Marie Iannotti

This is another book I grabbed immediately from netgalley because of my love for one of my newest hobbies, vegetable gardening (free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review).

This book starts from the beginning with explaining the different zones, the difference in climates within each zone (though I find it interesting that her last frost dates for our area is off by two weeks minimum) and how that will affect your garden.

There's everything from the sun, to the soil, how to start plants from seeds, different types of fertilizer, mulching, composting, watering, etc., to planning your garden plot (this was the section I found the most interesting, as we are doubling the size of our garden next year & I'm completely replotting the whole garden layout). The book then goes month by month on what you should be doing for your garden.

All in all, this is a great little resource book, but I think more ideally suited to raw beginners. I've only had a garden for two years, and I really didn't see any new information, which was disappointing to me. I also would have liked to have seen pretty photos, something this book is severely lacking (and why I give the book only 4 stars).… (mais)

A regionally specific guide that covers Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Parts of Canada including Ontario, New Brunswick, Novia Scotia, and Quebec are also included. A lot of specific information for each zone is included: climate zones, frost dates, and growing profiles.

I like the way that this book was organized as well, the first sections had a lot of general gardening tips that are great for beginner gardeners. After that there were month-by-month to-do sections. I got a lot of information out of the January and February planning sections. Following that there are individual plant profiles with specific tips for growing and harvesting. I read through the profiles for plants that I usually grow (one of the great tips earlier in the book is to only grow what you will eat) and was glad to see a wide variety of vegetables (and fruits too!).

A good, well-rounded guide for any beginner gardener or someone new to the region.

This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.… (mais)