The First-Time Gardener: Raised Bed Gardening (The First-Time Gardener's Guides)

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Raised Bed Gardening is one of a series of gardening guides aimed at the new gardener written by CaliKim. Due out 12th April from Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint, it's 176 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

Like the other, similarly formatted, books in this series, this installment provides a good solid introduction to raised bed gardening, why it makes sense, what the benefits are to this approach, and how to design and implement raised beds into a homeowner-type (suburban) garden. Although the guide covers all the salient points, it doesn't overwhelm by info-dumping too much instruction in too little space with difficult or confusing terminology or extreme costs from unnecessary or overly complicated tools and supplies.

The introduction provides answers to anticipated questions from readers on how, what, where, and why grow food crops and flowers in raised beds. The author covers siting, materials, sourcing materials, and more. All of the tips and possibilities are accompanied by photographs which are clear and easy to understand.

The following chapters are arranged thematically: building beds, filling the raised beds (really good soil tutorials and info here), planting and growing in raised beds, and a selection of customizable plans to work around what the individual reader's needs might be. Graphically the whole book is high contrast, full of photographs and step-by-step instructions. Salient points are set into highlighted text-boxes in small easy-to-digest bits in simple language.

Plant recommendations are listed by common name (no botanical (Latin) names). There are a few places in the text where the author recommends her own seed blends and sources, but it's not at all obtrusive or "infomercial"-ish. The author has also included handy appendices: charts for succession planting, resources and links for sourcing seeds and materials, as well as a cross referenced index.

I found the book useful and logically arranged. Information is easy to find and understand. It's complete, but not too overwhelming. This would be a good choice for public or school library acquisition, gardening group, allotment and group/community garden, etc. It's aimed mostly at suburban type gardens, but there's a lot of info here which is perfectly suited to urban settings (in fact, soil in urban areas can be so damaged and polluted that raised gardens with fresh soil are necessary for health reasons).

Five stars. This book, along with the companion volumes in the series will provide a solid basis for learning to garden.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.