This is a wonderful guide, especially for those new to vegetable gardening, that provides a wealth of information in an easy to understand format. Author, Noor Fatima, uses a very conversational tone throughout, making for a more enjoyable read. She provides information on the ‘why’ along with the ‘how-to’ which is very helpful and, in a lot of instances, very interesting, too! In addition to how to grow various types of vegetables and herbs, she also delves into the benefits and uses for them, which is a nice add.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and will be using the tips and information to help with my own backyard garden. ( )

Excellent beginner how to. This book gives lots of great basic information to help anyone get started gardening. Presented in an easy to read, step by step guide that covers tools, methods, plants, soil prep and testing and all the vital things to help anyone be a successful gardener. ( )

As someone who decidedly does not have a green thumb but who wants to start dabbling in growing their own vegetables, I found this to be a well written and helpful overview. I liked that it addressed good things to plant with each other and why that is important. Hopefully soon I can start applying what I have learned! ( )

You know how in a deathmatch between DIY books, the one with the best illustrations wins?

This one doesn't have any.

There are a couple catches though. First, that's normal. Gardening DIY's with no pictures and thousands of bullet points are common. Second, this reads more like a self-help book. In that capacity, it's doing something well. I can promise that if you need a gardening motivational book, this will scratch that itch. ( )

This is a good primer on starting a garden for beginners as it lays out the essentials on tools, provides information on starting a garden and types of vegetables to introduce. The basics on supporting the soil and composting, companion planting, and climate are covered.

I found info on remediating the soil very helpful as other gardening books don't always cover DIY strategies to dealing with poor soil, etc.

While dealing with pests and invasive insects may be a daunting task for a small book, it would have been beneficial for new gardeners to cover some general information on how to deter them.

Some of the details on gardening can use more elaboration (on starting seeds and grow lights) and additional photos and illustrations are always beneficial. On the whole, I found the book provide the quick set of info new gardeners are looking for. ( )