Cover Image: The New Gardener's Handbook

The New Gardener's Handbook

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Member Reviews

Got this book for my husband, hoping he puts it to good use this spring. Hard to review a gardening book in the middle of winter, when you can't try any of the ideas.

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Spring will eventually be here and garden stores will be filling with colorful flowers and lush vegetable plants. If you are thinking about starting a garden but have never done any gardening before, then The New Gardner's Handbook will get you started on the right foot.

This is a very introductory text meant to provide basic information to first-time gardeners and gardeners who have been unsuccessful in the past.

Chapters include Get Gardening (balancing the roots and the shoots), Soil (nourishing the roots), Plant Selection (matching plants to place), Germination (starting plants from seeds), Planting and Mulching (establishing plants the right way), Watering and Feeding (balancing between nature and nurture), Vegetative Propagation (making plants from pant parts), Pruning (the right cut in the right place at the right time), Weeds, Pests, and Diseases (working with the bad, the good, and the ugly).

I bought a house 17 years ago with some established plants since then I've ripped out the holly hedge in front of the porch, tried unsuccessfully to remove the English ivy, and now I'm also battling bamboo and kudzu. Last year I created a flower garden in a spot that isn't easy to mow and I'm thinking of planting my first fruit trees this year (figs). In the past, I've done some container vegetable gardening. So I'm not a complete novice, but as it is more of a hit-or-miss hobby for me I thought I would pick up this book to see what tips it might have for me.

As someone with a biology degree who took two botany courses and a plant taxonomy course in college (not to mention the horticulture class in high school), the section on plant biology was a bit tedious and I know from experience understanding plant biology doesn't mean you will be a successful gardener. I was disappointed that equal time wasn't given to laying out your garden as that is what I'm struggling with right now with the new garden plot and what else I might be able to do in my "mini orchard" with the fig trees.

I found the chapter on pruning to be helpful.

The book is filled with photographs - and not just of pretty plants. There are several step-by-step guides provided and they are provided in both text and visually. Many times writers do not take into consideration that readers have different learning styles so I thought it was a nice touch to provide photographs. And for things that aren't easily captured in photos, such as parts of the plant or pruning techniques, there are line-drawn diagrams.

Whether you are wanting to grow veggies to feed your family or just want to add a splash of color to your apartment's balcony, The New Gardener's Handbook will provide basic information to get you started without going into overwhelming advance details.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Thursday, February 20 - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2020/02/the-new-gardeners-handbook-by-daryl.html

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Description
“Gardeners just starting out will earn a sense of accomplishment and a good dose of knowledge.” —Booklist

Every new gardener has to start somewhere—and the process can be intimidating. Knowing when and what to plant, how to care for the plants once they’re in the ground, and how to keep pests and diseases away is a lot to take on. Luckily, Daryl Beyers—an expert from the New York Botanical Garden—has written what will be a go-to resource for decades to come. The New Gardener’s Handbook is a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of gardening, based on the introductory gardening class that Beyers teaches at NYBG. Readers will learn about soil, plant selection, propagation, planting and mulching, watering and feeding, pruning, and weeds, pests, and diseases. The information applies to both ornamental and edible plants. Featuring inspiring photography and helpful illustrations, The New Gardener’s Handbook gives home gardeners a foundation upon which they can grow, and encourages them to apply the lessons they’ve learned in an intuitive, natural way.

My Review
The New Gardener's Handbook is an excellent book for beginners. It is comprehensive and easy to read and follow. It is very detailed and provides the fundamental of gardening from beginning to maintaining your plants. Everything you need to know is right here - a great book for any gardener.

This ARC was provided in exchange for my honest opinion. I highly recommend this book and give it a 5 Star.

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I received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For begginers, this book is ideal. It's easy to read for everyone and practical. LIke a dictionary for a gardener.

It was informative and useful. I will recomend this book a lot.

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What a perfect introduction to gardening! Beyers really gets down to the nitty-gritty but in a way that can be understood by any beginner. The pictures and graphs illustrate the process in a wonderful and clear way. The design of the book is lovely, and I never felt intimidated by the content. I will definitely be recommending it to my beginning gardeners.

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Garden Basics is a tutorial all-around gardening guide written especially for beginners. Due out 18th Feb 2020 from Timber Press, it's 288 pages and will be available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.

This is an accessible, encouraging, and well written guide for gardeners, by a gardener and educator. It presupposes no experience on the reader's part and does a good job of introducing and explaining concepts in a logical and straightforward way. The chapters lead the reader naturally from tools and planning, through soil preparation and conditioning, plant selection and culture, propagation, pruning, troubleshooting, and growing as a gardener.

The book also includes an abbreviated links and resources list as well as a comprehensive cross referenced index (very useful). The photography is clear and illustrative, though not abundant.

There is good information here for beginners, but more advanced gardeners will certainly find useful info here as well.

Four stars.

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The New Gardener’s Handbook by Daryl Beyers is a comprehensive book that has just about everything there is to know about gardening. This guide starts off with some of the science behind plants and roots, and then gets into the actual art of gardening. It is a book that should be on every gardener’s shelf.

While this book is geared to those who are just learning how to create a beautiful garden, there are quite a few tips and ideas included in the how-to guide. Aside from the scientific aspects of plants, Beyers discusses many techniques in depth that make this a superb reference to even a seasoned gardener. The contents of the book include:

Preface: The Science and Art of Gardening
Get Gardening: Balancing the Roots and the Shoots
Soil: Nourishing the Roots
Plant Selection: Matching Plants to Place
Germination: Starting Plants from Seeds
Planting and Mulching: Establishing Plants the Right Way
Watering and Feeding: Balancing Between Nature and Nurture
Vegetative Propagation: Making Plants from Plant Parts
Pruning: The Right Cut in the Right Place at the Right Time
Weeds, Pests, and Diseases: Working with the Bad, the Good, and the Ugly

❀ A LOT TO BE LEARNED FROM THIS HANDBOOK

As you can tell, there is quite a lot to be learned from this handbook on gardening. You can jump into any section and get a real idea for how to complete each task. The beautiful images are also quite helpful and the instructions are easy to follow.

❀ A GARDENING BOOK TO WATCH FOR

As it is the end of January at the moment and my garden is currently under a layer of snow and ice, this gardening book has me dreaming of summer. I have bookmarked several ideas and I am looking forward to starting some plants from seeds and trying out Beyer’s tips for propagating plants. If you are excited to learn about gardening, The New Gardener’s Handbook is one book to watch for!

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I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This is easy to use and very informative book for new and beginning gardeners. I loved all the information and ideas that I collected from here.

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This book is a must for any new gardener!

I really enjoyed the detail the author went into for this book, he covered everything including trees. I wished I had this book years ago when I first started out; it would have made things a lot simpler for me.

This book covers everything from soil, growing plants, pruning plants, to pest control. Easy to understand and I love the images and graphs included.

I consider myself an intermediate gardener, I have raised garden beds, fruit trees and lots of flowers to help bring in pollinators and after reading this book I have found help for some simple solutions I have desperately needed so, even if you consider yourself an intermediate gardener this book might help you advance even more.

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A perfect book if you're interesting in gardening and want to learn more or you have to start from scratch.
I loved the style of writing, how the book is organised and the clear explanations.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

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Very informative and detailed book on gardening. I really enjoyed the section on starting new plants from cuttings. I have been interested in trying this technique and I now feel prepared to give it a shot. I also learned a good bit about pruning something I generally just have done apparently as a hack job (no pun intended) I never really realized there was a science or art to it and for the poor plants and trees in my yard I’m sure they will fair much better now that I’m armed with a little more knowledge. Overall I found the book to be very informative and detailed. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review. I highly recommend it as a gardening guide.

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Well, I was very impressed with the content of The New Gardeners Handbook. My first thought was, “Another gardening book…what could it possibly say that would be new?” At first it looked to be a little “technical” but I soon got over that feeling. The New Gardener’s Handbook is exactly that. A handbook. I will be referring back to it countless times. It covers everything, from flowers to vegetables to plants and even trees. It explained things about trees that I have never even thought about, and gave me needed insights into what I might be doing wrong in my garden “orchard.” The New Gardener’s Handbook is a very well thought out, interesting, and easy to understand handbook of helpful information…a definite necessity for every gardener’s bookshelf.

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I have already started dreaming about my 2020 garden. I have started looking up the best items to plant and when, what may be best to start indoors, and how best to take care of my garden. I really don't know much about gardening so this book was a great help with that.

This book was laid out really well and I really enjoyed the little sidenotes, the descriptions, and how everything was written as it was in a way that even the most novice gardener could understand. The photos added a lot to the book as they helped to show what was going on. There were parts of the book about planting trees and landscaping that were not applicable to me and probably won't for a very long time, but there were still really good tips in there to help everyone.

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The title may say "NEW" but every gardener can benefit from the knowledge in this book. I've been gardening my whole life and find myself often frustrated when facing problems. Daryl Beyers obviously loves what he does and has shared his knowledge to help us frustrated with unusual results in our gardens. New varieties and processes can help every one produce a bountiful harvest with less effort and fewer curse words! Loved it and am sharing with all my friends who love digging in the dirt.

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I enjoyed paging through this book (so to speak since I read it electronically). Lots of good information to share. Thank you

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As a retired horticulture professor, I am quite interested in any books that propose to educate new gardeners. Daryl Beyers' book mostly does a good job of organizing, explaining and illustrating the gardening process. The botany section of the book could use some editing, in areas where there are some inaccuracies and also assumptions made using terms the novice has yet to learn. But, once you get into the sections on soil, seed starting and beyond, the advice is sound and nicely presented. If I were still teaching, I'd consider using this as a textbook (I never did find an adequate one), provided some work were done on the botany chapter.

The book is nicely illustrated, though some of the diagrams are a bit crude and not well labeled. In particular, I thought the illustrations of processes (e.g., dividing, seed starting, pruning) were nicely done. It would be nice to have figure number references in the text, particularly when the illustration is on a different page than where it's discussed in the text.

Despite the issues with the botany chapter, I'd highly recommend this as a resource for any beginning gardener.

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This was a really informative book about gardening! I really enjoyed reading it and learning. I will definitely use the information to start my own. I would definitely recommend.

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

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