Basisboek Tuinieren voor Dummies

by Steven A. Frowine

Zou je graag een mooie tuin vol kleur en leven willen hebben, maar kun je nog geen onkruid van een vaste plant onderscheiden? Tuinieren kan ingewikkeld lijken als je er geen ervaring mee hebt. 'Basisboek Tuinieren voor Dummies' leert je welke planten en bloemen geschikt zijn voor jouw tuin(tje), hoe je ze moet verzorgen en welk gereedschap je daarvoor nodig hebt. Naast de beginselen van het tuinieren, leer je ook hoe je een moestuin of een vijver aanlegt en hoe je je tuin laat leven door vogels, bijen en vlinders aan te trekken. Zo ontwikkel je vanzelf groene vingers en kun je het hele jaar door van je tuin genieten! Steven A. Frowine is een erkend tuinier met jaren ervaring. Hij geeft regelmatig lezingen en schrijft artikelen over alles wat met tuinen te maken heeft.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference, Plants, Ebooks, Self Help

Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Jason Koivu]

Me: Smell that? You smell that?
NobodyEver: What?
Me: Flowers, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. *kneels* I love the smell of flowers in the morning.

Don't feel dumb if you're stupid, not when it comes to gardening. Plants are precocious. As green of a thumb as you think you have, there's always a chance that no matter what you do you'll likely kill a plant or two. I've read a few of these gardening books and I've talked to knowledgable experts, and dammit, I still lose an azalea now and then. Hardy Mexican Patunias wilt under my hand. Impossible-to-kill succulents get themselves killed on my watch.

Gardening Basics for Dummies is aptly titled. This book has the basics laid out for beginners. In case it didn't sink in the first time, it repeats the basics time and again from chapter to chapter. I'm a bonafide brownthumb but even I only need to be told how to plant something in the same exact manner just once…okay, maybe twice…but not a dozen times!

IMO, too much time is also spent in garden design suggestions, replete with extensive diagrams. Looks a lot like page-filler to me.

Another issue is that the scope of gardening in general is very large. This book is meant to cover all of the U.S., which encompasses many varied climates. Yet it assumes throughout that you will have to prepare your plants for a frost season. Well, where I live we don't get frost. We get searing heat in midsummer, but there's no mention of how to prepare for that in Gardening Basics for Dummies.

However, there is plenty of helpful tips that if implemented will better your chances for a successful garden, whether it be flowers, vegetables, shrubs, berries, fruit trees, etc. Both annuals and perennials are given lengthy sections. Roses and bulbs, too. Hell, even grass gets its own fat chapter!

[Amber]

So I just moved into a house whose previous residents were big into gardening. They've done the hard part (setting up containers, got the soil ready), so now it's our turn. Mostly I picked up this book because I didn't want to kill the beautiful hyacinths they left.

Before this book, I knew nothing about gardening. I've killed two cacti in my lifetime. After reading, I feel at least a little confident in starting out.

Still...
I have no idea what weeds are. I really don't. I don't know how to prune back the weird prickly things in our front yard and I don't know what's growing in the side box or how not to kill it.

This book was super basic but got too detailed in some areas, repetitive in others. Color photos were all "look how pretty," but there were not many illustrations or how-to type of things. It's an easy read, but I don't recommend this. (I got it for a dollar in a used store, so, hey, you get what you pay for) For example, I know it's dumb, but what does a trowel look like? Why type out the comparison to shovels and not have an illustration??

Tune in later for when we've tried: not killing the existing plants, growing tomatoes, basil, daffodils, poppies, and hopefully making our front yard look less dead!!

[Beth]

I just wish it had color photos!

[Kelli]

I got this book just to learn which plants are weeds so that I could pull them and make my neighbor happy. But the author's enthusiasm for gardening and the fact that he explains the most MOST basic of gardening steps gave me the confidence to clean out the entire garden and start one of my own design. It was immensely rewarding and now I see all landscape with new eyes. Personally, I'm not a "jump in and learn it" type person. I like to understand how a thing works before I start to mess with it so of course this limits my activities somewhat. Especially for something like gardening, where I have asked people how it's done in the past and most get exasperated quickly when i say i don't know the difference between a flower and a weed or i want them to break down the exact distance between the flowers they planted and how they arrived at that measurement. Most people "just do it." For the obsessive researchers like myself, there's the "Dummies" books and they can really open up the world to you, all while avoiding annoying your friends.

[Andrew]

There are some great foundational concepts in this one!

Happy Reading, everybody!

[Raphael Lysander]

Extremely general and can't give specific usable information, therefore at the end of each chapter it ends up with: ask a professional!

[Sandy Champagne]

Exactly what I was looking for! As a noob completely clueless when it comes to growing things, this was a great manual. The book is well written - simple and clear - and very nicely arranged. Now I'm not overwhelmed and I have a clear plan of what I need, when I need it, and how to plant a variety of plants.

[Nude Literária]

O livro é bem básico e, infelizmente, a tradução pro português não acompanha uma localização adequada. Eles ajustaram o ciclo das estações, e o Sul era constantemente mencionado para falar de inverno, mas é isso. A linguagem é acessível, mas, ainda assim, vieram alguns termos técnicos sem explicações ou ilustrações. Para quem quer começar o hobby de jardinagem, como eu, serviu muito bem pra dar uma visão geral -- principalmente sobre o que fazer e o que procurar quando acontecer. Claro, o livro cobre muita coisa agora que o jardineiro iniciante não vai usar, mas com certeza cobre a maior parte dos casos. Cada pessoa começa a jardinagem por um motivo diferente e tem condições diferentes em sua casa. Nisso, o livro acerta bem.

[Milliken Mcneese]

I enjoyed the read. Lots of information.

[Mary]

All the things you didn't know about all the sites you may have in mind all in one place. Great staring point for new gardeners.

[Mariko]

One of the better books I found for those learning how to garden. Very detailed, so it could get away with not having photos.

[Tara Blais Davison]

3.5/5 Tons of useful information for beginner and intermediate gardeners but wasn’t very inspirational give its text-laden, non-visual format.

[Zachery McFarlane]

A little less of a dummy with plants

[Jessica]

I was able to use this as such a valuable resource to get started on vegetable gardening. An abundance of information

[Zana]

Not as comprehensive as I wanted, but a decent resource. ambyr insists the book is insulting my intelligence, but alas there is no book called "Gardening Basics for the Entirely Clueless." I would read it!

Sadly, this book entirely failed to inform me how much or how often I should water. WHY CAN'T GARDENING BOOKS EVER BE SPECIFIC ON THIS???

[Mary]

A pretty good reference, I guess, since it certainly had a lot of information. I still don't feel like I know much more about gardening though, but maybe that's my fault, not the book's...

[زاهي رستم]

It has a good information, but as its kind of books, it can use these information in some countries, and not all countries.. I wish if we had such books like that for local.

[Amanda Coffey]

loved this book! answered so many of the questions i had. i definitely recommend it.

[Tracy]

Handy. Something I could not just read cover to cover, so its technically unfinished. But I did read a little of every chapter that would be relevant to gardening in my state and my home.