I highly recommend this book as it will help you realize the importance of gardening, not just for you, but for everyone and everything around you. Even if you know how to garden, this book is a great eye opener for a different perspective.
I loved this book. It was structured so well, the images were beautiful and the tables were informative.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for a review.

Ashlie Thomas connects the garden to the gardener in saying that as the garden grows so does the gardener grow in skill and knowledge. Gardens require the gardener to know the soil composition, the climate, and the existing plants and wildlife to see how to plan a garden space, what will grow in your area, and how to take care of the garden area.
One method of gardening - raised bed gardening is mentioned as it allos the gardener to choose the soil the garden is in and it is less backbreaking for the gardener. If your soil needs a lot of additions to change it so it will grow what you desire a raised bed garden is a good choice. Greenhouse, container gardens, vertical gardens and many other options are discussed so that you can choose what you will grow.
You will find a handy chart that discusses vegetables, fruits, their temperatures for planting, how far apart they should be planted and which plants should/should not be planted next to them.
The differing types of seeds hybrid/non hybrid, what type of container to plant them in as they grow into seedlings, and what types of insect pests invade your garden space are also mentioned.
Enjoy learning what type of garden is right for you and how to take care of your own patch of earth.

How To Be a Gardener is possibly one of the most useful gardening books that I have come across, particularly for a complete beginner like me.
It’s written in an easy to understand style, which again is good for the inexperienced among us.
I really liked that the author included the reasons why people might grow what they do. Sometimes it’s about the space you have or it can be heavily influenced by your background and culture. I have never come across this in a gardening book before, but upon reading this, it occurred to me that it’s a consideration that’s very important.
Overall the book is well written, informative and a good read and I highly recommend it.
My thanks to the author, the publisher and to NetGalley for gifting me this ARC and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was absolutely perfect for beginners like myself. Ashlie gives great advice and tips they will definitely help any beginner. I also love that she uses stories to help get her point across. You don't see that in a lot of gardening books and I really enjoyed that. Sometimes you need that as a beginner to understand better.

I will definitely be buying a physical copy to tab and make notes in to help me with referencing back!

Thank you to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Cool Springs Press, Cool Springs Press for an ARC. All opinions are mine and mine alone. :)

this was a nice introductory book and delivered exactly what the title promises. it gives tips and tricks, ideas and inspirations but also teaches and instructions in how and where to begin and what can be done.
i would recommend it to anyone that is interested in gardens and does not know where or how to start.

How to Become a Gardener is a no-nonsense, well written, beginner accessible guide to getting started with food gardening and improving personal and community food security written and curated by Ashlie Thomas. Released 1st Nov 2022 by Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint, it's 208 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formast.

Food security and transportation costs and availability are real and immediate concerns for the vast majority of people worldwide. We only have to look at the supply issues of the last few years to see how vulnerable we are to interruptions and resource scarcity. It's not possible to be self-sufficient with toilet paper and toothpaste (well, not really), but providing for part of our food needs ourselves is a great way to reduce some stress, gain valuable skills, and gain a fun and relaxing hobby.

The author has a great encouraging writing style and she is willing to share her experience to help other would-be gardeners improve their outcomes. The book contains tangible advice for starting, sourcing materials, planning, seed starting, growing, harvesting, troubleshooting and compensating for less than ideal results, but it -also- contains a lot of useful and thought provoking philosophy and interesting info for ruminating about our consumerist lifestyle, our definition of community, and how we can be less dependent on unstable supply chains for our daily nutrition. Plus it's good fun and healthy exercise.

Five stars. This would be a superlative choice for public or school library acquisition, activity groups, community garden collections, and home use. There is an emphasis on urban and to a lesser degree suburban gardeners, but there are valuable takeaways for gardeners in other situations.

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

A nice gardening book that makes you want to start gardening today! He photos are very nice and I like that it has other gardeners perspectives as well. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

An interesting and intriguing book about gardening, the impact on the environment and what it means to us.
Love how it is organised and made me reflect.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I would like to give this book a 10 star rating as this is one of the most informative books about gardening. I don't want to compare books, but usually gardening books are about what you're growing and how to grow them, while this book discusses about growing for yourself and for the world around you. I love that pros and cons of different growing mediums were mentioned in this book because this will help you figure out which is best for your garden space and growing conditions.

The best part of the book is that there's representation! Ashlie's book mentions herself along with other gardeners of different races. This is so important to me as everyone grows different plants for their own reasons, but culture plays a big role in what we grow. While representation might not be important to everyone, this book really encompasses everyone and everything. It isn't your typical gardening how-to book, but a very well rounded book.

I highly recommend this book as it will help you realize the importance of gardening, not just for you, but for everyone and everything around you. Even if you know how to garden, this book is a great eye opener for a different perspective.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC! I loved this book. It was structured so well, the images were beautiful and the tables were informative. I loved how the author emphasized the "why" of gardening, not just the how and the community aspect of gardens was really great to see. Food security as resilience was a great chapter and it really honed in on the concepts of how taking control of (at least some) aspects of the food you consume can help in your journey to be food secure. The perspectives of Gardener inputs throughout really tied together the book and provided unique insights. The final chapters of this book on empowerment, lessons learned, and appreciating the garden were just the icing on the cake. Fantastic book, a fantastic read.

How to Become A Gardener” by Ashlie Thomas
I love how this book is organized into different sections that consider the whole of the gardening experience. I am not a gardener, yet my family over the past several years has tried some form of gardening. We have raised beds and have had some moderate success in different years, but more frequently we’ve experienced gardening failures. This years’ tomato crop was a bust.

What is good about this book is that it goes beyond a simplistic approach about how to garden and it delves into what makes a gardener. It delves into topics about Food Insecurity and it gets at the heart of why gardening is a crucial part of existence – in its ability to provide freedom to those who cangrow
their own food.

One of my favorite sections is in ‘The Journey to Becoming A Gardener’ because it provides some
concrete steps the reader can take in assessing why you want to create a garden. Something I don’t recall ever seeing in any gardening book I have ever read before.

“How To Become A Gardener” gets to the heart of gardening by taking us through the elementary steps of what is a garden to the culmination of how a garden grows in “you”. I love learning about the Mocha Gardener’s journey relayed in this book and how she’s able to make it accessible to those of us uncertain where to start. It’s also a great bookaesthetically, accented by beautiful photographs.