Starter Vegetable Gardens: 24 No-Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens

by Barbara Pleasant

Overview

Develop your green thumb as you learn to grow your own food. In this introductory guide to growing vegetables, Barbara Pleasant addresses common problems that first-time gardeners encounter. Using simple language and illustrated garden layouts, Pleasant shows you how to start, maintain, and eventually expand an organic vegetable garden in even the tiniest backyard. With handy tips on enriching soil, planting schedules, watering, fighting pests, and more, you’ll quickly discover how easy it is to enjoy your own homegrown vegetables. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603425292
Publisher:	Storey Books
Publication date:	03/17/2010
Pages:	180
Sales rank:	163,777
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 11.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Barbara Pleasant has been covering organic gardening and self-sufficient living for more than 30 years. A contributing editor to Mother Earth News, Pleasant has garnered multiple awards from the Garden Writers Association and the American Nursery and Landscape Association. She has written books on topics ranging from compost to weeds, including Homegrown Pantry, Starter Vegetable Gardens, The Complete Compost Gardening Guide (with Deborah L. Martin), The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual, The Gardener’s Bug Book, The Gardener’s Weed Book, The Gardener’s Guide to Plant Diseases, and Garden Stone. Her columns and articles appear regularly in Mother Earth Living magazine and at GrowVeg.com and on other informational websites. Pleasant lives in Virginia, where she grows vegetables, herbs, and fruits along with a few chickens, who all have names. 

Editorial Reviews

Pleasant (The Complete Compost Gardening Guide) has turned her gift for language and her green thumb into an excellent recourse for the home vegetable gardener. Her No-Fail garden plans, including buying lists, suggested garden layouts, and recommendations for seasonal crop rotations, gently guide the reader. The plans progress through a three-year expansion that easily builds each year's garden off the previous one. Beyond the garden plans, Pleasant introduces necessary topics, such as mulch, watering, insects, and diseases, without intimidating the reluctant gardener. The result for gardeners, who will grow in knowledge and experience as their crops flourish, will be productive, low-maintenance, attractive vegetable gardens. The captivating pictures, detailed diagrams, and excellent appendix and glossary are all bonuses. VERDICT Highly recommended. The gentle guidance here will inspire all new gardeners to get dirty and cultivate their own green thumbs. It will be well used all growing season long.—Jennifer Beach, Indiana State Lib., Richmond

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