A very useful book for all of those interested in gardening! It was very informative and easy to understand, this book will be a keeper!!

This was an interesting book with a lot of helpful checklists and timelines. I did come away with some new ideas about setting up a garden. Even though I often found myself distracted by the formatting and layout of this book because it didn't seem to have a natural flow.

This is probably one of the most thorough and helpful books of this kind that I've read. I've had a garden for a few years and am moving in the direction of homesteading and found this to be majorly helpful. I will be purchasing a physical copy to use as a reference! Thank you for the ARC!

The format of this book left much to be desired. I constantly had to jump from desktop to iphone in my efforts to read this book properly. No matter how I adjusted the settings, I could never view the pages properly. I'm not sure why the publisher decided to present a book for review in this way. I'm a bit disgusted. I've tried very hard not to let this constant irritation affect my review of the book contents. It took me entirely too long to get through this digital mess.

Basically, this is a book for beginners. Fine. No issues there. Not much for those of us with a lot of experience (I am a nearly 2 decades Eco farm woman). Also, the grower is in the UK. But for the most part, the growing conditions are pretty similar to my own in USDA Zone 6. A huge problem I see with this book is the massive expense should the newbie try to follow this book. His plot is beautifully done. It's something most of us dream of doing but cannot afford. That's a mark against it without a doubt. Second, it's pretty rigid. The author gives plenty of detail on how he specifically does things that work for him. When growing anything, one needs a heck of a lot of flexibility. This is an epic fail.

The author grows a lot of food in a small area. Because of this, he cannot do proper crop rotation. His solution? Soil health. No crop rotation. That's all fine and good, but soil health alone isn't good enough. Obviously it's getting him by, but eventually it will bite him in the butt. To truly grow sustainably one needs both soil health and crop rotation.

What about garden pests? He recommends picking them off by hand. This works if you only have a teensy infestation. He poo poos insect netting stating eggs can be laid through the netting. Two solutions. Don't let the netting touch the plants. Even better, use the lightest weight of row cover; not insect netting. Don't forget the hoops. Or, if you can't afford it, don't grow the crop that is particularity troublesome until you are ready to take it on properly.

Frankly, this is not a book I would buy. It's not terrible. A lot of work went into it. But there are so many books available that I personally feel are much better. Newbies need to start slow with minimum expense. Experienced growers need fresh ideas & inspiration.

The Self-Sufficiency Garden is an excellent book, good for both beginner and more experienced gardeners. I’ve gardened for 35 years and still found helpful information. The cooking section has good information and directions for a variety of ways to use and preserve the produce grown. My only problem was following the monthly planting plans since a key was used rather than having the plants indicated on the plan itself. That aside, this is one of the few books I will buy to keep as a reference even though I was fortunate enough to read a pre-publication copy through NetGalley. I highly recommend it for home gardeners.

Huw Richards is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in the sustainable, cheap gardening space and this new collection of his gardening wisdom given along with Sam Cooper was easy to read and informative. I would have to do a re-read of his earlier work "Grow Food for Free" which I read in the last year to truly compare how different and unique a lot of this information is to his other previously published works. I think the writing style and formatting of this book in particular made is very accessible and relevant to a new generation of gardeners. I look forward to seeing what Huw and Sam bring to the table in the future!

This book is a gem for those looking to dive into the world of self-sufficient gardening. While it may not suit beginners, it's a goldmine of knowledge for those ready to take their gardening skills to the next level. The kitchen section is particularly enlightening, offering practical tips on preserving harvests and scrumptious recipes to savor your homegrown bounty. With clear guidance and valuable insights, this book is a must-have for anyone eager to cultivate their own food and embrace a more sustainable lifestyle. Personally, I found it immensely helpful for my own gardening journey, and I'm confident it will be well-received by fellow gardening enthusiasts. Overall, it gets a solid 4/5 stars from me!

This book will find its readers. It is very smartly designed. It manages to be both broad and specific, covering all the major topics that comprise growing one's own food, providing sufficient detail to complete parts of the process, but not overwhelming the reader with innumerable variations and options.

With a lot of color photos, layout templates, a full year’s schedule, and some base recipes to boot this practical how-to guide is a winner among gardening books. The authors also go into detail on gardening space, harvesting, and practical advice on storing your produce. There’s a lot in here for the serious gardener.

I enjoyed this one and would recommend.


Thank you to DK and NetGalley for the PDF

While this definitely isn't a beginner book for aspiring gardeners, this book none-the-less provides a really informative and detailed plan for building and maintaining a self-sufficient garden. I plan to give this book as a gift to the gardeners in my life (with the space to implement the plans!) and I know that they will enjoy this book a lot. Personally, for me, I found that the kitchen section was the most directly relevant to my current lifestyle (apartment with limited production space for gardening) and I appreciated that the authors not only talked about setting up and building a garden, but the next steps with that as well including preserving and saving harvests as well as some recipes for using up produce. 4.5/5 stars

I have a California backyard garden and grow veggies year-round. If you are just starting a garden, it may be overwhelming to begin with a garden of their size, but the book offers some good basic how-tos that will be helpful to a gardener. For someone interested in expanding their garden and working their way to becoming self-sufficient, this book offers some good ideas on how to start.

This book covers creating the garden, what to grow, and tasks throughout the year. It also offers a few basic recipes and garden-growing skills.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Self-Sufficiency Garden
Huw Richards, Sam Cooper
This is a very interesting book. I enjoyed it. I try to be as self-sufficient as possible. Each year we grow green beans, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, peppers as well as other vegetables. We eat well throughout the growing season and preserve as much as possible for the rest of the year. The author goes in great detail concerning growing spaces, hot beds and polytunnels. He discussed planting plans as well as what you need to accomplish throughout the year. He discusses how to store your garden produce, how to prepare it for preserving.