Gardening Basics For Dummies

by Steven A. Frowine

You’re now officially out of excuses for not planting the garden of your dreams. Even if you’ve never sowed a seed nor pulled a weed, Gardening Basics For Dummies contains everything you need to know about flowers, beds, borders, trees, shrubs, and lawns to create your own private paradise. This friendly and informative guide also covers all of the tools and additives available to make gardening easier. You’ll discover: Clear definitions and descriptions of the different types of plants Tips on choosing the type of garden you want How to create a garden plan Easy-to-follow instructions for soil preparation Advice on planting, growing and caring for annuals and perennials Step-by-step plans for organic and edible gardens Plans for butterfly and children's gardens

Packed with helpful tips on controlling pests safely, managing weeds, and correcting common gardening problems, Gardening for Dummies turns your brown thumb green in a hurry.

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

434 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Jason Koivu · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Raphael Lysander · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Milliken Mcneese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the read. Lots of information.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little less of a dummy with plants

[Zana · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.