No matter how experienced you are as a gardener, Barbara Pleasant is guaranteed to insprire. Well done, and a must read as always.

Title: Starter Vegetable Gardens: 24 No-Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens
Author: Barbara Pleasant
Genre: Non Fiction Gardening
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: February 7, 2023

I received complimentary eARC from Storey Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted #Ad

T H R E E • W O R D S

Informative • Useful • Detailed

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Best-selling gardening author Barbara Pleasant makes organic vegetable gardening easy, fun, and rewarding with detailed planting and care designs for 24 beginner-friendly gardens. From what to buy, where and when to plant, and how to care for each vegetable, Pleasant encourages readers to start small, grow the food they love, and expand their plant selection as their skills develop. Specially tailored plans focus on what gardeners most want to grow, from the Front-Yard Food Supply to the Marinara Medley, Sweet Corn & Company, and High-Value Verticals. There's a plan and plant selection to fit every gardener's passion. Detailed illustrations show how to start small the first year and expand the garden in years two and three, encouraging readers to make food gardening a way of life.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Starter Vegetable Gardens is a detailed reference and guidebook divided into three main sections, and great for anyone looking to get started with growing their own food. It is filled with lots of tips and tricks, a variety of layouts and designs depending on a number of factors, and helpful information about planting and harvesting. There are great diagrams and detailed instructions (including lists of supplies and steps) for each of the different designs presented.

With the continued rising costs of food, and a growing interest in urban gardening, there could have definitely been more on that aspect of gardening. Many of the layouts require sufficient space, something not everyone has. More information on growing in small spaces and even balcony gardening could have been a fantastic addition.

As a practiced gardener living in a colder climate, I didn't necessarily feel like all of the information was pertinent to me. And I think there could have been more emphasis on the importance of knowing the length of your growing season and your zone before jumping into selecting what plants you're going to grow. Otherwise there will be a lot of trial and error, which is fine but if you're starting out a garden to grow your own food for cost saving reasons than too much trial and error isn't conductive to that.

Overall, Barbara Pleasant has delivered a comprehensive starting point for anyone looking to begin their gardening journey. There is definitely an emphasis on making your area work for you, which is a key component to successful food growing. Additionally, there is an excellent glossary of terms to get the reader familiar with some common gardening terminology. This is definitely something I would recommend to a person who likes a plan before jumping into a new project.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• new gardeners
• gardeners who like a plan

This is a detailed mix of a guidebook and a reference for gardening. It has excellent diagrams and an interesting variety of ideas that cover a vast number of plants. There are precise listings of materials needed and timing for planting, as well as seasonal yields anticipated. I loved the flexibility of the designs for the size and shape of space available and the notes on building an aesthetically beautiful garden.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC of this book for review.

Barbara Pleasant has pulled together a brilliant tutorial on where to start gardening. The book is broken down into three large parts where the reader will find helpful garden layouts, a guide to picking the produce to grow, and the skills you will need to pull it all together. Gardening is not a singular skill but one made up of a plethora of techniques and Barbara Pleasant wants to make sure that everyone has a solid foundation. I was particularly drawn to the four different styles of gardens and will most likely implement a design or two at my own house. If you are someone who is looking to start gardening but don't know what to do first, pick up this book. A well earned five stars!

The Starter Vegetable Gardens is quite literally, for the starter! This guide will walk you through the process of growing your garden from the ground up. Informative, descriptive, and well thought out, I felt as if a friend was alongside me as I learned to grow food in the American Southeast.

I received an ebook for free to review from Net Galley. This book is a good gardening book to have on hand for vegetable Gardners. I like the format on how to do your garden over a 3 year period so you are not overwhelmed. I recommend this book.

This gardening book has a logical layout and excellent photographs and diagrams. I've been vegetable gardening for only a couple of years and greatly enjoyed the confirmation of what I've been doing right interspersed with new ideas and suggestions. If you choose to use this book to plan, plant, and harvest you will feel like a friend is supporting you and explaining each step throughout the process.

Very informative book. Full of a lot of useful information. This book will also be very useful for future reference

This book is great for the new gardener (and I know there are a lot of them lately!). It has comprehensive steps for years 1 to 2 in bginninggardens, whether they are just backyard border gardens or full family food gardens. It helps you quickly and easily decide what to start with based on your climate and work from there. Many will go beyond the suggestions in this book, but to start I think this is a wonderful starting resource while you get used to your garden.

Barbara has some great advice for planting food gardens that aren’t labor intensive and that can fit in any kind of space. This is a great foundational text for learning about soil, what to grow and how to deal with all the challenges gardening brings as well as successes.

This book is an awesome resource for beginner gardeners with a variety of space to work with and appeals to different gardening styles at the same time. I think it’s also great for the experience gardener looking for something new to try out. I love that it gives you guides that help you take your time and scaffold your gardening plans over 3 years so that you don’t overdue it the first year. The variety of plans is amazing and ranges from design styles to food themes/purposes. Any gardener will find inspiration.

The images, garden plan sketches and the frequent tips on growing certain foods and other gardening techniques are extremely helpful to a beginning gardener. Even an experienced gardener will find something new to try or learn. The different options for garden styles are very creative and gives a gardener ideas on what works best for their garden. This is a great option for the home gardener.

This book is a great introduction to gardening. I think it contains a lot of useful information and is a staple for a gardening collection.

*4.5 stars*

A book for the newbie and the old pro gardener…

Have you ever wanted your hand held when you are trying something new for the first time? This author took my hand and expertly walked me through growing my first vegetable garden! From shopping lists to planning the patch, she never assumed I could become a pro the first time around. Instead, she encouraged me to take it slow, start small and you know what? I’m planning a move which includes a flower and vegetable patch and I feel, after reading this book, I can do it. Starting small of course…

But there’s more! This book offers something for everyone, not just for the new gardener. Helpful hints for all gardeners are offered here…

Whether a beginner or an expert, I think everyone will find something here!

This books is a well of information. If you have the space, but have no idea where to start when it comes to creating a garden, this is perfect for you. I found it very interesting and thought the way it was laid out very beginniner friendly.

It’s hard to believe but it is already time to be thinking of starting your kitchen garden. What you say? You have never had a garden before but are intrigued by the ease and environmental pluses of having your own small household garden? Look no further than Starter Vegetable Gardens.

Most garden books are intimidating with their talk of soil PH and bug controls. This book opens up the world of gardening to the laziest gardener. From picking seedlings at the local home center (or big box store) to using bags of soil as the planters, this book starts with the least amount of work possible. However, the author anticipates that you will soon have the gardening bug and scales up slowly each year until you are running a small family food factory in your yard by year 4, if you want. It is all very unintimidating.

While starting a first garden is the largest hurdle addressed here, all the other basics are also touched on in later chapters. In addition, there is a large selection of suggested plant varieties, based on your region’s weather, listed at the end of the book.

Starter Vegetable Gardens could be the answer to eating as close to farm to plate as possible. It could also save you some money, provide you with healthier food, and be fun all in one. I’m starting my own first food garden next month. Wish me luck! 4 stars for this easily accessibly gardening handbook!

Thanks to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

This book provides a simple guide with clear steps to start and grow your vegetable garden over 3 years. It presents a very simple way to proceed and I will be putting it into practice this spring.

This is definitely a book for the serious gardener with a lot of yard space. As a novice gardener I learned a lot about what goes into planning a successful vegetable garden. I also really liked that the book covers not just starting a garden but maintaining and expanding it as well. The guides for when to plant different crops is also very helpful. This will definitely be a book I continue to refer to as I work on my own garden. My only wish for this book is that it had included more on using a raised bed and/or creating a garden in different types of yards. For example, the house I moved in to has an completely hardscaped backyard and I would have loved some advice on how to turn that type of area into a space capable of growing a variety of vegetables and flowers.

I think I’m in the minority on this one so far. I think this is a good book with lots of great information for someone just getting started with vegetable gardens but I didn’t really like the way the phases are laid out. Maybe because I have a very “all in” style? I’m sure there’s are lots of people this would work for but I think I grew more on my deck when I first started vegetables than is shown in the year one garden. Like I said, it’s got a lot of information that’s useful it just wasn’t my all time favorite gardening book. I’d recommend it for someone who’s never grown anything before (which is probably who it’s marketed to anyway).

***I received an advanced review copy from Netgalley.

This is the book I wish I had when I started my first garden. It lays out 3 year plans for starter gardens. It is filled with beautiful illustrations that accompany clear, precise instructions to grow the garden of your dreams. It includes advice and how to on everything from maintaining gardening tools to how to pound a post. I cannot wait to recommend this book at my library.

This is like a garden cookbook! I love that she sets it up like a recipe with ingredients and then instructions accompanied with plenty pictures. She has 24 plans for a small scale organic garden and then tips for honing and troubleshooting based on what you want and need. I can’t believe I had never thought about gardening right out of the potting soil bags. Genius! She also organizes a progression of year one, two, and three for first four plans, which gives a great visual to the development, attainability, and sustainability you can achieve if you stick with it. Definitely recommend for anyone interested in gardening, food security, etc.

Thank you, NetGalley!