, days to harvest, etc. Topics addressed include seed starting, organic fertilizers and disease control methods, composting and growing in containers. All of the text is accompanied by gorgeous full color photos that make me itch to get out in the garden. I especially like the author’s laid back approach and recommendation not to be too dogmatic in following his directions, but rather to let experience guide your practice. I highly recommend this book.

This was a good beginner guide to growing an edible garden. There's a lot of information but it is set out in a good way, it gets to the point and is easy to follow.

This is a great introduction to growing your own fruit and veg for a novice gardener. With just the right amount of expertise and common sense, accompanied by some stunning photographs, this is books takes the mystery out of home grown food and makes the reader want to get stuck in right away. The term “homestead” suggests its for an American audience but the advice is just as relevant for readers elsewhere.