Member Reviews

Wow, this book was really amazing. Not simply a look at battling weeds, it's really an attempt to shift your entire view on gardening and ecology itself - how do we settle ourselves in our environments, and how does that effect nature, and how does that in turn result in what we consider "undesirable" things in "our" landscapes, and what is truly the effect on the environment as a whole? Totally paradigm shifting stuff here. Greer does include practical tips as well, which I found insightful and will try out myself, but the big picture thinking is what's incredible and really groundbreaking and what makes this book a must-read.

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A great book to dip into to gain knowledge on what to plant to minimise weed in the garden.
Informative and well written.

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Excellent guide to dealing with weeds (and so much more) in your garden. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review.

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If you are really into history and botany, then this is the book for you! There is a lot of information covered in this book and at times it is very information heavy. It reads more like a textbook than a self-help or DIY book. There are some very nice photos throughout the book and definitely detailed information on weeds, soil and much more. The book dragged for me a bit as it was just a bit info dense in places. If you are really into history, science or weeds then this book is absolutely for you! Even though the info was a bit overwhelming at time, I did pick up some good tips and found some helpful info so if you are having a weed issue in your yard or garden you might find it helpful, but it will be much more enjoyable to read for someone who is a serious botanist or even beginning landscape architecture.

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This book is so incredibly helpful. Who knew there was so much to learn about weeds? The most valuable advice I learned from this book was to identify weeds in order to learn how to treat them. Although I have a plant identification app, I always used it for flowers and trees -- things that were pleasing to the eye and I wanted to keep in my garden. I now know it is just as important to identify the weeds as well, as opposed to ripping them all out indiscriminately. (Some can grow back from the tiniest piece of root left behind!!)

Not only helpful, but also beautifully laid out, this book has been revolutionary for my weed management methods.

Thank you, NetGalley and Cool Springs Press for the ARC!

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Weeding is one of those never ending chores and with having animals, I do not like to use herbicides. this has been a useful resource giving lots of information on how to tackle those weeds. I look forward to trying some of the information presented in this book.

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This is a very comprehensive book with lots of tools for gardeners to learn how to control weeds. I appreciate that she talks about the different types of weeds, like garden plants that just spread easily versus wild plants that are useful but perhaps not wanted and invasive destructive plants. She talks about the many ways to control them, what the weeds come in to do, how to respond to them right, why not to pull them in many cases, and much more. Towards the end she goes into a range of popular weed suppressing methods like Ruth Stout's no-till gardening, square foot gardening, lasagna gardening, straw bale gardening and much more. I liked the photos of her gardens and the examples of real life organic gardens in action that control weeds in easy, organic ways.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

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I was really looking forward to this book, as I have a large garden. But I feel like I could sum up the useful parts in one word. Mulch. Which I already do. It does have some good ideas. This book would be better for a new gardener or someone struggling.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

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it is hard to review sth if I get approved on the 12 and it gets archived on the same day :( please bear that in mind next time!

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"Weed-Free Gardening" is a guide to organic gardening methods to control weeds. In the introduction, she talked about what a weed is and a history of weeds. She talked about different categories of weeds, from plants that you didn't intend to grow there but which might be helpful to plants that will take over your garden if you don't get rid of them quickly. She talked about a wide variety of techniques and tools that you might try out, but this was more of an overview of different things to try and why they work. She explained how these techniques disrupt the weed's lifecycle, starting with preventing germination with things like mulches or no-till techniques. There's enough information to be able to try out these techniques and see which ones work best for your situation. Overall, I'd recommend this gardening book.

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An informative and beautifully illustrated book on a important topic, Weed-Free Gardening covered weeds’ cycles and prevention in depth. It seems a book one would read during the winter and take notes on for future use, as the design seemed not to lend itself to quick reference. For those willing to dig (sorry!), the information is there.

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Someone said a weed is a plant in the wrong place. This book takes that thought further and discusses what might be considered a weed and how to deal with it. Anticipation is the key. Thinking ahead you can avoid the arduous task of getting rid of invaders. A great practical book for my bookshelf.

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Very interesting and useful discussion of weeds and how to prevent them using organic methods, including how they formed and how they can be valuable.

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This is the time of year that I start weeding my flower gardens. I've had some very stubborn weeds that continue to come back year after year in the same spot. Thanks to this book, this may be my last year battling them!

The way my yard is set up, it's hard to use harmful weed killers. The last time I did that, it ran into my neighbors yard, stunting her beautiful butterfly bushes. The past 2 years, I've been working on what I call my private park., It's been a nightmare clearing it out. With the help of this book, I believe I can make the nightmare turn into a dream.

Garden tools, watering tools, different types of mulching, natural ways of stunting weed growth, what to plant to aid the removal of weeds... all in the book. .

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I garden on the organic principles and I find it very difficult getting on top of my weed, especially in summer where it is easy to say it is too hot to pull out weeds.
This book is great it actually gives a helpful guide about garden weed. The book is divided into chapters of Weed Prevention, Maintenance, Reconciliation and Creative Peace.
I love the concept of this type of gardening - it really is offers a more relaxing approach to weeds without being over-run by them. Love the recycling concept.
A worthwhile book

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Weed-Free Gardening: A Comprehensive and Organic Approach to Weed Management by Tasha Greer is currently scheduled for release on April 12 2022. It offers readers clear and easy-to-undertake methods to get weeds under control without the need for potentially harmful synthetic herbicides. The book helps readers control annual weeds by disrupting their natural lifecycle, learn the whys, hows, and whens of weed-inhibiting mulching techniques, eliminate deep-rooted perennial weeds by eradicating them at their source, meet the best and most effective weeding tools available to homeowners, discover many ways to keep weeds out of the vegetable garden while ensuring healthy and productive soil, and Implement a practical plan to gain long-term control over weeds. There are also resources for weed identification, tips for getting rid of invasive plants, useful ideas for handling areas completely overtaken by weeds, and dozens of “weed hacks” to make life in the garden so much more beautiful.

Weed-Free Gardening is a well written and organized book. I found that it could stand up well to reading cover to cover or by reading the sections you need most or want to study up on. I like that the suggestions and explanations are realistic and understandable. I liked that the author acknowledged that no solution is perfect, because nature is amazing and every yard, region, and gardener is a little different. However, I loved that the history, science, and personal stories are woven in together to give readers the best foundation of information to figure out what they want to try, what is most likely to suit their needs, and how to adjust as they try things. I thought the information was clearly worded, easy to follow and understand, and paired with images that brought it all together. I was just planning this year's garden, and this book has given me some great ideas and helped to shift some of my gardening notions that just might have been part of my weed issues. I look forward to trying out some of the new tips and tricks that are now part of my knowledge base. I wish I had more room on my gardening bookshelf so I could add it to my collection. I just might splurge on a copy even though I am out of room.

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I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)

An informative read covering a wide variety of methods for suppressing weeds in different soil types.

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Weed-Free Gardening by Tasha Greer is highly informative. The author Tasha Greer knows her stuff. It is a book about using non-chemical methods that I appreciate.

The format is well thought out and the writing quick to the point. I found though that if I had a specific weed I wanted to read about such as foxtails, or puncture vine or hairy fleabane it wasn't listed or writeen about at all. So comprehensive this book isn't but there are other resources I would turn to for management on those weeds. As an MG and we advise a lot about weed science and as a farmer of quite a bit of acerage weeds are always on my mind. I am in California and have four seasons of weeds and keeping up with them is time-consuming and work even with the major amount of cover cropping I do. I have gotten on top of puncture vine and hair-fleabane and prevention, of course, is key but plantains have grown through just about any mulch.

I appreciated how much Tasha knew, from living mulch, carbon cycling, and soil food web three topics not covered enough. Of course, she covers much more and I loved reading her book. Applying it to a lot of my applications is challenging because where we live we have pocket gophers that love a lot of the plants that I use for weed suppression and many things to reduce weed pressure such as scarlet clover, etc. gophers love.

I should write a book someday about things that Californians face regarding weeds and how many weeds have developed a resistance to glysophate and how much we need to teach weed science and sustainability weed management.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher Quarto Publishing and for Tasha Greer and her immense knowledge in writing a fabulous book and for the opportunity to read and review Weed-Free Gardening by Tasha Greer.

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I had high hopes for this, but sadly the useful and interesting bits are sandwiches between extra thick bread!
There is a lot of info that isn’t really useful or interesting, and some is also patronising (There is no need to explain what words like “Prevention” means, and if I did, that’s what Google is for!)

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This book had some really great ideas about gardening that I had not known. I will have to try them this spring when I start to get my garden ready. I have even already discussed them with some others in my Master Gardener class! This is a great resource book.

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