Ok, you might be wondering why exactly I'm reading about vegetables.

I can't grow things. I'm not exaggerating. I really, really can't grow things. I adopt plants and they die. It's a fact that I know to be true yet refuse to accept. The problem is I'm really enthusiastic and would love nothing more than to grow things. I dream about having a small space outside where I can grow vegetables and other plants, but I don't have any of the knowledge needed to get started.

That's where this book comes in.

The downside of all of this is that the book is written for a North American audience, and I'm based in the UK. But considering how much the climate varies in the US, I figure some of the rules must apply. Surely. Either that or I'll just continue murdering plants. Either way, I opened this book deciding that whether I could apply the rules to England or not, I'd learn something. And I did!

What I love:

This book is written to be understood by people who do not know about gardening. This is very important if, like me, you are clueless and have absolutely no idea in which season you're supposed to plant carrots and what conditions are required for tomatoes to grow. You can read the book as a complete beginner and not want to cry.

It's not just the planting that's explained in detail. Various climates and also sun conditions are noted for you to refer to as needed. Want to know what full sun means? No problem, it's right there.

Imagine my delight to find a glossary, explaining all of those terms that many books include, assuming I know what they mean. Surprise! I don't know. But now I do. Or at least, I know where to find out what exactly they mean.

The book offers tips for people living in areas with complicated climates. This could be for geographical reasons, or because we're slowly destroying the planet. Either way, the author discusses techniques such as harvesting the rain, so that you don't burden an already strained system. Considering \I live in England; I don't think rain shortage will be a problem. But when you consider the intended audience of the book this is really valuable. It helps the reader know how to make their resources stretch further, but also offers a more environmentally conscious solution.

The structure of the book is perfect, particularly for the clueless gardener. Not only does it offer up many helpful tips, but it’s also divided into clear, useful sections, including a monthly calendar that you can use to help you figure out what to grow when.

All in all this is a very helpful book that I will refer to often, especially once I start working on my own little space outside. I'm going to have to do more research specific to the country I live in, but many of the terms used in the book will carry across, as will the general gardening tips.

I highly recommend for a beginner like myself. It doesn't go into huge amounts of detail so once you've grasped the initial concepts, you'll probably need to look elsewhere.

An excellent reference for first time and seasoned gardeners. The graphics are nicely descriptive and the text is well written. I would purchase this book for my personal use and keep it handy throughout the year for planning and growing.

Advance copy given in return for an honest review

A homey book that warms up gardening advice. This was a nice way to think about gardening in a more rounded way than just dry instructions. The layout is great for a beginning gardener and the pictures go along nicely and help enhance the experience. A good start, but does not go deeply into any of the topics, so someone with experience might find this lacking in detail.

Wow! What a fantastic book. This is perfect for anyone who wants to grow vegetables, whether you are just starting out or have some level of experience. It breaks everything down, from best time to plant by region, how to test your soil, how to build a raised bed garden, month by month planting guide, what things grow well together and what doesn't, and so on. The photos are incredible and so is the artwork. It just doesn't get more comprehensive than this and I found the book to be intuitive, easy to use, and well laid out. This is one you're going to want for your library collection AND your personal collection.

What an incredible asset for any beginning gardener to have. I feel this book was just detailed enough, with wonderful monthly plans on how to manage one's garden. It covered composting, raised beds, container gardening, different plantings for different seasons, gardening zones, and was filled with great tips. An excellent book.

This is a great book for those who know nothing or very little about gardening, The author gives simple step by step instructions, as well as month by month information. The guidance about gardening in different regions of the country is very useful as well. I'm looking forward to trying this out soon!

My mother was a gardener and my grandmother before her. I grew up with an acre of ploughed dirt where I spent countless hours planting, weeding and harvesting. When I found myself with a south-facing apartment, I couldn't wait to start a bunch of container gardens and get back to enjoying fresh produce! Unfortunately, although Mother and Grandma made it look easy, there's a lot more to gardening than just sticking seeds in the dirt, which is where this book comes to the rescue. Although I was occasionally disappointed by the generalizations, I realize that if Lorene Edwards Forkner had taken the time to describe every climate, potential problem or plant type, this would be more of an encyclopedia rather than a beginner's guide. I still picked up some handy tips, though, and I'm more excited than ever to test out some seeds in my window boxes... as soon as the weather cooperates. Forkner's writing style is very reminiscent of a self-help blog, which occasionally is obnoxiously optimistic and features too many keywords, but overall reading this book was a pleasant experience, and I think it's a great first step for anyone who wants to get started gardening or brush up their current skills a little.

Enjoy this book on gardening. I am beginning my first garden so I am thankful for books out there to help me get started. I have so much to learn. The photos are beautiful and the information was very valuable to me.
Thanks for the advanced copy.

This is an excellent gardening resource! It lays a wonderful foundation by first explaining that "the best thing you can do is to develop an understanding of the climate and a "feel" for the weather of your growing region." I had never thought about the fact that which part of the region you would live in would affect your garden. I live in the Southeast, so of note to me was, "Gardening is a year-round activity in this region, and abundant rainfall makes for verdant growth." The author has wonderful advice like this for each region. She also includes a beginner's guide glossary, outlining common gardening terms and what they mean. For someone like me who has never done a garden, only taken care of plants, this is very eye-opening information. I never knew so much was required to do a garden.
Another topic the author covers is cool-season crops, warm-season crops, and even doing a crop rotation.
From the beautiful illustrations, the in-depth knowledge of gardening, including what to plant when, this is a must-have for the novice gardener, to the most advanced gardener. It will be a resource that you consult again and again.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book. I was not required to give a positive review but was happy to do so. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Beginner's Guide to Growing Great Vegetables is an informative book about how to have a successful garden. The book is broken down into sections for every aspect of gardening, such as planning your garden, soil composition, how and when to plant different categories of vegetables, yearly rotation of crops, and harvesting so that you can have fresh crops throughout the season instead of all at once. This book is for anyone interested in starting a garden. Whether you have large field plots for planting, or a small area on a deck or balcony, this will guide you for how to grow a successful garden.
Thank you to #NetGalley for an ARC of this book. I am looking forward to attempting my first small potted garden this year and feel that I now have the knowledge now to do it!

A very informative book for beginners and experienced gardeners. I loved how this book broke up the US into regions and gave you information about what to for your area. The book also gives you list of tasks to do by month and region, which is helpful when you’re just starting out. Also, I thought the projects where helpful and gave good instructions for building projects

This was a wonderful, detailed look at what it takes to grow vegetables. As an aspiring gardener (with a very brown thumb) I am encouraged to give it another try, following the advice of this book!

Just a wonderful book for the garage for all ages. Just love the pictures. I'm going to introduce this to my special ed students.

This was an awesome guide book to growing my own veggies in my suburban backyard! I really enjoyed it!

I enjoyed this instructional book to help further my understanding of gardening and to help plan out the gardening year. It strengthened my knowledge of what to expect when and tips on how I can better grow my veggies.

A must have reference book for the home gardener. I loved how the book was laid out. The chapters detail what to do when by each month and region of the country. Lots of tips and how tos, even for the seasoned gardener. Pleasing illustrations.. Well thought out book.

As an educator, I would recommend this book as a guide to my students and for teachers who needs inspiration and guidance in how to get their own school gardens growing. Beginning gardeners will learn about hardiness zones, when and how to plant, will begin to notice the nuances of weather and seasons, and come to recognize the wild flora and fauna who live in their backyards. Whether you want to nibble fresh microgreens in the middle of winter, build a worm bin, or set up a hoop house/greenhouse, Lorene has solid advice and encouragement for you. In addition to the information rich month-by-month planner, the A-Z Almanac will be an oft-visited resource. This Garden Guide would be a welcomed gift for new homeowners.

The Beginner's guide to growing great vegetables is an amazing resource. I have been a gardener for five decades and I found I had much to learn from this book so the word beginner's guide may not really apply. It needs to be on each gardeners' book shelf for reference during the year. I loved the month by month breakdown of tasks and the helpful hints of what to plant together and ways to jumpstart the growing seasons. The shelf life of individual vegetable seeds and troubleshooting soil and watering issues was another topic covered in this resource. I would love to have this as my own personal gardening resource and to give as a gift to fellow gardeners.

This is a good basic introduction to gardening. It is well laid out with nice pictures. I found the suggestion to journal what happens in the garden and monthly "things to do" guides good suggestions. I wish it had a little more detail about what to do when you see problems or how to recognize when to harvest. For example, the carrots section tells you how to pull them out but now how to tell if those are ready which is what I have a problem with. I also have a problem with my squash flowering, but not producing the squash. I would recommend this for a first time gardener to get them started.

This is a great starter book for those who want to start with a small garden and then expand. The step by step, month by month directions, tips and suggestions are very well written and are easy to follow. Illustrations and photographs add to the overall aesthetic of the book and help the reader to learn alternate ways to start their very own garden.