Interesting read that combines gardening with yoga and meditation and what's good for the earth and soul. The author debunks many gardening rules and offers her opinion on other gardening styles like container gardening. The author is not a fan of container gardening and does not consider that raised beds and gardening in pots helps people with health and mobility issues stay gardening.. Includes nice phots amid the preachiness

Such a helpful book! I will be incorporating things I have learned from this in my next science course where we will be growing veggies. Highly recommend!

As soon as you see the first pictures of beautiful spiral vegetable gardens, veggies interplanted among flower beds and foodscapes in front yards, you’ll know this is a unique gardening book. Kelly Trimble starts her book with a frontispiece that says “Grow for Joy” and you know this isn’t the usual how-to-grow vegetables book after the amount of sun, USDA zones or how to interpret fertile bag numbers.

So many people decided to take up vegetable gardening during the pandemic — many have continued with their new hobby while others were frustrated. The others didn’t have Kelly’s sage advice “learn from what you’ve killed” or that a garden can be more than just veggies — add pollinators, perennials, or ornamentals and even edible weeds!

The book is beautifully illustrated and has “real people” gardens to salivate over. The chapters have joyous titles and there are a lot of little boxes with informative asides (like botanical drawing or yoga in the garden). I found so much that was unique in the presentation that I was “reading for joy” while planning how to “grow with joy”. 5 stars! This is both an instructive book and would make a great gift book in the spring.

Thank you to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Reading The Creative Vegetable Gardener is like sitting with an old friend in their garden and talking about the path they took to get to their lush paradise.

My parents grew up during the depression and a vegetable garden was a necessity. There was one way to garden and that was in neat, tidy rows. I carried on the tradition through many decades of my adult life. In the past decade or so I've begun to mix things up and I think the biggest takeaways I learned from this book is: there are no rules, expect the unexpected and most importantly - have fun! Beginning and experienced gardeners alike will benefit from the tips and tricks in this book.

I was given a digital copy of The Creative Vegetable Gardener by Kelly Smith Trimble in exchange for an honest review.

A great book with great pictures. I dabble in vegetable gardening and this book was very informative

Some great advice and handy gardening tips! Loved that it had a strong personal element within the book that makes it more relatable.

The Creative Vegetable Gardener
3.5 Stars

What I love about this book is its creative and diverse ways to make your own garden uniquely your own. It throws traditional gardening out the window. As I have moved from the countryside with acres of space, to the city (living in a fishbowl) with limited space and closer neighbors, I found some useful tips to emulate in my garden. I look forward to seeing how my vegetables and perennials grow together.

This book takes a look at the history of gardening and looks at different ways of growing a garden for your individual needs. This book is packed with a wealth of information! So much so that I was completely overwhelmed. This is a complete gardening encyclopedia; I found it easier to break the sheer amount of information and white pages into more bite-sized pieces. The beautiful cover drew me in, but I found myself disappointed in the photos throughout the book. While there are many photos, the quality is poor. They were not professional. The composition was off, the photos were blurry or out of focus and, for me, they dragged the quality of this book down. Almost like the cover was false advertising. Due to the photography, I'm not sure I'd recommend purchasing this book other than for reference purposes. I'm a very visual person and am disappointed. I'd recommend checking this one out at your local library.

Thank you, NetGalley and Storey Publishing, for providing me with a digital ARC for an honest review.

This is an eye-catching book for new and experienced gardeners - full of tips and tricks and new knowledge to apply to your home gardening efforts. I enjoyed all of the photos that were included. The author does a great job of getting you more in touch with your garden as a hole - from the earth to the weeds to the insects to the moon cycles - exploring how all of these aspects can benefit your gardening efforts and expand your knowledge. This book is great for all who love to get their hands dirty and grow something!

This book is great! I’m just kinda starting to do gardening and have planted veggies! This book provided some good insight that I will utilize. It was also a cute book. Recommending to all my gardening friends!

An introduction to gardening for creativity made simple! There was enough variety of information to learn about different types of gardening. This book would be helpful to keep handy while starting your first garden, or even to learn new things to try by a seasoned gardener. Included were lots of beautiful pictures of gardens of all different shapes, sizes, locations and resources.

This is a gorgeous book! As a novice gardener, there is plenty for factual info for me to dig into, but this book provides so much more than that. It’s like left brain meets right brain for gardening.

I appreciated the botany lesson as much as I loved the mindfulness and yoga content. This is a gardening book that feeds your creative spirit and all your senses. The sections about real life gardeners were a nice addition. The repurposed container garden on a fence was especially inspiring.

This would be a great gift for a gardening enthusiast, anyone with an interest in art and beauty, and those who care about sustainable living.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was a really great book and helped me feel better about my not-so-perfect garden and gardening skills!

I really enjoyed this book. The author shares her own gardening journey with one of the most helpful lessons being it’s ok to rethink the rules - to think outside the box. As a gardener myself I loved this so much.

The author shares tips on plant selection, how to prepare the ground and soil, troubleshooting issues and more. I like the balance of beautiful imagery, plant information and even the mindfulness component.

This really is a beautiful book and I will use it often as a reference with my own garden!

In the "Creative Vegetable Gardener", hands on, visually stunning, ideas are given to help kick start your own plans and execution on gardening. Trimble starts us on our journey by helping us "rethink the rules" so many of us have been taught over the years and get out of the same old rut we've been stuck in.

She takes us not only through garden layouts, but covers edible flowers, leaf arrangements, how we can learn from our mistakes, and SOOOO much more! Way more amazing information is given in this beautiful book than I can even begin to cover here!

I will use SO much of what I've learned from this book and not only apply it to my own home garden but in my classroom with lessons and science and gardening projects.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the author’s perspective on gardening behind the box! She has a wealth of knowledge and experience and has purposefully drawn from a variety of diverse sources. Learned so much about relaxing and truly finding joy in the act of gardening— rather than just following a prescribed path. I’m that sense, this book points to broader spiritual lessons as well as “grounded” practical ones. Kelly Smith Trimble is a philosopher as well as a wise guide to the art and science of the garden! Highly recommend!

Loved it! Creative and diverse look at different ways to grow a versatile garden. A ton of different methods and a wealth of information!

What did I like? Every time I pick up a new garden book I feel like I absorb a bit more. This book was definitely fun! I made a huge wishlist of things to try. I want my garden to give off a fun yet beautiful vibe!

Would I recommend or buy? I would love a copy for my shelf! The book gives a ton of hints on watering and when to sow seed indoors then transplant. I also want to try the straw bale planting. Just a fun filled book with lots of great things to try!

I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left this opinion. Fantastic book!

Love this book, I just takes all the rules and must/must not do out of gardening, and turns into a fabulous zen experience. It works in a way of doing what come naturally and and by following the flow, making happy gardener and garden. There is lots of information in this book, lots to good work practices and lots of good feeling in creating a happy and productive space.

A sweet gardening book with some inspiring ideas on incorporating vegetable plants everywhere and anywhere. As someone that got a degree in Horticulture, I was excited to see a bit of a Botany lesson, some entomology sprinkled in, and guidance on sustainable growing. I found myself wishing for more inspirational photos and while there were many photos, the composition of many of them with the distracting foreground blurriness didn't pull me in like I had hoped.
All in all, a nice book to add to your collection of gardening books when you're getting a start in growing vegetables.

I loved this book so much! It is such a bright and colorful book so it gives you energy to want to be creative. It is filled with helpful tips and guides to becoming a better vegetable gardener. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of my new favorite gardening books! As an avid gardener I read a lot of garden books but I love that this one has such a creative, playful take on it. Who says gardens need to be in straight boxes and rows? Who says you can't put veggies in a front yard flower garden? This book is packed with great photos, fun inspiration and tons of real garden information. I knew most of the info but it would be priceless for new gardeners for that alone. The photos and ideas make it priceless for those of us who are experienced gardeners but still love new inspiration. Highly recommended.

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