The 10-Minute Gardener: How to Have a Veggie Garden and a Life―85 Time-Saving Tactics to Be More Efficient and Grow More Food in Less Time

by CaliKim

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 2024

Reviews

[Richetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you have the desire to start a garden this year, but can’t figure out how you could possibly squeeze it into your busy schedule? Maybe you’re a mom of young kids, maybe you are neurodivergent and need a different approach to gardening that swings between hyper focus and 5-minute multitasking.

Check out The 10-Minute Gardener: How to Have a Veggie Garden and a Life- 85 Time-Saving Tactics to Be More Efficient and Grow More Food in Less Time by CaliKim (YouTube’s CaliKim Garden & Home)

Thank you @QuartoBooks for the gifted copy!

This is my new favorite gardening book this season! My availability can often swing from spending the entire day setting up my garden for the season to only have 5 or 10 minutes at the end of the work day to tend to my plants. This book helped me think of how I can break up my upkeep tasks in a whole new way. Now instead of thinking I need to plant all of my spring seeds at once on a nice, clear Saturday morning, I can spread the planting out over a week and take 5 minutes a day to get it done.

I think beginning gardeners will like this book, it gives you an idea of how to break up tasks so you don’t feel overwhelmed. As an intermediate gardener, I love the suggestions because it has helped me to think outside of the box. I’m even enjoying myself more now because I don’t feel the pressure to always reserve big chunks of time to do garden maintenance.

The book divides tasks into minute increments of: 3, 5, 8, 10 and 30 minutes. Each task has instructions and then explains how this method will save you time. They are also tasks that range from pre-season to end season. This is a great way to avoid garden burnout. I definitely recommend this to urban gardeners!

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn’t what I was expecting. I am a lazy gardener and am always looking for ways to improve what I’m doing while still having time for all the other stuff I do. I thought this was about how to grow a garden with hardly any effort, but really it just breaks down nearly a hundred tasks into small chunks of time. I’m not a gardener like her. I don’t use weekly fertilizer. I don’t pick caterpillars off my plants (birds do a great job for me and the world needs butterflies and sphinx moths too). I don’t sharpen my tools unless needed and then it just takes a second, not something I need to plan. And I don’t deadhead my flowers past a certain point because I want birds to have access to the seeds and for them to reseed and make a million more for me next year (the ultimate lazy gardening trick in my book). This book actually made me feel overwhelmed with all the stuff I don’t do and how much extra time it would take, but I am very happy with my truly lazy gardens so I guess it works for me. More traditional gardeners will appreciate this book though.

I read a temporary digital loan of this book for review.

[Mackenzie McClintock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

An easy-to-understand and quick read of a gardening handbook. I really like Cali Kim's YouTube channel and was very excited to find this book available on NetGalley. While the book is very simple, I think that's what gardening truly requires. I like that you don't have to read this book in order by pages, you can flip to whatever section best suits you and work from there.

The pages and pictures are really pretty with text that is easy to read. I will be coming back to this one for advice in the future.

[Michael Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a great book about how to garden quickly and efficiently . There are many tips a gardener might overlook. Using time efficiently, gives your garden a way to be effective without wearing you out. Cutting blooms and using coffee grounds seems very efficient. I recommend this book for all gardeners.

[T Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a multitude of excellent tips, wrapped in a beautiful design and great illustrations. This makes the book very useful, but the concept of the minutes is a little strange and certainly not for everyone.