Member Reviews
A great introduction to a vegetable garden. Having had an allotment although not largely successful this is a delightfully useful and carefully put together book. Plenty of choice of what to grow and when to grow it ……although I don’t have a clue when the last spring frost is. For me, this book has to be bought as an actual paper book, not an ebook as you really would benefit from writing in the note pages and it would last you a number of years. I got this in preparation for having a sizeable garden and I will definitely still use it. The drawings of the vegetables are nice, pictures at different stages would have been an even better visual.
A great, comprehensive garden planner along with beutiful illustrations. The author has thought of everything, frost dates, seed storage, when to sow, and a mini guide to each vegetable. If you are new to gardening or a pro this will definitely come in handy.
This vegetable garden planner is a great idea and has a wealth of knowledge. The purpose of the planner is to give the gardener information about planting vegetables and has places for you to write down and keep track of your progress. So your journaling what you planted the variety you chose when you planted it and where so for the next year you can just look back at your written notes and know what works and where to plant it.
It makes each year easier and easier to plant and get the best crops you can. I plan on having this by my side when I start my garden this year and write everything I did so if something doesn’t work I know to change it or if it dose work to follow my notes for next year. Thank you to Lynn Bycznski for making this journaling so organized and easy and thank you netgalley for letting me read all this information.
This is a basic garden record book that may work well for some people. The start has some basic gardening info and then there are profiles of 33 vegetables and herbs with large black and white illustrations and some growing information. The rest of the book is filled with the same form again and again (in different color combinations) for you to plan and record your vegetables.
The herbs and vegetables profiled are not all the ones I grow and I felt that a lot of information was lacking. The forms are nice but don’t list the information I’d personally design it around. Record keeping books can be highly subjective and this might be just your type.
As another reviewer mentioned, the information is presented for a US audience. This is in a general sense though, without information about specifics like which crops are better suited for warmer regions or general ranges of seed to harvest times. Some vegetables profiled aren’t great for cooler climates like mine, such as okra and sweet potatoes, for instance. As mentioned, many plants aren’t profiled. This isn’t an issue if you are mainly getting the book as a record keeper but do take a look at the pages and see if the form works for you.
I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.
As a first time gardener this year I truly enjoyed the ease with which this got me started. The basic information for each crop, planting schedules, note sections, and suggestions for what notes to take has made this process so much more approachable.
I loved the look and layout of this book but in terms to practical use I am struggling as it’s aimed at the USA market. The websites given to calculate frost dates only work for US cities and zipcodes, the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones mean nothing to me and all the measurements are in inches with no metric. The temperatures are in Celsius and Fahrenheit which is good. Then there is the translation needed from Eggplant to Aubergine, Beet to Beetroot, etc. which is fine but some of my favourites (or favourites according to this book) such as Courgette and Jerusalem Artichoke are not featured. No, not even as Zucchini and Sunchoke in USA speak.
The first 20 pages have a lot of good general information on frost dates (USA specific), frost tolerance, succession planting, day lengths, where to seek advice (USA specific). Also on indoor and outdoor suggested seed sowing schedules both in spring and fall (autumn). One helpful page is on starting herbs from seeds with dates to sow and germination estimates. Mostly the same herbs as in the UK (cilantro=coriander) which is good. There is also good information on crop rotation and seed viability.
Pages 21-88 list 33 vegetables (and occasional herb) with a page devoted to each giving sowing and growing instructions and detailed information on temperatures needed for germination and growing, days to germination, seed depth, transplant or direct seed advice and spacing.
Following each data page for that vegetable or herb are pages where the reader can fill in their dates accordingly once they’ve worked out the frost dates, etc. in their location. There is also space for notes about what variety was planted, source information and any other notes about cultivation, germination, harvesting, etc. The idea is to write against each crop over a number of years so you can look back and gain experiences on what went right and what went wrong year after year.
Pages 89-202 are addition Record Sheets for continuation of the given vegetable or entering your own.
It’s a lovely looking book which I’d give 4 stars if I lived in the USA but given I live in the UK I am only giving 3 stars. I would also like to see suggestions of good varieties and not so good varieties but again this would be challenging for a UK market as the varieties are likely to be quite different between the USA and elsewhere.
A very handy beginner-friendly planner to gardening. Love the drawings in this planner and the simple but clear instructions regarding gardening basics such as recording weather and garden plot planning. Best of all, it gives you pages to do crop records along with all the information a beginner will need on growing basic essentials and beginner friendly veg.
The additional record sheets are a handy bonus!
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley (thank you!), and this is my honest review.
Very pretty book and wonderful idea to keep track of all your vegetable plantings. Attractive book that would also make a nice gift for a gardener.
Loved the layout of this garden planner! Lots of different spots to add your content and grid paper to plan out exactly your garden.
This handy planner was fantastic. Not only does it have so much information about each vegetable, but how to plant it, when, temps in needs to be, suggestions...I was able to review the ebook of it and am seriously considering purchasing a hard copy as well so I can have easy access to it and its wealth of knowledge!
What an awesome resource for someone planting a vegetable garden! This planner would be great for seasoned gardeners to newbies.
A bright, colorful book with a lot of resources - full of reference charts, companion planting guides, lots of places to sketch out your garden, keep track of when & where you bought seeds, & much more!
Do a little (writing/planning), or do a lot. It's great for a variety of personalities & easy to tailor to what you need.
(Thanks to Netgalley & the Publisher. I was able to preview this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.)
This book was an aspirational read for me as I don’t yet have an outdoor space at home in which to garden. But I’m thankful to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this copy as I already learned so much!
There is a one-page entry for commonly grown vegetables to help those new to gardening plan out and manage their garden. The rest of the book is designed as a logbook for people to track their progress in their crops. This will then serve as a diary for users to refer back to so they may improve their gardening practices for next year. It can be a handy tool, especially for those who are more meticulous in their documenting and learning.
This is a wonderful resource for planning a garden. I have tried many times over the years to have a garden and I’m just never that successful! After looking through this planner, I started to understand more about why my garden was failing. This planner is full of great information about many different crops! I am really excited to buy one and start planning for my garden in the future!