This is an impressive gardening book with a very old-fashioned feel, obviously written by a world class gardener, meant for the very serious home gardener and other professionals. Very much an amateur, I found it rather overwhelming and only somewhat useful. I would definitely refer to it again for it’s helpful information on making paths, fences or trellises, as well as certain tips on growing vegetables and houseplants, but much of it I could skim through since I doubt I’ll ever grow salsify or dittany. Another problem is it is written for a cold climate European environment and I live in the very dry, very hot Southwestern United States. His tips for when to plant are wasted in West Texas, as are his tips on making hedgehog habitats (I wish!) I enjoyed the illustrations and found them very helpful. The organization of the book into month-by-month tips I felt would make things a little difficult to find if you wanted to reference something later. In summary, I found this a charming book with a very limited audience.

Love the concept of the month by month plan - I'm obviously not green fingered enough and was hoping for something more for beginners but nevertheless enjoyed reading and would recommend to keen gardeners that would like a helping hand to really elevate it!

I'm a seasoned gardener and love to garden, but I found this book frankly overwhelming. This is the kind of book that would turn me off to gardening if I was new to it, just because it gives the impression that you have to do SO MUCH in order to be a successful gardener. I didn't read every month but I felt like throwing in the trowel by the end of June. I'm sure it will be a great guide for some, but it was not a good fit for me.

I found this guide to be super helpful, but also a little overwhelming. As a recent gardener, it is a great resource, but who knew there were so many things to do each month?! Probably avid gardeners, I know…

I appreciated how the sections were broken out each month, so I could just turn to vegetables if I wanted to know what to do with those for the month. I really liked how it gave you specific action items for specific plants, instead of just lumping groups together. If I wanted to know what to do with radishes every month, I could find information specific to them, rather than all root vegetables, which seems to be more common in most books I’ve seen.

My one complaint would be that the numbers got very high in this book, and I wish that they had restarted every month or coordinated across the months. But I still really enjoyed this book and will be recommending it for purchase at my library and getting myself a copy!

This is the 30th edition put the first edition to be published in English. This book gives you monthly guides for growing your plants. Each month in the year is it's own chapter and from there it is divided into general gardening, vegetable plants, and ornamental plants. The tips are written very well and are useful. There is something for every size garden but sometimes is a little more heavy on large yards or plots of land gardens than your average small garden in the backyard. Regardless, this is still a valuable gardening book.

Anyone interested in gardening will enjoy this book. It's a great resource which is full of tips to help your garden thrive. The author includes tips on how to help your garden thrive throughout each month. The author also includes specifics on growing requirements for vegetables and ornamental plants. As an active gardener myself, I found the information very useful and will be a book I refer to throughout the year. It's a great resource that would be a great addition to any gardener's library. This coupled with your regional gardening book will definitely help your garden flourish.


Thank you NetGalley and the author for providing a free electronic copy of this book for my honest review. Am incredibly grateful.

The most comprehensive gardening reference book I have ever seen, with diagrams and over 1300 tips in the month-by-month section and over 30 tables about various plants, diseases, etc. in the back.

An encyclopedic reference guide for gardeners. The number of tips in each month an feel overwhelming if one tries to read them all. But used as a reference source for ideas and solutions to problems, it hits the mark. New gardeners will need to be aware that the tips for each month may not apply exactly to their growing zone.

I adore this gardening guide, it may be my favorite to date. The number of tips may be overwhelming but they are broken down into concise points that are easy to read and understand. The month-by-month guide takes away the stress of knowing when to plant what and where. A beginners guide I will absolutely be gifting.

The index of plants in the back is impressively extensive and gives incredibly helpful information. A go-to reference for almost everything one would need to know about gardening and plant care.

The simple layout and artwork provide a beautiful aesthetic that was surprisingly calming.

Thank you NetGalley and Timber Press Inc for an eArc for review.

Full disclosure I didn’t read the entire book, I read April -June and was inspired to get going on my garden. Well organized, easy to read. This is great gardening resource and one that I will add to my collection.

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

As the name implies, this book takes you month-by-month through pieces of advice to follow all year long as your prepare, plants, harvest and winterize your garden. The advice is thorough yet not overwhelming and provides enough detail for planters of a variety of skillsets to follow. I would recommend this for any of my gardener friends to keep on hand in their information library at home!

Thank you to Timber Press for the digital ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A great gardening guide: informative, plenty of information and easy to follow.
It's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I loved this book as a beginning gardener. I either saw this book or a similar one being recommended on Tiktok so when I saw an eARC for this I knew I had to grab it. It gives great, simple instructions for you to follow. As a second year gardener I would recommend only starting out with a couple of varieties of plants. Don't get too ambitious having a book to guide you.

I received this book for free in exchange of an honest review.

Where has this book been my whole gardening life? So much useful information, thoughtfully arranged. New gardeners will find the information informative and useful. Experienced gardeners will find things in these pages they didn't know and wished they did.

If there ever was a book I never knew I needed- this is it. I won't even begin to understand the time that it took to compile this guide- it. is. EXTENSIVE! I have a lot of friends who share their plant trials and tribulations and I cannot wait to share this gem with them.

I won't go into much detail- it would take forever and a day (a massive nod to the author who did it in less!) but the way the first part is laden with tips that are organized based on what MONTH YOU'RE IN (WHAT?) was radishly rad! The second part is set up specifically plant by plant (and categorized) with EVERY. SINGLE. THING you would ever need to know and again, sorted by season/month!!
Holy crow is the second half full of a plethora of goodies if you're a numbers gal, such as I am! Charts, lists, tables- OH MY! I cannot say enough about the attention to detail and overall quality of this Gardening guide, I'm honestly not sure if there is a better book on the market for someone who is new to gardening, or even someone with a seasoned green thumb who could definitely learn a thing or two from this.
(Note: it's over 400 pages- so eat your wheaties and do some pull ups before you attempt to pick this baby up!)

*I was allowed access to this title through Netgalley and the publisher and all thoughts are my own, HOWEVER- I WILL BE PURCHASING THIS- that's how rad it is!

This is a refreshingly practical guide to gardening. It's marketed to new gardeners but, as someone tip-toeing into the realm of outdoor gardening, I found the month-by-month format a little overwhelming. On the other hand, in the 1300+ tips, I found several useful pieces of advice about what I was doing wrong! (For example, I learned that we have been waterlogging our poor cucumbers and should cut off that plastic thing that we've been using to stabilize our tomato plants.)

If you're not afraid of the format and/or are a more serious gardener looking to dig in (pun absolutely intended), pick this up.

I received this book for free from NetGalley. It is over a 1000 tips regarding all types of gardening-preparing your garden in the winter, houseplants, vegetables, herbs etc. I would recommend this book to any serious gardener or anyone who wants to spend the time to read the tips. It is very intensive reading but I saw some tips that I would use.. Tips like bush beans need the most watering during flowering. It says that peppers, cucumbers and other species like melons and eggplants need warmed up water instead of water from the hose. The water should come from a container that is filled every night so it is warmed up by morning. I will put this book on my list to buy for my husband, a gardener..

Franz has written the perfect keep forever manual for any gardener at any level. I love that this book is broken up into seasons and even how to prepare for the coming season ahead. This is a refer back to often and keep forever book for any gardener. I loved it!
Thank you Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest oppinion

This guide is interesting and has some good tips, but the Month-by-Month break down is more helpful when it is zone specific.

Lovely, informative guide! I would 100% purchase this gardening guide and will continue to reference in the future for all of my gardening questions.