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The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-sufficiency in Any Size Backyard
With this accessible and indispensable gardening reference, discover how little land and effort it takes to start growing and preserving your own healthy organic food.
Modern homesteading is a lifestyle focused on living lightly on the land and increasing self-sufficiency . It doesn’t matter whether “home” is 50 acres in the country, a suburban corner lot, or an apartment in the city; all you need is a desire to reduce your footprint on the earth and live a more sustainable life . To be a modern homesteader, you don’t have to live off-grid and you don’t have to give up contemporary conveniences.
For most modern homesteaders, it all starts with making the conscious decision to reduce your reliance on the commercial food supply chain . In The Modern Homestead Garden, author and YouTube gardening star Gary Pilarchik of The Rusted Garden walks you step-by-step through the process of building a homestead garden . From laying out the planting beds , nurturing the soil , and starting seeds , straight through to cooking and preserving the harvest , Gary serves as your warm and reassuring guide, no matter how large or how small your homestead is. With the guidance found here, you’ll move at your own pace, learn, share, and enjoy the journey as you slowly transform your home into an edible landscape .
Modern homesteading is as much an attitude as it is an action. It’s not dependent on how much land you have or even how much food you can grow; it’s about cultivating self-sufficiency and self-reliance, no matter its level . Welcome to The Modern Homestead Garden.
Modern homesteading is a lifestyle focused on living lightly on the land and increasing self-sufficiency . It doesn’t matter whether “home” is 50 acres in the country, a suburban corner lot, or an apartment in the city; all you need is a desire to reduce your footprint on the earth and live a more sustainable life . To be a modern homesteader, you don’t have to live off-grid and you don’t have to give up contemporary conveniences.
For most modern homesteaders, it all starts with making the conscious decision to reduce your reliance on the commercial food supply chain . In The Modern Homestead Garden, author and YouTube gardening star Gary Pilarchik of The Rusted Garden walks you step-by-step through the process of building a homestead garden . From laying out the planting beds , nurturing the soil , and starting seeds , straight through to cooking and preserving the harvest , Gary serves as your warm and reassuring guide, no matter how large or how small your homestead is. With the guidance found here, you’ll move at your own pace, learn, share, and enjoy the journey as you slowly transform your home into an edible landscape .
Modern homesteading is as much an attitude as it is an action. It’s not dependent on how much land you have or even how much food you can grow; it’s about cultivating self-sufficiency and self-reliance, no matter its level . Welcome to The Modern Homestead Garden.
160 pages, Paperback
Published April 13, 2021
174 people are currently reading
260 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
January 18, 2021
As someone who is a modern homestead gardener, I expected a little more from this book. I'm not sure how different it is from an average garden book. It does have some good information, but I was hoping for more about truly sustainable and modern homesteading principles like permaculture, hugelkultur beds, wild edible foods (even those that volunteer on your homestead or in your garden, because there will be plenty and some are even better tasting than a lot of garden veggies), creative mulches and fertilizers, no-till gardening, and so on. This book reminds me of something I would have read 20 years ago, even though it is packed with information and filled with lovely color photos. There's lots of talk about things like which ingredients to purchase to make your own seed starting mix, or what fertilizers and grow lights to use. Never once does it mention concepts that I consider pretty standard for modern homestead gardeners who are sustainably minded, like using green fertilizers and cover crops, making nettle tea for fertilizer (you'll probably have nettles that are popping up free and they are superfoods for people and gardens), and so on. The section on edible landscaping was very standard -- apple trees and raspberries when you could go so much farther with elderberries, aronia, hawthorn, etc. for food and medicine. You can even take it farther by tapping your backyard trees for sap/syrup besides just sugar maples. We tap our Norway maple and our daughter Rhia's walnut and maple every spring to make small but delicious quantities of syrup. In other cases, plants were mentioned where I felt like saying "oh, you should have warned them about this though...".
This will be a great book for suburban folks who want to grow a nicely productive garden to help become more self sufficient. It wasn't quite hard core enough for me, but I am almost definitely an outlier. :)
I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.
This will be a great book for suburban folks who want to grow a nicely productive garden to help become more self sufficient. It wasn't quite hard core enough for me, but I am almost definitely an outlier. :)
I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.
December 9, 2024
Grace and I will begin our garden this Spring! For her part, Grace has acquired several John Deere children's books to round out our education.
May 12, 2022
I had checked this out from the library but ended up purchasing this book as it had such good tips and information on gardening and basic self sufficiency.
This is definitely an easy and excellent how-to book for beginners, such as myself, on becoming more self sufficient by growing more of your own food in your backyard.
This is definitely an easy and excellent how-to book for beginners, such as myself, on becoming more self sufficient by growing more of your own food in your backyard.
March 17, 2021
Good info about planning, planting and growing various types of vegetables and fruits, although it was more high-level and beginner-oriented than I expected or hoped from a book marketed for "homestead" type gardens. I would've liked more info on things like how much to grow to feed x number of people for x time period, and how that translates into garden size and layout; more information on storing your harvest (how and where could one build a root cellar? If we don't have one, what else could work?). The book did have lots of good photos, and the sidebars/callouts broke up the text to make the book easy to read.
February 8, 2022
Gary did a very nice job on this book! Other gardening books may be fancier or more technical—and they lose me. Gary is so practical and get-er-done, down to earth (no pun intended)! I read this book last year from the library, then again more thoroughly this year after getting it for a Christmas present. Gary’s practical, experienced advice gives me confidence to just-do-it, and I made significant progress in expanding my garden last year, and plan to all the more this year. Make no mistake, he knows what he’s talking about and very experienced, but not fussy, doesn’t obsess about the less important issues, and is just plain encouraging—and even encourages trial and error! My favorite quote from Gary’s book and YouTube videos goes something like this — if your yard has dirt, trees, grass and weeds, you can grow a garden! That encouraged me to get 15 tomato plants I had started from seed into the ground, before I had made just the perfect spot for them, and I enjoyed many delicious tomatoes and learned so much in the process, even with the failures and disappointments. This is a great, very balanced, thorough book to get any new gardener started!
August 28, 2021
I first found Gary through his YouTube channel, The Rusted Garden, and found out that he is full of garden wisdom. His homestead is stunning and he grows so many different varieties and plants. He just has a lot of knowledge to offer and I like his teaching style so, naturally, I had to get his book! This book was jam-packed full of gardening gold and I learned a lot. I am super happy to have this book to refer to when I need gardening help.
May 31, 2021
Good vegetable gardening book for beginners.
February 14, 2024
pretty basic intro to gardening
September 27, 2021
Another good and easy-to-read, gardening self-help book.
March 22, 2024
Helped me create a gardening plan!
May 29, 2021
This is a very approachable book that is geared more towards beginners than those who are already experienced in food gardening. The author stresses the importance of just getting started. There is no reason to over complicate the process. You can learn as you go. I find this very refreshing. Nothing is ridged & the reader is encouraged to work with what they have & of course, grow what is of interest to them.
It is clear that the author has a very small homestead garden. This enforces the fact that one doesn't have to have acres of land in order to feed oneself. The importance of reducing ones dependence on outside sources cannot be stressed enough. To be fair no homestead is an island & you will likely always need to bring in outside sources. However, the idea is to reduce this dependency as much as possible.
Being a full time eco farmer with acreage, I can tell you right now, that I only grow foodstuffs on a very small portion of my land. The rest is in hay or what I call pasture which is mainly for my cattle, although my birds & bunnies get a lot of enjoyment out of it as well. Growing your own food can be an incredible amount of work. This takes me back to the beginning. Start small & learn. It doesn't matter if you are growing one tomato plant on your apartment balcony, starting 5 raised beds, square foot gardening, or dreaming of something bigger. Just start small & grow from there.
This book solely focuses on the authors experience in his own homestead garden. This is important to note because everyone has different climates, therefore different growing needs. This doesn't mean the information presented is not of value, it is.
Vegetables discussed are the following:
Peppers
Squash & Zucchini
Cucumbers
Beans
Peas
Cauliflower & Broccoli
Kale & Collard Greens
Cabbages
Radishes
Asparagus
Onions
Lettuces
After exploring these vegetables in some detail the author discusses buying seeds (I have a minor disagreement here), seed starting, & transplants. My minor disagreement is that the author feels it doesn't matter if you buy conventional or organic seeds as you cannot buy GMO seeds. While it is true that you have to be under contract to grow GMO seed plants & that it is highly unlikely any seed you order or buy at the store for home use will be genetically modified, that is still no reason not to buy organic seed. My reason is that you are supporting a growing method that is kinder to the environment & the workers. As with everything else you buy, when you buy organic seed, you send a clear message to businesses that this is what you want. Nothing speaks louder than how we chose to spend our money. I also think it's important to support heritage seed suppliers as we are loosing more of our plant diversity. To me, conventional seed should only be purchased when all other resources have been exhausted.
One of the things I really like about this book is how the author stresses the importance of compost. Basically, if you always add compost, you'll likely never need to feed your garden anything else. Thankfully the author leans towards organic options should you find you need to buy soil amendments aka fertilizer. However, the author does give the green light on using conventional fertilizers on occasion if needed. I have been organically growing my own crops for nearly two decades & I have never, not once resorted to conventional methods to feed my crops. In fact, the only fertilizer I use consistently is OMRI approved to make the soil more acidic for my acid loving plants like blueberries, evergreen trees & strawberries. The author truly is dead to rights that if you consistently add plenty of compost to your beds at a minimum of once a year, you should never need to add anything to your soil to keep your garden healthy.
Chapter Five 'Building Earth And Raised Beds'. This is a short chapter but still useful. Here the author shows several ways you can create raised beds & sunken containers. He also discuses how to use soil amendments such as peat moss, coco coir, organic fertilizers, compost & manures.
Chapter Six 'Homestead Container Gardening'. This is great for those of you wanting to start small. In the beginning I did a lot of container gardening. It absolutely has it's pro's & con's as the author explains. Personally, I am not a big fan of container gardening, but that doesn't mean it can't be incredibly useful depending on ones growing situation. You even get to learn how to make your own container soil rather than buying a premix bags which can get expensive very fast.
Chapter Seven 'Tending Your Gardens'. This is all about maintaining healthy soils (hint: compost), watering, crop support, pruning, etc.
Chapter Eight is the dreaded chapter about pests, diseases, & the power of pollinators. The author keeps this pretty simple. He explains what he has found works best for him in dealing with various pests. The recipes provided are for natural methods like diluted soap, essential oils, baking soda, sulfur, & neem. The author also explains the importance of growing crops such as flowers that will attract beneficial insects to your garden. This is a method I have always employed. My crops share space with a wide variety of flowering plants which means I see an abundance of bees, butterflies, ground wasps & more. The author also mentions attracting birds. This is an iffy one as the birds can also become the pests, eating your crops.
Chapter Nine discusses growing fruit crops. What the author calls an edible landscape. The following are discussed:
Strawberries
Mulberries
Goji Berries
Blueberries (my favorite)
Raspberries
Blackberries
Grapes (something I plan to grow soon)
Fruit & Nut Trees
As a grower of fruit crops, my biggest issue has always been figuring out how to keep the birds from eating everything. This can be a real pain. However, nothing beats just picked fruit warmed by the summer sun that you pop right into your mouth. It is worth the battle with the birds.
In chapter ten you finally get to store & eat your harvest. Very basic pickling, canning, drying & freezing is discussed with a small handful of recipes. I highly recommend 'The Ball Blue Book' mainly for canning guidance although it does cover other food preservation methods & 'Wild Fermentation' by Sandor Katz if you are interesting in fermenting your foodstuffs.
Throughout the book there are plenty of charts & photos to both inspire you & help you along. While I am well beyond being a beginner, I enjoyed this book very much & consider it a keeper. I plan on trying a few of the pest treatment methods as I do have my own, but am curious to see if some of the authors methods are more successful for me.
It is clear that the author has a very small homestead garden. This enforces the fact that one doesn't have to have acres of land in order to feed oneself. The importance of reducing ones dependence on outside sources cannot be stressed enough. To be fair no homestead is an island & you will likely always need to bring in outside sources. However, the idea is to reduce this dependency as much as possible.
Being a full time eco farmer with acreage, I can tell you right now, that I only grow foodstuffs on a very small portion of my land. The rest is in hay or what I call pasture which is mainly for my cattle, although my birds & bunnies get a lot of enjoyment out of it as well. Growing your own food can be an incredible amount of work. This takes me back to the beginning. Start small & learn. It doesn't matter if you are growing one tomato plant on your apartment balcony, starting 5 raised beds, square foot gardening, or dreaming of something bigger. Just start small & grow from there.
This book solely focuses on the authors experience in his own homestead garden. This is important to note because everyone has different climates, therefore different growing needs. This doesn't mean the information presented is not of value, it is.
Vegetables discussed are the following:
Peppers
Squash & Zucchini
Cucumbers
Beans
Peas
Cauliflower & Broccoli
Kale & Collard Greens
Cabbages
Radishes
Asparagus
Onions
Lettuces
After exploring these vegetables in some detail the author discusses buying seeds (I have a minor disagreement here), seed starting, & transplants. My minor disagreement is that the author feels it doesn't matter if you buy conventional or organic seeds as you cannot buy GMO seeds. While it is true that you have to be under contract to grow GMO seed plants & that it is highly unlikely any seed you order or buy at the store for home use will be genetically modified, that is still no reason not to buy organic seed. My reason is that you are supporting a growing method that is kinder to the environment & the workers. As with everything else you buy, when you buy organic seed, you send a clear message to businesses that this is what you want. Nothing speaks louder than how we chose to spend our money. I also think it's important to support heritage seed suppliers as we are loosing more of our plant diversity. To me, conventional seed should only be purchased when all other resources have been exhausted.
One of the things I really like about this book is how the author stresses the importance of compost. Basically, if you always add compost, you'll likely never need to feed your garden anything else. Thankfully the author leans towards organic options should you find you need to buy soil amendments aka fertilizer. However, the author does give the green light on using conventional fertilizers on occasion if needed. I have been organically growing my own crops for nearly two decades & I have never, not once resorted to conventional methods to feed my crops. In fact, the only fertilizer I use consistently is OMRI approved to make the soil more acidic for my acid loving plants like blueberries, evergreen trees & strawberries. The author truly is dead to rights that if you consistently add plenty of compost to your beds at a minimum of once a year, you should never need to add anything to your soil to keep your garden healthy.
Chapter Five 'Building Earth And Raised Beds'. This is a short chapter but still useful. Here the author shows several ways you can create raised beds & sunken containers. He also discuses how to use soil amendments such as peat moss, coco coir, organic fertilizers, compost & manures.
Chapter Six 'Homestead Container Gardening'. This is great for those of you wanting to start small. In the beginning I did a lot of container gardening. It absolutely has it's pro's & con's as the author explains. Personally, I am not a big fan of container gardening, but that doesn't mean it can't be incredibly useful depending on ones growing situation. You even get to learn how to make your own container soil rather than buying a premix bags which can get expensive very fast.
Chapter Seven 'Tending Your Gardens'. This is all about maintaining healthy soils (hint: compost), watering, crop support, pruning, etc.
Chapter Eight is the dreaded chapter about pests, diseases, & the power of pollinators. The author keeps this pretty simple. He explains what he has found works best for him in dealing with various pests. The recipes provided are for natural methods like diluted soap, essential oils, baking soda, sulfur, & neem. The author also explains the importance of growing crops such as flowers that will attract beneficial insects to your garden. This is a method I have always employed. My crops share space with a wide variety of flowering plants which means I see an abundance of bees, butterflies, ground wasps & more. The author also mentions attracting birds. This is an iffy one as the birds can also become the pests, eating your crops.
Chapter Nine discusses growing fruit crops. What the author calls an edible landscape. The following are discussed:
Strawberries
Mulberries
Goji Berries
Blueberries (my favorite)
Raspberries
Blackberries
Grapes (something I plan to grow soon)
Fruit & Nut Trees
As a grower of fruit crops, my biggest issue has always been figuring out how to keep the birds from eating everything. This can be a real pain. However, nothing beats just picked fruit warmed by the summer sun that you pop right into your mouth. It is worth the battle with the birds.
In chapter ten you finally get to store & eat your harvest. Very basic pickling, canning, drying & freezing is discussed with a small handful of recipes. I highly recommend 'The Ball Blue Book' mainly for canning guidance although it does cover other food preservation methods & 'Wild Fermentation' by Sandor Katz if you are interesting in fermenting your foodstuffs.
Throughout the book there are plenty of charts & photos to both inspire you & help you along. While I am well beyond being a beginner, I enjoyed this book very much & consider it a keeper. I plan on trying a few of the pest treatment methods as I do have my own, but am curious to see if some of the authors methods are more successful for me.
February 7, 2021
This is exactly what I wanted... a look at sustainable gardening and some of the methods that might help a beginner. It has a step by step and covers all the basics....pests, containers, seeding, cold weather crops, and warm weather crops.
What did I like? This is a great book for starting a homestead garden. This is my first year gardening and this covers a start of doing it yourself. With the recent pandemic more people are moving from the cities and it’s clear that survival may include growing your own food. I was tickled to be offered this book to peruse since I’m one of those people that want to eat my own crops.
Would I recommend or buy? It’s really a beginners basic but still has a ton of tips and tricks. I would definitely buy a copy, and recommend to people looking to grow their own food. You don’t have to have a huge yard but it’d be difficult for people in apartments to get a ton out of this book. I really enjoyed it.
I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left a review! Five stars! Huge enjoyment for me!
What did I like? This is a great book for starting a homestead garden. This is my first year gardening and this covers a start of doing it yourself. With the recent pandemic more people are moving from the cities and it’s clear that survival may include growing your own food. I was tickled to be offered this book to peruse since I’m one of those people that want to eat my own crops.
Would I recommend or buy? It’s really a beginners basic but still has a ton of tips and tricks. I would definitely buy a copy, and recommend to people looking to grow their own food. You don’t have to have a huge yard but it’d be difficult for people in apartments to get a ton out of this book. I really enjoyed it.
I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left a review! Five stars! Huge enjoyment for me!
September 3, 2021
I watch Gary's videos just as soon as they come out on his YouTube channel and as a first-time gardener this year, this book has been a lifesaver! My first effort at gardening may have NOT been perfect, but I did grow an overabundance of awesome tomatoes if I do say so myself! *grin*
Now, putting in my Fall garden and I plan to defeat all those pesky pests that got the better of me in my Spring garden...
Now, putting in my Fall garden and I plan to defeat all those pesky pests that got the better of me in my Spring garden...
April 2, 2021
Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
The Modern Homestead Garden is a tutorial gardening guide written by Gary Pilarchik. Due out 27th April 2021 from Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint, it's 160 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats (ebook available now).
This is a well written and efficient guide to planning, siting, building, planting, growing, and harvesting a garden (mostly aimed at food production) for beginning to intermediate home/suburban gardeners. The author's aim is to show readers how to increase their food security by tending and growing their own vegetables. It's a flexible book and there are good information-dense takeaways for suburban (and possibly urban) dwellers in addition to people who live in rural areas and probably have more room for a large garden. In fact one of his good pieces of advice to beginners is to proceed slowly and systematically and NOT just try to provide for your family's entire food needs in one go (guaranteed to result in disappointment).
The book has a logical layout with information arranged intuitively: what homesteading means in the modern use of the word, first gardens, choosing what to grow and planting, choosing and starting seeds & transplants, growing, semi-permaculture with earthen and raised beds, container gardening, garden tending, troubleshooting, edible landscaping, and how to use/store the harvest. There's also a cross-referenced index.
This is a good beginner to intermediate guide for people who are interested in decreasing their impact on the environment and find themselves floundering a bit to know where to start. I would recommend this one for public or school library acquisition, gardening and maker's groups, community gardens, and related groups as well as would-be home gardeners. There is unlikely to be much in-depth info which would be of use to truck-farmers or actual homesteaders. (In fact, the author himself says in the introduction that it's not necessary to leave your community or move off grid to have a homestead).
Four stars. Beautifully illustrated in color throughout.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Modern Homestead Garden is a tutorial gardening guide written by Gary Pilarchik. Due out 27th April 2021 from Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint, it's 160 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats (ebook available now).
This is a well written and efficient guide to planning, siting, building, planting, growing, and harvesting a garden (mostly aimed at food production) for beginning to intermediate home/suburban gardeners. The author's aim is to show readers how to increase their food security by tending and growing their own vegetables. It's a flexible book and there are good information-dense takeaways for suburban (and possibly urban) dwellers in addition to people who live in rural areas and probably have more room for a large garden. In fact one of his good pieces of advice to beginners is to proceed slowly and systematically and NOT just try to provide for your family's entire food needs in one go (guaranteed to result in disappointment).
The book has a logical layout with information arranged intuitively: what homesteading means in the modern use of the word, first gardens, choosing what to grow and planting, choosing and starting seeds & transplants, growing, semi-permaculture with earthen and raised beds, container gardening, garden tending, troubleshooting, edible landscaping, and how to use/store the harvest. There's also a cross-referenced index.
This is a good beginner to intermediate guide for people who are interested in decreasing their impact on the environment and find themselves floundering a bit to know where to start. I would recommend this one for public or school library acquisition, gardening and maker's groups, community gardens, and related groups as well as would-be home gardeners. There is unlikely to be much in-depth info which would be of use to truck-farmers or actual homesteaders. (In fact, the author himself says in the introduction that it's not necessary to leave your community or move off grid to have a homestead).
Four stars. Beautifully illustrated in color throughout.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
March 13, 2021
Good starter book with a wealth of information…
I am just getting back into the veggie garden game and I’ve been browsing a number of starter books, needing all the help I can get! He cover caught my eye of this one and it lived up to the delicious carrots it captured…
There is a LOT of information here with lots of details from talking soil types and care, ph levels and why they are important, to the benefits and variety of composting methods. It lists a number of vegetables, when to grow them and how best to get good results. The book is full of beautiful pictures, something for me to aspire to, and laid out in a logical format.
The read itself was a mixed bag for me. On one hand it was an excellent beginner’s gardening book, whether you have an apartment container garden or a full-fledged, grown in the soil patch, there was something for everyone. It was also full of stats and figures that overwhelmed me in the first go round though I know I will be going back and reviewing every one of these charts when I start planting very soon.
I would recommend this book if you are just starting out, it is an excellent primer. If you are looking for cutting edge technology when it comes to your home garden, there are newer techniques not found here. I would use this as a table book (the photos are lovely) but also a reference guide to use whether I am starting my veggies from seeds or starters. Lot of great information that I would recommend for any beginner veggie enthusiast. I will be looking for this in print form as the photos and the information I will be using again and again.
*I happily reviewed this book (even though it made me hungry for a fresh salad)
*Thank you to NetGalley
I am just getting back into the veggie garden game and I’ve been browsing a number of starter books, needing all the help I can get! He cover caught my eye of this one and it lived up to the delicious carrots it captured…
There is a LOT of information here with lots of details from talking soil types and care, ph levels and why they are important, to the benefits and variety of composting methods. It lists a number of vegetables, when to grow them and how best to get good results. The book is full of beautiful pictures, something for me to aspire to, and laid out in a logical format.
The read itself was a mixed bag for me. On one hand it was an excellent beginner’s gardening book, whether you have an apartment container garden or a full-fledged, grown in the soil patch, there was something for everyone. It was also full of stats and figures that overwhelmed me in the first go round though I know I will be going back and reviewing every one of these charts when I start planting very soon.
I would recommend this book if you are just starting out, it is an excellent primer. If you are looking for cutting edge technology when it comes to your home garden, there are newer techniques not found here. I would use this as a table book (the photos are lovely) but also a reference guide to use whether I am starting my veggies from seeds or starters. Lot of great information that I would recommend for any beginner veggie enthusiast. I will be looking for this in print form as the photos and the information I will be using again and again.
*I happily reviewed this book (even though it made me hungry for a fresh salad)
*Thank you to NetGalley
March 11, 2022
I admit to being partial to Pilarchik because I am a huge fan of his YouTube channel, but I genuinely love and appreciate this book. I am not a beginning gardener, but I am constantly looking for ways to improve the craft, and Pilarchik inspired and motivated me to push my limits, especially when it comes to composting and making vegetable sauces. Pilarchik clearly and efficiently breaks down the elements of gardening so novice gardeners can feel confident in at least getting started.
One thing I've always loved about Pilarchik's idea of homesteading is his emphasis on not needing lots of land to start on our homesteading journey. "You can grow food on decks, patios, porches, and balconies, not just in large in-ground garden plots. There are no size or location requirements for a homestead" (9). He challenges the reader to start growing and he shows them how to build and maintain their first garden. "...the easiest first step in your journey toward greater self-sufficiency is to learn how to grow some of your own food" (9).
This book is well-organized and informative, and the colorful glossy pictures are outstanding.
One thing I've always loved about Pilarchik's idea of homesteading is his emphasis on not needing lots of land to start on our homesteading journey. "You can grow food on decks, patios, porches, and balconies, not just in large in-ground garden plots. There are no size or location requirements for a homestead" (9). He challenges the reader to start growing and he shows them how to build and maintain their first garden. "...the easiest first step in your journey toward greater self-sufficiency is to learn how to grow some of your own food" (9).
This book is well-organized and informative, and the colorful glossy pictures are outstanding.
December 30, 2020
I started watching The Rusted Garden several years ago and was so excited when I learned that he was writing a book. I enjoy starting my day watching a video, but at heart, I am a book person, and to have so much of his gardening advice in my hands, to me, is worth a whole pile of compost, a/k/a black gold.
If you want to live more self-sufficiently and grow as much of your own food as possible, this is a great place to begin. The book is divided into ten chapters that cover everything from building your first garden, to seed starting, choosing the right variety of plants or seeds, disease, and pest control, and preserving or cooking with your harvest. The information is presented in a straight forward manner, and there are lovely pictures that accompany each chapter.
Whether you have room to grow a large garden or just enough room for some pots, you will find something to help you get started or improve your garden. I enjoyed my time reading this ebook, and I am looking forward to buying a physical copy when it publishes. A terrific resource shared by a great teacher.
If you want to live more self-sufficiently and grow as much of your own food as possible, this is a great place to begin. The book is divided into ten chapters that cover everything from building your first garden, to seed starting, choosing the right variety of plants or seeds, disease, and pest control, and preserving or cooking with your harvest. The information is presented in a straight forward manner, and there are lovely pictures that accompany each chapter.
Whether you have room to grow a large garden or just enough room for some pots, you will find something to help you get started or improve your garden. I enjoyed my time reading this ebook, and I am looking forward to buying a physical copy when it publishes. A terrific resource shared by a great teacher.
January 22, 2022
See my full review here.
A well-known YouTube gardening expert, here Pilarchik offers excellent advice for new gardeners wanting to grow more of their own food. He takes a simple “just get it in the ground” approach - seeds wanna sprout! Over ten chapters, Pilarchik tackles gardening from choosing the right plants, growing from seed, to tending the garden to bring it to harvest. He includes advice on container and raised-bed gardening, and edible landscaping. There's a helpful index. While it's loaded with photos, most lack captions, making it most annoying for anyone interested in knowing the variety. I would describe this is as a beginner gardener book (though there are helpful tips for the more experienced), rather than a resource for a homesteader. If you want to know how much food to grow to support you and your family, try David Toht’s excellent Backyard Homesteading, or Mel Bartholomew’s All-New Square Foot Gardening.
A well-known YouTube gardening expert, here Pilarchik offers excellent advice for new gardeners wanting to grow more of their own food. He takes a simple “just get it in the ground” approach - seeds wanna sprout! Over ten chapters, Pilarchik tackles gardening from choosing the right plants, growing from seed, to tending the garden to bring it to harvest. He includes advice on container and raised-bed gardening, and edible landscaping. There's a helpful index. While it's loaded with photos, most lack captions, making it most annoying for anyone interested in knowing the variety. I would describe this is as a beginner gardener book (though there are helpful tips for the more experienced), rather than a resource for a homesteader. If you want to know how much food to grow to support you and your family, try David Toht’s excellent Backyard Homesteading, or Mel Bartholomew’s All-New Square Foot Gardening.
September 25, 2023
I love Gary Pilarchik’s YouTube channel and have been watching that for years. He’s basically in the same growing zone as me so I can pretty much just do exactly what he does which is great. I started gardening with my grandmother as a child, but I still have so much to learn. This is a great beginner guide, and I definitely recommend watching his YouTube channel as well. The videos really help clarify things and Gary seems like such a nice guy, it’s like getting to garden with him. Also I also find it very heartening to see that his garden also usually looks a little chaotic and messy too 😂 this book says it’s about homesteading, but that word means something different to different people. For me it goes into the perfect amount of “homesteading”, as I live in the city with just a backyard that my dogs also crap all over and I work full time and travel and raise my kids and have other hobbies. So if you’re like me you’ll get a lot from this book, but if you’re a doomsday survivalist crunchy granola Rick Grimes it might be too elementary.
March 29, 2021
***4.5 stars*** I am basically a novice, backyard gardener who started with basic herbs and over the past few years has added a variety of tomatoes, lettuce and peppers. There is nothing more satisfying then growing your own food!
The Modern Homestead Garden is a wonderful and resourceful book for those (like me) wanting to expand their gardening knowledge and skills. This garden book contains easy to read chapters on many topics from soil preparation to pests/disease control to different ways to grow your garden in container, raised beds or earth beds.
This is a very good, all-around, informative gardening book. Author Gary Pilarchik also has a YouTube channel called The Rusted Garden which I recommend along with his book. Happy Gardening!!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Cool Springs Press for a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. #TheModernHomestead #NetGalley
The Modern Homestead Garden is a wonderful and resourceful book for those (like me) wanting to expand their gardening knowledge and skills. This garden book contains easy to read chapters on many topics from soil preparation to pests/disease control to different ways to grow your garden in container, raised beds or earth beds.
This is a very good, all-around, informative gardening book. Author Gary Pilarchik also has a YouTube channel called The Rusted Garden which I recommend along with his book. Happy Gardening!!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Cool Springs Press for a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. #TheModernHomestead #NetGalley
February 5, 2021
The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-sufficiency in Any Size Backyard by Gary Pilarchik
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group – Cool Springs Press
Genre: Home & Garden
Release Date: March 23, 2021
The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-sufficiency in Any Size Backyard by Gary Pilarchik is a beginners guide to starting a homestead garden and increasing self-sufficiency.
I found this book to be filled with so much great information and it was written in a easy to understand way. The pictures were beautiful and really added to the book.
I would definitely recommend this book to someone who is looking to start their own garden.
I'm so grateful to Joanne Fluke, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group – Cool Springs Press
Genre: Home & Garden
Release Date: March 23, 2021
The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-sufficiency in Any Size Backyard by Gary Pilarchik is a beginners guide to starting a homestead garden and increasing self-sufficiency.
I found this book to be filled with so much great information and it was written in a easy to understand way. The pictures were beautiful and really added to the book.
I would definitely recommend this book to someone who is looking to start their own garden.
I'm so grateful to Joanne Fluke, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.
March 11, 2021
This book was received as an ARC from Quarto Group - Cool Springs Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.
I've always wanted to know more about each of the seasons of vegetables and which ones taste better in each season and this book definitely answered those questions and more. The photographs were beautifully taken and all of the different plants and veggies looked absolutely delicious. If you want a book that will increase your vegetable cravings, this book is it. A lot of our patrons are gardening enthusiasts and always ask about new and upcoming books on growing vegetables and creating the perfect garden and I am happy to pass along this title.
We will consider adding this title to our SB Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.
I've always wanted to know more about each of the seasons of vegetables and which ones taste better in each season and this book definitely answered those questions and more. The photographs were beautifully taken and all of the different plants and veggies looked absolutely delicious. If you want a book that will increase your vegetable cravings, this book is it. A lot of our patrons are gardening enthusiasts and always ask about new and upcoming books on growing vegetables and creating the perfect garden and I am happy to pass along this title.
We will consider adding this title to our SB Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.
May 25, 2022
For a beginner book on homesteading, I thought The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-Sufficiency in Any Size Backyard was a fantastic gardening book. The book itself is well laid out and filled with great information and advice for new gardeners. This book starts from the basics, giving homeowners and renters what they need to start their first homestead garden, no matter their situation. It is filled with quite a few gorgeous pictures and informational charts, making it a fantastic reference book. I especially love that the advice is very down to Earth, allowing just about anyone to garden for the first time and have realistic expectations. Overall, I consider this a must-have gift for a new homeowner or someone wanting to create their first garden.
June 12, 2023
2.5 stars rounded up. As someone who considers themselves a modern homestead gardener I was excited to see this at the library. I expected so much more from the title and description. This is no different than any beginner garden book. Not sure how it's "homestead" specific at all. If you are completely new to gardening this might be an OK introduction (but there are certainly better texts). At least some of the information on soil amendments and natural fertilizers is not scientifically sound advice. Like many other gardening books it also assumes that everyone in the nation has acidic soil that's full of clay and has too much water in the form of rainfall. Not appropriate for a desert gardener at all. Disappointing.
Read
February 24, 2021Since I'm currently obsessed with creating a garden in the backyard of my new home this spring and have been reading all the garden books I can, I was excited to read The Modern Homestead Garden. This book has all of the basic information that you would expect from a book about gardening. I appreciated that it included a section on fruit trees and shrubs because that isn't something that I've seen a lot in the other gardening books that I have been reading. If you already are familiar with gardening, then this book probably won't have much new for you. However, this book would be perfect for beginners.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
February 2, 2022
I follow Gary on YouTube and love his videos. So I HAD to buy his book.
It is a good, basic book, especially good for someone who is just starting out gardening. And a quick refresher for experienced gardeners. I particularly like the fact he gives lots of ideas in small chunks and references his videos for more in-depth information.
His basic premise is 'go garden'. It doesn't matter how or where, just go grow stuff. Plus he and I have similar backgrounds when it comes to what started us gardening.
It was a quick read with lots of pictures to show what he is talking about. A great 'beginners' book - it won't overwhelm you, but will give you the basics.
It is a good, basic book, especially good for someone who is just starting out gardening. And a quick refresher for experienced gardeners. I particularly like the fact he gives lots of ideas in small chunks and references his videos for more in-depth information.
His basic premise is 'go garden'. It doesn't matter how or where, just go grow stuff. Plus he and I have similar backgrounds when it comes to what started us gardening.
It was a quick read with lots of pictures to show what he is talking about. A great 'beginners' book - it won't overwhelm you, but will give you the basics.
April 8, 2023
Awesome for gardening newbies as well as seasoned gardeners
This book is very informative and in-depth without being long winded and preachy. This book is perfect for every gardener from beginners to experts and I love that it has recipes for starting and potting mixes instruction for container in ground and raised bed gardens and suggestions on how to control pests and diseases. I am a huge fan of The Rusted Garden blog and YouTube channel where he has tons of in depth gardening videos. This is a great read if you're a garden nerd like me or just getting into gardening and self sufficiency.
This book is very informative and in-depth without being long winded and preachy. This book is perfect for every gardener from beginners to experts and I love that it has recipes for starting and potting mixes instruction for container in ground and raised bed gardens and suggestions on how to control pests and diseases. I am a huge fan of The Rusted Garden blog and YouTube channel where he has tons of in depth gardening videos. This is a great read if you're a garden nerd like me or just getting into gardening and self sufficiency.
September 22, 2022
The book has a good pedagogical philosophy - don’t put your gardening attempts into a straitjacket , otherwise you will quickly get overwhelmed and discouraged. Instead, start, get going, take Notes and adapt when you notice trial and error. I like the trial and error methods, better than a requirement to recite everything in books!
The downside is, I don’t think I retained much of the how to… I guess gardening , like many things, could only be learned by doing. So an appreciation of the pedagogical philosophy is the best I could do, if I only read books without hands on tinkering.
The downside is, I don’t think I retained much of the how to… I guess gardening , like many things, could only be learned by doing. So an appreciation of the pedagogical philosophy is the best I could do, if I only read books without hands on tinkering.
October 12, 2022
Very good book,
This is my first book on gardening, and using organic ways to garden. I've tried some of his methods on pest control. I lived in the upstate South Carolina. I was originally from New Jersey. What a difference between zone 5 to 7. I've used a netting material, tulle, to control caterpillars, and flying insects at night, then during the day i remove or open up to allow the pollinators in. Hoping next year I'll do better.
This is my first book on gardening, and using organic ways to garden. I've tried some of his methods on pest control. I lived in the upstate South Carolina. I was originally from New Jersey. What a difference between zone 5 to 7. I've used a netting material, tulle, to control caterpillars, and flying insects at night, then during the day i remove or open up to allow the pollinators in. Hoping next year I'll do better.
March 21, 2021
I love to read gardening books, although i am a horrible gardener. I love to buy and plant different things but fall when it comes to the actual cultivation. This book gave me a lot of inspiration. The photos were wonderful. It contains many tips to help the inconsistent gardner keep growing. This is a nice book to have.
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