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Ultimate Guide: Small Space Kitchen Gardens: How to Plan, Plant, and Harvest High-Yield Vegetable Gardens
Ultimate Guide to Small Space Kitchen Gardens, by Nina Koziol, shares a simple approach to building and designing a high yield kitchen garden in a small space featuring the favorite vegetables, herbs, and fruits that families love. Includes detailed growing profiles for easy-to-grow vegetables including asparagus, lettuce, spinach, peas, zucchini, broccoli, sweet corn, onions, peppers, beans and tomatoes. Expert gardener and author, Nina Koziol also includes sections on how to grow in warm and cool seasons, tools and safety, when to use cages or trellises, soil preparation, advice on preventing disease, composting, raised beds and more! And to help enjoy your harvest, Nina shares a few of her favorite recipes.
530 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 19, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received a free ARC of this book through NetGalley.
It seemed to me that “Ultimate Guide to Small Space Kitchen Gardens” was more of a “beginner’s guide.” I thought an “ultimate guide” would have a lot more to teach me, but I was very disappointed in what I got out of it (and I’ve only been gardening for a couple of years). Most of the book’s information could be learned through a bit of hands-on experience, a few Google searches, and the back of various seed packets.
I didn’t like how much of the book was opinion-based when it was supposed to be a how-to book. There was a lot of “I find that” and “I like this.” It made the writing feel more suited to a blog than a nonfiction book. There were also some issues with repetition (for example, there were almost identical explanations of how vermiculite and perlite are made in two different parts of the book).
The couple of areas I would have liked to see more information on were extremely brief. The author mentions gardens planted in interesting shapes or patterns, but then immediately moves on. I was also hoping to find some good ideas in the recipes, but most were extremely rudimentary. I assume that most people who would put effort into growing vegetables already like to eat them, so they shouldn’t need explanations of things as simple as roasting or steaming a vegetable. The fruit “recipe” section was even more laughable. I ended up with one or two ideas to try out, but I think the author could have put a lot more effort into this section.
Beyond the fact that this is not an “Ultimate Guide,” the two parts of the title that made me want to read the book don’t even match the content. The subtitle of the book is “How to Plan, Plant, and Harvest High-Yield Vegetable Gardens.” I assumed that high-yield (especially when combined with small spaces) would mean that it had more information on companion planting or which plants produce more volume in a small area. There was a little bit of information about companion plants, but not really any explanation of how to make this more efficient or pack more plants into one planter. Finally, there is NOTHING “small space” based about the gardens in this book! The author clearly has a large yard space to plant in and to be able to rotate crops around the yard. She includes plants like raspberry and blackberry bushes, and brings up 1-2 squash plants needing an 8’ by 8’ area. A lot of people don’t even have 8’ by 8’ they can garden in for all of their plants combined. If you are actually looking for a “Small Space” gardening book, this is NOT the one to choose.
I think that this book would be much better marketed as a “Beginner’s Guide to Gardening.” The information contained in the book wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t feel that useful to someone with a bit of experience, and definitely wasn’t directed to people with small spaces.
It seemed to me that “Ultimate Guide to Small Space Kitchen Gardens” was more of a “beginner’s guide.” I thought an “ultimate guide” would have a lot more to teach me, but I was very disappointed in what I got out of it (and I’ve only been gardening for a couple of years). Most of the book’s information could be learned through a bit of hands-on experience, a few Google searches, and the back of various seed packets.
I didn’t like how much of the book was opinion-based when it was supposed to be a how-to book. There was a lot of “I find that” and “I like this.” It made the writing feel more suited to a blog than a nonfiction book. There were also some issues with repetition (for example, there were almost identical explanations of how vermiculite and perlite are made in two different parts of the book).
The couple of areas I would have liked to see more information on were extremely brief. The author mentions gardens planted in interesting shapes or patterns, but then immediately moves on. I was also hoping to find some good ideas in the recipes, but most were extremely rudimentary. I assume that most people who would put effort into growing vegetables already like to eat them, so they shouldn’t need explanations of things as simple as roasting or steaming a vegetable. The fruit “recipe” section was even more laughable. I ended up with one or two ideas to try out, but I think the author could have put a lot more effort into this section.
Beyond the fact that this is not an “Ultimate Guide,” the two parts of the title that made me want to read the book don’t even match the content. The subtitle of the book is “How to Plan, Plant, and Harvest High-Yield Vegetable Gardens.” I assumed that high-yield (especially when combined with small spaces) would mean that it had more information on companion planting or which plants produce more volume in a small area. There was a little bit of information about companion plants, but not really any explanation of how to make this more efficient or pack more plants into one planter. Finally, there is NOTHING “small space” based about the gardens in this book! The author clearly has a large yard space to plant in and to be able to rotate crops around the yard. She includes plants like raspberry and blackberry bushes, and brings up 1-2 squash plants needing an 8’ by 8’ area. A lot of people don’t even have 8’ by 8’ they can garden in for all of their plants combined. If you are actually looking for a “Small Space” gardening book, this is NOT the one to choose.
I think that this book would be much better marketed as a “Beginner’s Guide to Gardening.” The information contained in the book wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t feel that useful to someone with a bit of experience, and definitely wasn’t directed to people with small spaces.
September 4, 2026
I received an e-arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
This book would be better advertised to beginner gardeners rather than people who have been gardening for awhile as a lot of the information is pretty basic and doesn't really go into great deal about plants, soil, contain, etc. Because of this, the word ultimate is a bit stretched in meaning. As someone who has been gardening in smaller spaces for almost 10 years now, I didn't find any of this information revolutionary, finding a lot of it is easily accessible online or even on the back of a seed pack.
Also, and 8ft by 8ft container isn't really a small space. I think this book would have been better if it said something along the lines of 'container' gardening, because containers come in all sorts of sizes so an 8ft by 8ft space for squash and such wouldn't have been such a big deal while reading. I was thinking narrow beds, elevated containers, not a yard full of containers, some of which have bushes in them, which is depicted a few times throughout the book. Not a big deal, but I thought I would mention it if anyone is looking at this as a solution for getting a high yield in a small space.
The author gives a lot of personal opinions with statements starting with "I find" or "I like". I don't mind this because then you know that this is personal experience talking and what works for Nina might not work for you. I also noticed that there are a few things that feel like they were repeated within the book that could have been cut out. The vermiculite and perlite sections that appear in two separate locations within the book, for example. They probably should have been combined in one location or the other to give a comprehensive overview on the topic.
I didn't think the recipe section was strictly necessary. I wanted to read the book for gardening ideas and tips, not on what to do with my produce after. There are some basic recipes in there though. Including the extremely simple how to steam and grill veggies.
This book would be better advertised to beginner gardeners rather than people who have been gardening for awhile as a lot of the information is pretty basic and doesn't really go into great deal about plants, soil, contain, etc. Because of this, the word ultimate is a bit stretched in meaning. As someone who has been gardening in smaller spaces for almost 10 years now, I didn't find any of this information revolutionary, finding a lot of it is easily accessible online or even on the back of a seed pack.
Also, and 8ft by 8ft container isn't really a small space. I think this book would have been better if it said something along the lines of 'container' gardening, because containers come in all sorts of sizes so an 8ft by 8ft space for squash and such wouldn't have been such a big deal while reading. I was thinking narrow beds, elevated containers, not a yard full of containers, some of which have bushes in them, which is depicted a few times throughout the book. Not a big deal, but I thought I would mention it if anyone is looking at this as a solution for getting a high yield in a small space.
The author gives a lot of personal opinions with statements starting with "I find" or "I like". I don't mind this because then you know that this is personal experience talking and what works for Nina might not work for you. I also noticed that there are a few things that feel like they were repeated within the book that could have been cut out. The vermiculite and perlite sections that appear in two separate locations within the book, for example. They probably should have been combined in one location or the other to give a comprehensive overview on the topic.
I didn't think the recipe section was strictly necessary. I wanted to read the book for gardening ideas and tips, not on what to do with my produce after. There are some basic recipes in there though. Including the extremely simple how to steam and grill veggies.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I received this book courtesy of Netgalley for the purpose of a fair and honest review.
Overview: Who wouldn't want a garden these days? Have you seen the price of vegetables? However, many of us only have a small yard. Are we stuck with buying our produce? Mrs. Koziol doesn't think so. Will this book help the would be gardener? Let's find out.
Likes: We get detailed explanations of how to set up raised beds, complete with a good soil composition.
Mrs. Koziol separates the veggies by season, and then offers us recipes for using those veggies.
Conclusion: This is a good book for the small area gardener. If you are starting a backyard garden, or just starting with raised beds, then this book is for you. Enjoy the read.
Overview: Who wouldn't want a garden these days? Have you seen the price of vegetables? However, many of us only have a small yard. Are we stuck with buying our produce? Mrs. Koziol doesn't think so. Will this book help the would be gardener? Let's find out.
Likes: We get detailed explanations of how to set up raised beds, complete with a good soil composition.
Mrs. Koziol separates the veggies by season, and then offers us recipes for using those veggies.
Conclusion: This is a good book for the small area gardener. If you are starting a backyard garden, or just starting with raised beds, then this book is for you. Enjoy the read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews