Craft Book Review: Stress-Free Vegetable Gardening by Caleb Warnock

Genre: Gardening

176 p.

Published: 2/9/16

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Source: From publisher for review

No more excuses! Well-known author Caleb Warnock provides insightful instruction on how to make gardening fun, easy, and stress-free.

You will learn such things as how to silence popular gardening myths, avoid those obnoxious weeds, remove pests safely and without nasty chemicals, grow vegetables year-round, and so much more!

Also included is a cheat sheet on how to grow, care for, and harvest anything from the commonly known cucumbers, carrots, and potatoes, to the lesser-known sunchoke, mustard greens, and Chinese cabbage.

Learn how easy it is to create an abundant crop with almost no effort. With this book in hand, you can enjoy delicious harvests that come back year after year!

Caleb was raised in the kitchens and gardens of the last generation to provide family meals without relying on the grocery store.

Book Preview

 My thoughts:

Again, since I'm not the official gardener in the family, I will have a dual review of the book of sorts with my mom.

What drew me to this book was the part about avoiding obnoxious weeds and removing pests without chemicals. I'm not so sure I want to grow year-round but it might be something to consider if I ever win the lotto and get that track of land I've been eyeing. :) I like that the plant information was broken down for me in an easy way. When to plant, when to harvest, where and how and also how to preserve the fruits (and veggies... heh) of your labor.

My mom had a different take on the book and it was more concise. She thought the book was more for those that had a large track of land with no neighbors who spray a lot for everything. She also thought there needed to be more consideration to the soil you have or replacing the topsoil could get quite pricey. That also included the tidbit about watering overnight. If you have a clay type soil, it does not penetrate easily and you'd be watering the neighborhood. Not good in drought areas. she did love the little tidbits she says she will incorporate in her planting. Mostly those that I have already listed.

We give this book 3 stars. While it has valuable plant information, if you don't have the space and soil perfect for the kind of conditions the books seems to want, you may not find it as helpful as you would like. It is valuable for the plant information, however.

Craft Book Review: Gardening Like a Ninja by Angela England

Genre: Gardening

192 p.

Published: 2/1/16

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Source: Publisher for review

Create a landscape that's both beautiful andedible! This book has everything you need to make your yard and your meals amazing! With a few simple adjustments, you can enhance your walkways, flower beds, front yards, and backyards with easy-to-care-for edible plants that will impress your neighbors and add to your dinner plate.

Become a gardening ninja by choosing the right vegetation for your zone to maximize success; using the seasons to create beauty year-round in your garden; cultivating areas that seem unusable; harvesting fruits, veggies, and nuts from everywhere in your landscape.

Your yard will look better than ever in no time with these sneaky edibles!

Book Preview 

My thoughts:

Since I'm not really the gardener in the family, I asked my mom (who loves to garden) what she thought so this will be a dual review of sorts.

Now this is my kind of gardening blurb.... easy and edible. I admit I'm not the gardener in the family, but I would love to incorporate them more within easy reach of me as well as easy to take care of. I think I can handle that. :)

My favorite part of the book was all the information given on each plant and tree. It gives botanical information, general knowledge, growing guide, and potential pests and diseases. This is information I would have had to look up otherwise and it is good to have it in one book.

My mom also loved the part of including the plants in with the flowers and using squash as a climbing vine in arbors. She was also amazed at the plants she already has that can be eaten when harvested at the right time. I wonder what new concoctions she will come up with. I hate to cook, but she is a wiz at it.

We give this book 4 1/2 stars. It is a great book for those that love to garden, those that want to garden and those that want to put in edibles with the flowers.

Garden book review: The Allergy-Fighting Garden by Thomas Leo Ogren

Gardening
256 p.
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Published: 2/17/15
Source: Blogging for Books for review

The Groundbreaking Guide to Health-Conscious Gardening

If you are one of the millions of people with allergies or asthma, this totally unique book shows you how to avoid plants that trigger allergies and to create a garden that will actually protect you by trapping pollen and cleaning the air around you. This revolutionary approach combines the best of horticulturist Thomas Ogren’s previous books—Allergy-Free Gardening and Safe Sex in the Garden—into a full-color guide, including hundreds of new and updated plant listings and photographs. 

Ogren’s innovative system for combating allergens is based on the crucial matter of plant sex. By replacing troublesome male plants in your yard with pollen-blocking female “pollen screens,” allergy sufferers can reduce or eliminate their symptoms. More than 3,000 plant listings are included, accompanied by an easy-to-use allergy ranking scale of 1 to 10. With many new pollen-free plants to choose from, as well as clearly marked “worst offenders” to avoid, this is the ultimate resource for home gardeners and professionals alike who want to build healthy, safe, and beautiful gardens that everyone can enjoy.

My thoughts:
Happy Earth day! I thought a great way to spend it is talking about the latest gardening book I acquired. This one interested me not about the pollen but about the plants that clear the air and help with mold as well. I loved the author's insight on why there are a growing number of people acquiring seasonal allergies. This is the person who developed a scale on which to judge plants by their allergy content.

The reason Thomas Ogren says we are having an epidemic of allergies is our increased exposure to pollen. He explains that our need for plant that do not "litter" seeds has decreased the number of female plants and increased the male plants... the ones responsible for the pollen. The numbers are not even as they are in nature so the female plants which "clean" the air of this pollen aren't around to do their job. With his plan we can reclaim the area in our space with more air cleaning plants and also presents a plan to contact schools and parks to do the same.

I give this book 5 stars. It is a great book with some insight as to why so many have allergies and what we can do about it. He also has a comprehensive list of plants and how they fall on the scale for allergens and cleaning the air. It is a great book for any gardener out there even if they don't have allergies or asthma.

The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden by Karen Newcomb

Gardening
224 p.
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Published: 2/17/15
Source: Free from Blogging for Books for review

This classic gardening bestseller (over 500,000 copies sold) uses ecologically friendly, intensive biodynamic methods to produce large amounts of vegetables in very tiny spaces. Revised for an all new generation of gardeners, the 40th anniversary edition includes brand new information on the variety of heirloom vegetables available today and how to grow them the postage stamp way.

To accommodate today's lifestyles, a garden needs to fit easily into a very small plot, take as little time as possible to maintain, require a minimum amount of water, and still produce prolifically. That's exactly what a postage stamp garden does. Postage stamp gardens are as little as 4 by 4 feet, and, after the initial soil preparation, they require very little extra work to produce a tremendous amount of vegetables--for instance, a 5-by-5-foot bed will produce a minimum of 200 pounds of vegetables.

When first published 40 years ago, the postage stamp techniques, including closely planted beds rather than rows, vines and trailing plants grown vertically to free up space, and intercropping, were groundbreaking. Now, in an ever busier world, the postage stamp intensive gardening method continues to be invaluable for gardeners who wish to weed, water, and work a whole lot less yet produce so much more.

My thoughts:
 I actually come from a background of farmers. My mother loves to garden and she has started these small gardens on her own. It is with her in mind I got this book for review.

When I looked at the book I loved how the small gardens were set up. I also liked the recommended companion plants to help deter pests. This seemed like a wonderful gardening book to me but it still had to pass the mom test. So, I set it in front of her and she quickly devoured it. Her favorite parts were the plant suggestions listed in the book. She now has her eye on several plants she wants for her garden. She also enjoyed the parts of the book with the companion plants. While I think it would take more time with her not wanting to plant in rows (a farmer thing... LOL) I think this will end up giving her more options. Both of us highly recommend this book for first time gardeners as well as seasoned farmers looking for a personal garden. We give it 4 1/2 stars.