The Autopilot Garden: MIGardener's Guide to Hands-off Gardening

by Luke Marion

Train your garden to practically grow itself with this new guide from YouTube gardening sensations Luke and Sindy Marion, founders of MIGardener. Instead of slaving away year after year, work smarter (not harder) by strategizing to help your garden become self-sufficient. Learn to break down traditional thinking and implement systems that will save time, hassle, weeding, water, and space wherever you live. Create an organic garden that allows you to enjoy the rest of the season on autopilot.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Food

192 pages, Paperback

Published February 12, 2019

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straightforward and helpful read. Would have loved to see some example diagrams, especially when he explains sun position, vegetable spacing and veggie layout.

[Redbeebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent suggestions for a more efficient garden, easier to care for and greater results. I tried the high intensity method this summer and had great success. I often watch his YouTube videos weekly.

[Luke Drury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love his YouTube channel, and honestly you will likely get more information in that medium. Too short of a book to really get to the wonders of high intensity spacing and other techniques he endorses.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting take on taking some of the upkeep and tending of the garden. I like his you tube videos and bought the book because of it. No earth shattering revelations in here- just good solid advice. Also wanted to support the author. I buy seeds from his MIgardener.com website, too.

[Crystal Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, full of useful information! An excellent companion to his MIGardener YouTube channel. I feel so much more prepared to get my garden started off right. I can't wait to provide nutritious and delicious food for my family straight from our own land.

[Tina Grove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, can't wait to get started planning next season's garden. I wasn't able to garden in my new house so it has given me a lot to think about for next year.

[Scott Colan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very basic book which reinforces my work on gardening. I really enjoy his YouTube channel and online store

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I follow Luke on YouTube and really love his channel! His videos are enthusiastic, informative, and just really enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately, I feel like this book fell short. It was so short and didn't really provide too many tips or pointers to me. He doesn't specifically discuss any specific vegetables, just discusses his general gardening method. The information was good, it was just so concise. I learn more in a single one of his videos. I actually had a hard time leaving a less than stellar review, since I really like Luke and he is a very relatable author, but I really was expecting so much more. It is a short read, only took around an hour, so I do recommend it if you can check it out, but I'm glad I didn't buy it since I really didn't learn anything new. I highly recommend his YouTube channel though, MIgardener.

[Dj Acrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed Full of Knowledge!

What an enlightening book! This book not only guides you to your path for Autopilot Gardening but it even explains why you would want to have it!!
I loved the "Tomato Myth" section! I had heard of a couple of those but after reading the "Reality" part, I understand why it doesn't apply.
Very Through! And the glossary in the end is fantastic, in case it wasn't clear in the book!
I've followed your YouTube channel for a few years now and I'm still learning new things! Thank you, Luke for taking the time to put your knowledge down on paper, and for always being willing to help!
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is planning to have a garden or even someone who wants to make their gardening more enjoyable!

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book. I’ve watched Luke’s YouTube channel for a while, and finally got the book and bought most of my garden seeds through his company. Cannot recommend enough. He is so fun to watch and so informative- to be honest, any garden question I have, he’s the first one I look to for answers because he usually already has a video on it. And this book really dives into core gardening, which my husband and I are fascinated about. Definitely will put more of his practices into place next garden year.

[Kali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Luke Marion’s YouTube videos are so great and detailed that I was hoping for a bit more substance from this book. The writing is engaging and the information that’s there is good, but the practical takeaways really boil down to the bullet points on the back cover. I would have loved to see a bit more detail like charts, an explanation of what soil/nutrient blends he uses to start raised beds, and any planning and scheduling tips that help put his garden on “autopilot.”

[Emmie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative

[john johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accomplishment on Autopilot

I am as impressed by Luke's career path as this book and his You Tube channel which I have begun to watch. He has literally been doing this practically all his life,and is only 26 years old, if my math is correct. His knowledge is grounded in both education and experience. I learned a lot from reading his book. I am in the process of converting my entire garden to cloth or canvas raised beds, and this book is helpful. I am also planning a fall garden, and his position that summer plants can still be a part of the fall garden has encouraged me to plant some remaining eggplant, pepper and tomato seedlings hoping to harvest them before first frost date (generally November 5). Keep up the good work,, Luke!!

[Sharon Reamer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overall introduction to no-dig organic gardening in raised beds. Beginning gardeners will need to supplement the text by watching Luke's Youtube MIGardener podcasts - and there are hundreds of them! The YT podcasts are vastly superior to the book. I love watching them. But the book is a handy reference for those who need a little help getting started. Not much attention given to pest control. Maybe slugs and snails are less plentiful in Michigan? Perhaps because they've all migrated to take up residence in my small German garden. :)

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been an MIGardener YouTube follower for years so when I found out about the book, I figured I would check it out. It's a great outline for what you need to do to start an autopilot garden, but it just scratches the surface. I do wish it would've been more in depth with all of the concepts, but I figure he was writing it to draw more viewers to his YouTube in search of more comprehensive guides (which is brilliant from a marketing standpoint). So if that was his foal, it absolutely worked on me since I plan on starting my video research tomorrow evening.

[McKell Clyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This spring will be the 3rd from-scratch garden I’ve designed (mostly supervise/assist my husband building 🤪) in the last 5 years. This book gave me some new ideas to implement in the new garden. It probably would have overwhelmed me had I not had a bit of gardening experience under my belt. It will be a book I come back to for reference over the years.

I do wish there was more info and ideas on how to execute the high intensity spacing. It seems like a step farther from square foot gardening that I have experience with and feel confident being able to execute.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of helpful, straightforward information. I appreciate the careful way the author analyzes various gardening methods and incorporates the best parts of each into his own. He also emphasizes that any single part of his system, if implemented, will improve one's garden--a nice bit of encouragement for the beginning gardener who feels overwhelmed at putting everything in place at once. I look forward to using this advice in my own garden this year and seeing the results!

[Julia M. Lindholm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garden Game Changer

I can't tell you how many times while reading this book I turned to my family to say "listen to this..." Everything he suggests makes jaw dropping sense. If it wasn't the end of July I would rip everything out in my garden and start over. Only thing I really got right was my lettuce as I didn't thin it out. Who knew it was the right thing to do?

With this book, his YouTube channel, and a little work, my raised beds will be growing big in 2022.

[Andrew Leaf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this guy’s YouTube channel, but I think this book is a missed opportunity. A manual that distilled all of the details and nuggets of advice from his videos, both in general and broken down by plant, would be extreme useful. Instead, this is a rather light summary of his philosophies (which are good), with too few details to actually be useful as a reference (you’ll have to wade thru the many random videos for that).

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good information

Some common sense, some experience. There's useful information here. It's not an incredibly in-depth book, but still useful. There's a small section on gardening myths that I liked. The author seems like a god writer, so I'd love to see something more in-depth by him.

[Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best gardening book out there!

Luke is the best!!! This book was well written with easy instructions to follow and explanations to comprehend his philosophy of gardening. As a follower of his youtube videos and supporter of his online store I was intrigued by his book and was well worth the read.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple and informative

As a beginner gardener this book is helping me to better understand my new hobby. Luke has put his passion for gardening into a great book to learn his systems of gardening. If you have watched his YouTube, you understand that passion and love and if you haven't, I highly recommend the MIgardener YouTube channel.

[Amber Rieger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book for any gardener with straightforward tips you can start implementing immediately. He presents a series of steps you can take to make your garden more hands off on the manual labor, and can instead just spend more time Enjoying the fruits of your labor! I would also highly recommend this to any beginner gardeners. Quick and easy to get through too.

[Jaymie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for beginner gardeners and/or those who want to know how to make the garden work for you once these steps are in place. I have greatly enjoyed watching Luke’s MiGardener channel over the past year and a half and have learned SO MUCH!

[Linda Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable and informative!

I've loved MIGardener for years! His YouTube channel is so fun to watch. Living in an apartment now, I miss being able to put my hands in beautiful soil, so I watch others doing it. Luke has so many tips and tricks.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad I found Luke's YT channel and his book! This method makes so much sense, although I'm not in a situation where I can try it out yet. But, I'm looking forward to it, hopefully next season!

[Martina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer. There's nothing "autopilot" about the described methods. Rather, it follows principles of letting nature take the reigns. Not as useful as some other books about soil science and regenerative gardening, but still somwhat helpful.

[leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for new method of gardening

Learned about core gardening in this book . I'm a fairly new gardener and have been absorbing information for awhile . I always come back to this book time and time again . Great methods to implement.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really excellent intro to the world of gardening. A primer on permaculture, hugulkultur, and raised bed gardening that takes the best of all methods and brings them into a cohesive, holistic plan for your garden.

[Daniel Stokes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for beginners

Definitely a book oriented towards beginners, but there's plenty of good information here. I would definitely go check out his YouTube channel after this book, which is filled with awesome information over a variety of topics.