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.

As someone that has dreamed of having my own vegetable garden but having no idea where to start this book was perfect. I found that it was easy to read and to understand. Sometimes when you are starting something with no knowledge of the subject some books can be daunting and make you feel stupid. This book did not have that effect. At the end of it I feel that I have better knowledge and feel confident in starting a garden. Now the only thing is to get into a position where I can have my own vegetable garden and use the knowledge I gained from this book.

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.

This book could be used for lessons in reading, science, math, and writing. I really think this would be a good book for older students who are learning to read. The book has sections for gardening by the month but also information about different vegetables. This would be a great activity to do in the classroom and have students read the instructions. The book also encourages keeping a gardening journal which would help the students with writing. This would be a great book for the school library or as a classroom resourc.e

Such an excellent gardening guide. This is perfect for anyone exploring their own gardening practices!

The Beginner's Guide to Growing Great Vegetables is an absolute must have. I took so many notes from this book that I need my own copy. There are tips and suggestions for every month, things you should do for your garden based on the zone you reside in. The book also has beautiful full color photos and simple instructions to follow. I recommend this as a gardening bible to follow every year.

Date reviewed/posted: December 12, 2020
Publication date: March 9, 2021

When life for the entire universe and planet turns on its end and like everyone else you "have nothing to do" while your place of work is once again closed and you are continuing to be in #COVID19 #socialisolation as the #secondwave is upon us, superspeed readers like me can read 300+ pages/hour, so yes, I have read the book … and many more today.

I requested and received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.

From the publisher, as I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as they do it better than I do 😸.

Your Backyard Bounty Awaits!

You can grow beautiful, healthy, delicious veggies and herbs right from the start—just follow the trustworthy advice found in The Beginner’s Guide to Growing Great Vegetables. Expert gardener Lorene Edwards Forkner shares all the information you need to create a thriving garden, from facts about soil and sun to tips on fertilizing, mulching, and watering. Regional planting charts show what to plant when, and a month-by-month planner takes you from January through December. Profiles of popular edibles explain exactly how to plant, care for, and harvest your bounty. Whether your garden grows in the ground, on a balcony, or in containers on a sunny patio, this is your guide to grow-your-own success.

What a lovely book - it makes me want to "Forkner" veggies straight into my mouth. The ideas in here are concrete and there are so many ideas in here on how to grow from the ground on up. Its sage advice will make you want an allotment or community garden spot - I just wish that I lived in a more temperate zone so I could container garden year-round! (PERSONAL advice here: If you want to grow herbs, but are worried about what the cats will do with them, plant basil and/or spearmint- they hate it!!!

Pre-order it so it will come for you to plan your 2021 garden ASAP.


As always, I try to find a reason to not rate with stars as I simply adore emojis (outside of their incessant use by "🙏-ed Social Influencer Millennials/#BachelorNation survivors/Tik-Tok and YouTube Millionaires/snowflakes / literally-like-overusers etc. " on Instagram and Twitter... Get a real job, people!) so let's give it 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱