I’ve had pretty good sized vegetable gardens in the past but I don’t do it often as it can be pretty intimidating thinking about designing and maintaining it.

THE CREATIVE VEGETABLE GARDENER by Kelly Smith Trimble has been an inspirational source for the garden areas I’ll be planning for next year. Gardens don’t have to be just square or rectangular plots , they can be spiral, round and just free-form. They don’t have to be strictly vegetables only, they can be mixed with flowers for cutting. They don’t have to be boring, they can be beautiful.

This book is full of colorful pictures that really make want to get my hands dirty! She has tips for the novice gardener through to the expert. I plan to refer to this book for inspiration and insight for years to come.

Thanks to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for this ebook in exchange for my honest review. 5 stars!

I enjoyed this book, it he!ped me to realize I could garden different in my small space.if you like to garden this book is for you.

I really enjoyed this beautiful book about the basics of making a beautiful garden. It's got loads of photos that are really helpful to see how pretty a free and natural garden can be. It has tips at many levels so will appeal to beginning garden dabblers all the way through to expert gardeners.

Do you want to plant in circles and spirals instead of rectangular beds? Do you want to mix your flowers and vegetables? Would you like a vegetable garden in your front yard, rather than the back? Permission granted in this innovative book by Kelly Smith Trimble. I really appreciated Trimble’s fresh perspective in The Creative Vegetable Gardener. Packed with full-color photos, inspiring sidebars and lots of guidance on everything from the benefits of gardening, to garden design, botany basics and “good” vs “bad” insects, this book has something to offer all levels of gardeners.

As a novice gardener, I appreciated her guidance on rethinking the rules because I often get caught up in trying to do things in just the right way, or in thinking that I did something wrong if a plant doesn’t thrive. She encourages the reader to not just plant a garden for the benefit of food (which is a big one) but also to connect with the practice of gardening and exploring the medicinal, mental and psychological benefits that blossom when you are gardening for you. She gives suggestions on how to find your personal gardening style, how to stretch growing seasons and gives ideas for companion planting. In addition to vegetable gardening, she shows us the benefits of floral gardens and how flowers can be used, both aesthetically or for health benefits.

There is really a lot to take in here, and one read through isn’t enough. She also explains how your personal gardening style is always evolving and it’s more of a journey than a set of tasks to complete. I know I’ll be referring to this book often on my journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Publication date for The Creative Vegetable Gardener is February 28, 2023.

This is a beautiful book! As a new gardener, I really appreciated all of the pictures and stories and information.

I learned some great gardening tips in this book that I am really anxious to try out next year in my garden!

What a great book! I have read a lot of gardening books in my time...many of which have been too....something. This book is a gem. There is something for both novice and seasoned gardeners. Once published, I plan to purchase this book to add to my garden collection.

This is a great gardening book for the unconventional gardener (or any gardener!). So much useful information on growing just about anything! Quite expansive, really beautiful book that I definitely want a hard copy of. I learned so much and I’m not new to gardening. It would also be a lovely gift to give.

Kelly Smith Trimble, a long-time gardener and lifestyle editor encourages us to be more creative in the way we plan and work our vegetable gardens.

With ideas for companion planting, victory/climate-friendly gardening, soil management, and design, this book also looks at why we garden, and considers mindfulness and health aspects of gardening.

A creative, supportive and comforting book which returns to the importance of enjoying the time spent planning and growing our own produce.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Grow for joy are the first words in this book, and it nicely sums up the suggested gardening method of the book. There are lots of books and magazines out there that will tell you how to plant the maximum number of veggies in a square foot, or how to build raised beds, or how to landscape beautifully. This is not regimented that way. This book is about growing the things that you want to eat in whatever type of space you have. It's less about organic pest control, and more about balancing the soil, organisms, and insects. Don't have time to weed every day? No problem, pulling weeds is meditative. A wholistic look at gardening for the earth and the body, mind, and spirit of the gardener. This is my style of gardening!

I am a novice gardener, although as my parents and grandparents kept victory garden style flowerbeds, I knew the concept I wanted to embrace is very similar to what Kelly Smith Trimble presented within her book.

She gave me a permission to allow for my natural tendency of unorganized flower beds to extend in a way I had been unable to embrace through some of the more traditional gardening concepts that were the row and field tilled versions.

Now, this fall, I will step into embracing using my naturally hill terrain to create a garden that is one I will enjoy playing in versus viewing it as linear work.

What a treasure of a book! The Creative Vegetable Gardener is part gardener's bible and part interactive workbook for people seeking to expand the way they relate to the world around them. As Kelly put it, "Growing your own food is about expression of freedom, but it can also be about freedom of expression." The book is full of history and resources for gardeners of all skill levels–anyone could pick this book up and learn something. But the activities focused around meditation, play, and personal growth are what resonated most with me. I also really loved getting a peek into unique gardens around the country, and it's worth noting here that the photography is gorgeous! I'll be getting this one for my own shelf and giving it as a gift when it comes out!

A thorough book about being a Vegetable Gardener, is a new look at how the garden should look like and how they should behave. Most garden books tell you to grow vegetables in single rows and space between the plants, but this book gives you permission to grow your vegetables together with flowers and other plants that not only benefit the vegetable plants but help attract good insects to the garden and help keep down pests

I like that the book talks about size, color and aspects of plants that should be grown together. How to rethink what to use as mulch and to eliminate weeds, not with insecticide but by cutting off the top of the plant and allowing the roots to become organic matter. I love the idea of using flowers and other plants to enhance the garden and I like that Trimble talks to other gardeners that have try this new approach and how it not only helps the plants they are cultivating but helps bring peace and happiness to the gardener. I like that Trimble talks about all the ways you can arrange a garden, what to use for structures. when to start growing certain plants, what parts you can eat and how to cultivate seeds. Just a lot of wonderful information for gardeners who want to do something different with their gardens. Lovely change.

What I found very interesting, is that I started to leave certain weeds up too because the bugs loved them and left the plants alone. It also seems that by using leaves in the fall for mulching the plants the soil looks better and the plants seem happier. Maybe I found this book for a reason.

The book is well illustrated and have many photos to enhance what the author is talking about, It help me a lot. For a short book there is a lot of information so go through so go slow and don't hurry the process and you won't miss anything. A worthy book for a gardeners library.

I want to thank Storey Publishing, Storey Publishing, LLC and NetGalley for an advance copy of this great gardening book.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received an advance copy of this title in exchange for an honest review!

My experience as a gardener consists largely of helping/watching my mother garden, keeping houseplants in my series of small apartments, and dreaming of one day having a garden of my own. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that I am not excluded from the target audience of this book. This book is for gardeners in every stage; experienced gardeners looking to switch things up, all the way down to people who have never planted a start or seedling in their lives and are looking for a place to start.

Timble is a studied, well-practiced, passionate and thoughtful author, whose knowledge on the subject of gardens and gardening extends well beyond "plant this here, do that there." Their love for gardening encompasses endless aspects, ones that I myself had never considered to be elements worth incorporating. It was refreshing to see so many different aspects of gardening, so many forms and layouts and design elements through the garden spotlight segments, interwoven photos, and well-written descriptions.

This is a book that you can flip through over and over again and pull away something new every time. I found myself both wanting (and needing) to take extensive notes in order to process the depth of knowledge contained within, which is, I think, a great compliment to a book that wants to be a resource for people. It's also very easy to get lost in Trimble's excitement to share everything they've learned, which makes this a book with great re-readability, also a perfect thing to have in a resource book.

I particularly loved the first chapter, teaching you the standardized rules of gardening, and why/when to question them; the suggestions on how to bend and break the rules in ways that still lend well to your garden was a particularly thrilling part, as I myself have never thrived much in sticking to regiment or structure. Trimble's passion for the "naturalness" of nature - even in manmade natural spaces like gardens - pervades the entire text from start to finish and makes this a joy to read.

As a hopeful future green thumb, this book is not one to skip. As a seasoned wrangler of nature, this resource may make something that feels rote and numb come back to life and feel refreshing, and I would suggest you not skip out on this text, either.

What a wonderful book! Gorgeous pictures for inspiration but the true beauty of this book is the information packed inside it. Completely new ideas on gardening, things to think about and try, completely new way of looking at growing which I found really interesting!

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

Informative read that was interesting and covered a variety of topics.

This is a bright and colourful book both inside and out, with lots of lovely pictures to inspire you.
I’m not a gardener at all but I am envious enough of those people who have a natural affinity with the land, that I would really like to have a go, and this book would definitely help me with that, although on first look it almost felt like there was a bit too much information, which left me feeling a little overwhelmed.
That said, I think that if I read the bits I need to know first and acted on them before going onto what to do next, I would probably get to grips with it a lot better.
Overall a great book filled with lots of vegetable gardening information.
My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

The first thin I notice when I started this book was the vibrant and beautiful pictures on every page that instantly draw you in.
There is something about gardening that feels so good and calming, from the weeding, watering and most of all the harvest. Kelly really brings her passion and love for gardening through her writing and made me want to race outside and tend to my garden.
Her knowledge of plant life, gardening techniques and the natural world is really shown through the pages and was really easy to digest. I learnt a lot of things that I did not know as an amateur gardener that I really appreciated learning.
After reading this book, I personally want to take up floral arrangements using my own flowers and have a spiral garden. I highly recommend this book to both a seasoned gardener and a beginner as there is a lot of ideas and information that everyone can appreciate.

If you know nothing about gardening, like me, but would like to try and have some... let's say carrots, but you don´t know where to start, then this book is exactly what you need.
Very informative, colorful, and packed with positive energy.
I want this book on my shelf in paper now!

A well-rounded introduction to the many joys of vegetable gardening, it’s not only a practical guide to designing, growing and harvesting, but also looks as gardening as art, therapy and crafting. This book encourages you to be more playful with your planting and gives you lots of ideas of how to create a beautiful and practical growing space.