A funny and useful introduction to this highly respected columnist for foreign audiences. You can understand why he's grumpy but his take on this world is very truthful and amusing. Recommended for all gardeners

Courtesy of NetGalley I was able to preview this book. Like the wonderful columns in Southern Living Magazine this book is full of tidbits of sometimes snarky commentary and advice about plants, gardening, pruning, and general landscaping. This is definitely a book to have at hand for perusal, not cover-to-cover reading; the sheer amount of information would overwhelm, even the most hard-core master gardener. Taken in smaller reading sessions this is a delightful collection of garden wisdom for us all.

Even though this book is written mainly for the American public, it was easy enough to translate the information for other countries, if you are a gardener.
I really enjoyed the writing style and it was an easy and enjoyable read. Set out in and ABC format over topic (which a picked to suit the information wanted to discuss), I would image that it would be a useful book for people in these regions. Some photos would have been helpful to not so knowledgeable gardeners, but the Latin names are supplied and proved very helpful to others.

Funny yet very informative. Exactly what I was hoping for!

The Grumpy Gardener by Steve Bender, an editor for Southern Living, is a collection of garden snippets essays and advice arranged in an A to Z format. Each letter of the alphabet contains several entries often with short (and very funny) reader sent question sidebars with information for getting rid of ants, killing bamboo, and avoiding letting your cat drive the lawn tractor - He's too short to see over the steering wheel and will likely run over your flowers. :)

The entire book is sarcastic and humorous and innocently grumpy. There's a lot of sensible gardening advice and a fair bit of humor. The book itself is heavily slanted to the southern areas of the USA (he does work for Southern Living magazine), though there's a lot of info that is perfectly suitable and usable for other areas. I did recognize a few of the entries, so I believe that at least some of the content is reprinted from past issues of Southern Living. It's nice to have them collected in one place though.

This book is more of a gardening humor read than an actual reference book. I sat and read it cover to cover and found myself chuckling along quite often.

256 pages, ebook and hardcover formats, published October 24, 2017 by Southern Living/Time Inc Books.

Four stars

The irascible garden editor for Southern Living had me at A for African Violets, stigmatized as being “grandma plants” by those who “use a smart phone to turn on their AC and dishwasher from another state.” Yet African violets have the distinction of having a new strain developed after AV seeds spent several years in space. I wanted to rush out and get a dozen. There’s a section on awful plants, launched with the quote: “NASA has confirmed there is life on Pluto. Unfortunately, it’s privet.” Interspersed among the humor is a wide variety of garden knowledge. A fun read.

Book Description
Definitive gardening advice - along with a story or two - for the novice or expert from one of the nation's most-trusted, and Grumpy, sources.
My Thoughts
As an avid DIYer, many projects turn out fine, good or at times even very good, but I have struggled with landscaping. Things don't die, but I have made too many mistakes putting the wrong plant in the wrong location. This has made me an avid collector of gardening books that provide in-depth information and stop me from growing or buying the wrong plant or tree yet again.
Steve Bender has written a useful and engaging book full of humor as well as a healthy dose of sarcasm. I am not familiar with his work for Southern Living, but if this book reflects his overall style, I can see how he got the name The Grumpy Gardener. He covers many topics from A-Z, some of my favorites being about growing basil(which I love), why you might as well just put the bug zapper away( mosquitoes love me way too much), myths and facts about poison ivy( my personal Kryptonite), and a hilarious section on mole control. The moles haven't found my address yet, but my father's war with them is an epic and ongoing battle! Mr. Bender provides a wealth of information and his writing style had me laughing, learning and smiling from A- Z.
Thank you, Mr. Bender, Time Inc. Books and NetGalley for the digital copy to read and review. I have purchased several copies to give as holiday gifts to the Grumpy Gardeners in my life.

Steve Bender's The Grumpy Gardener is an extension of the popular Southern Living column. Since it is one of the first sections I read in the magazine each month, I was thrilled to see a book was being written. I was not disappointed. The book is a wonderful mix of Bender's saucy humor and valuable gardening advice. While some gardening books are tedious, The Grumpy Gardener is entertaining and fun. It is a great addition to every gardener's library!

Great book on gardening by the wonderful gardener.......

Seriously, Grumpy, IVY?

THE GRUMPY GARDENER is a funny read, but also a useful read. For example, I found useful ideas on "suckers" growing out of small trees. Steve's discussion about IVY was especially funny. Apparently many of his fans are put-off by his recommendation to install ivy. (For the record, I put in English Ivy in the backyard, and I now know why people hate it.)

I found several really useful tips on use of chemicals--especially some ideas on safe fungicides I could use in the garden. I had not heard of the product that Steve mentioned, so this was great information.

So all in all, I found THE GRUMPY GARDENER to be a fun, easy read. Funny and useful--all in one.
The author includes a lot of "Favorite Reader Comments," which liven things up a bit.

Advance Review Copy courtesy of the publisher.

Having bought my first house not that long ago I have been experimenting with trying to develop a green thumb because it’s always been a dream of mine to be surrounded by nature. Unfortunately it has not gone well. I’ve managed to help keep some fruit trees alive but everything else I’ve planted from shrubs to flowers to fruits/veggies have died. I immediately gravitated towards this hoping to learn some pearl of wisdom that would turn me from a nature murdered to a friend of the environment.

Written with humor and sarcasm that makes this an addictive read I found myself learning about plants that I never cared about before and have no plans of using just so I could enjoy his writing style. Peppered with cute yet snippy illustrations they add another layer of fun to learning about the gardening process dos and don’ts.

He provides reminders, 50 Rules scattered from A to Z, reader’s comments, questions and answers detailed on the side in bold or within the paragraphs themselves and tips that include websites to buy products or find further information. The meal tips for what you could do with unwanted pests such as serving them for dinner and what they would go great with were just an added bonus though I don’t think I’ll be trying them anytime soon. The cooking tips for plants like basil and tomato though are more up my alley. The presentation and writing style lends itself easily to either the novice (AKA garden killer like me) or the Master looking to up the ante on their skill set.

The information on what NOT to plant and why I found just as informative and helpful because I’ve already wasted TONS of money on plants and trees that have died or are currently dying so I’d rather not waste any more. We even get his viewpoint on non-alive things such as chainsaws which I wish I had read prior to our own use of them to take down some dead trees. Since I’m reviewing this in the Fall (or as we call it in Texas Summer-light)

I was happy to see a section on how to winterize which includes steps to help protect your plants, pots, sprinkler systems and gardens. Now I can use his advice to clean out and prep for a better chance at growing things in the Spring. There’s even information for those who want to garden desert style for low maintenance which I’ve personally never been a fan of even when I lived in Arizona. I get that with droughts and tons of sun it’s not feasible to have a green lawn with beautiful flowers which is probably why I didn’t last long out there and ran back to the land of green as fast as I coud.

Teachers and parents would be wise to pick this up because there are great projects in here that you can do with the younger generations to start fanning the flames of interest in improving the environment and or growing your own food.

I am very much looking forward to using this for my own desires to improve my skill set but also as a parent to do more things outdoors with my kids and away from the TV.

The Grumpy Gardener: An A to Z Guide from the Country's Most Irritable Green Thumb by Steve Bender. Gardeners from across the country have turned to Southern Living Senior Garden Editor Steven Bender for his keen knowledge and gardening know-how with equal doses sarcasm and sidesplitting humor for nearly 35 years. This book collects some of the wit and wisdom from the magazine columnist in a single A - Z volume, providing gardeners from coast-to-coast with his valuable tips for planting, troubleshooting, and growing flowers, vegetables, shurbs, trees and more. Sidebars throughout the book - "Ask Grumpy" - help readers tackle common garden problems ("How do I get ride of little house ants?"), and readers from the past 35 years take part in the book when Grumpy shares his favorite reader's responses to some of his advice, his favorite rules for gardening, and Q & A's covering your favorite plants and flowers are all inside. Additionally, beautiful line-drawings and illustrations throughout make the book as beautiful to look at as well as entertaining to read.

The Grumpy Gardener: An A to Z Guide from the Country's Most Irritable Green Thumb is a wonderful resource, and highly entertaining for any garden enthusiast to thumb through for reminders or to simply enjoy the dry humor and snark that accompanies the information throughout the book. I love that the information is very accessible, even for those that have no gardening experience, or have had little success with their gardening attempts thus far. I learned many things about plants I thought I knew well, and will adjust my gardening accordingly. I feel like going back to re read occasional will help remind me of important things, and maybe bring things I missed the first time around or forgot to my attention. The sidebars of reader responses, questions with Bender's answers, and line drawings add an extra layer of humor, and occasionally beauty, to the book as a whole. I will be referring back to this volume regularly, both when garden planning and when I am stumped on how to fix or maintain something that should be growing.

LOL I love this guy...I've never read his stuff in Southern Living, since I'm not a subscriber, but am thinking about taking it just to read his articles. Snarky, yet informative, he has a lot of wisdom to pass on, and he does it in a way that keeps you engaged and reading on with what could otherwise be a dry subject. Definitely one to use as an educational tool.

I have long loved reading the Grumpy Gardener column in Southern Living, even though I live in the arctic wilderness known as Maine. His wit and curmudgeonly attitude is matched only by his gardening knowledge. So you don't have to be a Southerner to enjoy this book, you just need to like a little attitude with your gardening advice

224 pages of delight. I started chuckling on page one. Steve Bender has written a book that is so delightful and full of information it was hard to put down. Some of the plants I had never heard of and the ones I have I learned some more about. Though I wished for pictures with our easy access to all thing digital we can look those up in a few key strokes. I absolutly recomend this book for anyone who like to garden and the ones who don't will get better with it.

A wonderful A to Z guide to home gardening. So funny and well laid out. A perfect resource for every house I think.