Vegetable Gardening: From Planting to Picking: The Complete Guide to Creating Abountiful Garden

by Fern Marshall Bradley, Jane Courtier

An illustrated guide to vegetable gardening explains how to plant and cultivate more than eighty vegetable varieties, covering everything from selecting plants and preparing the soil to pest control and harvesting.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published February 16, 2006

Reviews

[Emma Palacios · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading a lot of gardening books recently and I like the way that this book is split into more general information and more specific information pertaining to specific veggies and plants. I think it's really comprehensive but would love it if it included more picture examples or picture step-by-step guides. There were some throughout the book but a few more would have really helped to break up the text. Overall is such a great book and resource to have on hand if you are just starting a garden or have been gardening for a while now.

[Andi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic reference work. I got it from the library, but I'm seriously thinking about buying a copy to keep on hand. I skimmed or skipped some of the sections that didn't apply to me (container gardening, descriptions for specific vegetables I don't like, etc.) but the sections I did read are full of excellent information on starting and maintaining a garden, and there is even some basic information about preserving what you've grown - that's really a subject deserving of its own complete book, but it's good to have some of the basics in mind beforehand, so I appreciated its inclusion. I also liked the section of descriptions of each individual type of vegetable and herb. Although they obviously couldn't cover every single type of plant in existence, they had everything I'm interested in growing, plus several things I never knew I needed. It was very useful for deciding what to grow now, what to prepare for growing next year, and what I really don't want to bother with at all. As a complete novice, I now have a plan and feel much more prepared for starting my own garden.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic for the new gardener. I read this every spring as I plant my garden and take it with me to the garden. It was easy for my elementary children to read and understand and apply as they started their garden. I would highly recommend this book.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great and thorough reference book. The pictures were of great value, direct and easy planting instructions. I checked this out from the library but I think I need to purchase a copy to keep at home.

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good basics for a lot of things, but not in depth enough for each thing.

[CraftyBirdies · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am putting in a garden for the first time this year and this book was extremely helpful. It explains gardening briefly but in enough detail to get you started. Then you learn if you want to know more about a certain aspect (like growing from seeds indoors, building raised beds, using pesticides, etc) so you can do more research. Everything is explained in very easy to understand terminology with helpful pictures and diagrams. Both sides of the organic/pesticide debate are presented without being pushy so you can make your own decision.

The second half of the book has a two-page spread for each garden vegetable. Each spread includes information about planting, feeding, watering, harvesting, storing, etc. It is a fantastic and visually pleasing book that I would recommend to anyone who is starting from ground zero and those who are still learning vegetable gardening. I'm not sure this has a wealth of information for those who have been doing it for years because it covers a TON of information with limited depth.

[Inder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very handy book, and I've now checked it out from the library on two different occasions. A good balance of colorful pictures and sound advice, this book has been more helpful to me than any other this year, as I'm learning to grow some vegetables that I have never tried in the past (potatoes, cucumbers). I may have to shell out the money for my own copy.

Note: This book is aimed at the entire United States (especially the Northeast and Midwest, which seems to be the focus of most vegetable gardening books out there, probably because it's more popular in those areas), so we Californians must judiciously ignore much of the advice regarding frost, etc. But it's arranged in a much more helpful format than many west-coast centered books, so it's perfect for the basics.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good overview for beginners as well as in-depth information on specific plants. Will probably check out again when I'm ready to get going!

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book for beginners

[Beth Lequeuvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource! Learned something new about why my weeds keep coming back. Going to try some tricks now to help me for next season.

[Kristah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This year will be my first garden! I found this book answered a lot of basic questions I had and has a lot of good information on specific vegetables. A good read for new to gardening.