Raised Bed Gardening For Dummies

2,538 reviews 44 followers

July 28, 2019

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Raised Bed Gardening for Beginners is a new tutorial gardening guide by Tammy Wylie. Released 25th June 2019 by Rockport, it's 168 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

Gardening is enjoying a well deserved surge in popularity. It provides so many positive health benefits including stress reduction, exercise, meaningful stewardship of natural resources and healthy food & beauty for the gardener and their family and friends. This is a good introduction to raised bed gardening, its benefits and limitations. The book has an easy to use, logical layout starting with an introductory chapter which makes a compelling case for using raised beds for growing; less weeding, higher yields, healthier plants, better drainage, etc.

The next chapters cover planning and siting a garden, building raised beds, soil, planting, growing & harvesting, and ends with an alphabetical list of plant profiles.

Worth noting for Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is included in the KU subscription to download and read for free.The ebook format also has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. The links and references are mostly slanted toward readers in the USA. A google search will provide equivalent resources in the reader's local geographical area.

There is scant photography or illustration in the book and the photos which are included are mostly stock photos (credited). The hardiness map which was included in the resource section is very vague and only covers the US. Gardeners in search of this info would do well to check their local extension agency for more specific information. USDA hardiness zone maps are really only needed in the case of perennials, and more general info for expected high temps and annual rainfall for use with annual crops is widely available locally.

I am a fanatical gardening enthusiast and I love this book's 'you can do it' vibe. Gardening is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and provides so many benefits.

Four stars. There is some good info here for all gardeners, not only beginners.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

netgalley

13 reviews

June 29, 2020

This was good basic information that is helpful to beginning gardeners. The zone map at the end of the book is pretty to look at but is not very accurate. The photos are nice throughout but there are few of them.

8 reviews 1 follower

February 8, 2021

Hard for me to rate this because Ive never made a garden - but it made it seem doable & provided helpful information to get started.

248 reviews

May 3, 2021

4.5 I would have given it a 5 if it included sample veggie layouts, plotted out like little maps for inspiration.

Easy to read, and to the point. A good book to get the beginner gardeners thinking.

adult

garden-plants

non-fiction

283 reviews 2 followers

December 26, 2020

Half the book are 2 pages per plant. Will be like a handbook once I get everything going. Helpful information in the beginning for planning, building, and planting.

2020

non-fiction

38 reviews

April 27, 2021

A good primer for the beginning gardener (which I am). It's not fascinating or clever, but it doesn't seem to aspire to be.

reading-rebirth

1,440 reviews 245 followers

July 10, 2019

Thank you Netgalley, Author Tammy Wylie and Rockridge Press for allowing me to read and review this ebook as an ARC.

This book is amazing for anyone needing reference or resource for starting and sustaining a raised bed garden. I love the organization of the book, starting with planning, building the structure, soil, planting, then growing and harvesting. Final chapters deal with plant profiles and additional resources. I enjoyed the clear instructions for any novice gardener to attempt a raised bed garden. I was very interested in this as an aspiring home cook interested in growing their own herb garden and plant varieties. Zoning and spacing is very clearly explained in order for the garden to thrive. I believe that anyone trying to start this raised garden from scratch without any prior experience should pick up this book and will be certain to have a thriving raised bed garden.

5/5

September 19, 2020

Great and easy rwad

This was an awet beginners book. I was able to use it throughout my entire growing season for help and guidance. This was my first year gardening and with this books help I had seven successful tomoto plants, three squash plants, ten pepper plants, nasturtiums, marigolds, and sunflowers.

108 reviews

March 22, 2020

Helped me set up my own vegetable garden in a couple of days. Great guide. Thank you!

February 1, 2021

This book has some terrible ideas that are harmful to plants and the environment. Don't use pressure treated wood for raised beds. The chemicals leech into the plants and harm them. Peat moss is harmful for the environment. Coco coir is a friendly alternative. Fewer insecticides could be used at the suggestion of proper companion planting, which is not labeled in any of the plant sections. The information on individual plants is helpful, but one is better off Googling it or checking out Companion Planting: The Beginner's Guide to Companion Planting.

Author 1 book 3 followers

August 5, 2020

This is a book for starting a raised bed garden, and if you don't know where to begin this is a good beginning which covers building the bed and the basics of planting. There are other books with a lot more detailed information for those who have already built their beds and looking to improve their knowledge, but this book does cover a lot of the basics.

94 reviews 2 followers

February 24, 2021

This was a very simple instructional guide for gardening. Certainly geared toward the novice/beginner gardener. It was exactly what I needed for a preliminary introduction to raised bed gardening, with nothing extraneous. Because of its simplicity, I will be able to refer back to this for information very easily.

April 11, 2021

Very Informative

I started reading this book and could not stop. She writes simple and understandable for everything you want to know about gardening. I read her book here online, but it was so good, I ordered a paperback for my home as well. I have never sit down to read a gardening book in my life! But this one was definitely the one to begin with. I highly recommend!!

75 reviews 1 follower

April 30, 2020

Very easy to read. I'm a complete beginner so liked that there wasn't an overload of information and everything was load our clearly. Very helpful for anyone starting out. It's American based so some of the information not relevant - but that wasn't an issue - I just ignored that

2020-read-mary

July 10, 2020

Great for beginners - like me!

The writing is direct and to the point. How twos are very clear and easy to understand. References for other helps (e.g. Bugs on plants) are great resource!

11 reviews

August 5, 2020

Good Basic Info

I needed more info on how frequent to fertilize and with what! Also how often to use pest control in situations. As a beginner, I am unsure what "inches of water" means? I still have so many questions. But my basic understanding is better.

77 reviews 2 followers

January 1, 2021

good reference book for the planning, construction, and cultivation of a raised bed vegetable garden. Probably best suited to beginner and intermediate gardeners, it provides enough of the basic information that most anyone in those skill ranges will find something beneficial.

99 reviews

May 30, 2021

Highly recommend for the novice gardener. This gave me the basic tools and information to cultivate a backyard raised bed garden and I will be keeping it on my bookshelf and consulting in the future for sure!

49 reviews 1 follower

January 10, 2020

Short & Sweet

I'm planning my raised bed garden and daydreaming of warmer weather. Raised Bed Gardening for Beginners was easy to read and full of helpful nuggets of information.

2020

30s