'Beginner's Garden: A Practical Guide to Growing Vegetables and Fruit Without Getting Your Hands Too Dirty' by Alex Mitchell is a fun and lighthearted look at gardening with beginner's in mind. This is Ms. Mitchell's second edition of this reference book. There were 10 years between editions and much learning done by the author. She is only too happy to share her knowledge so that a begining gardener can feel confident.
The book is written in plain and easy to understand language without all the baggage of traditional gardening guides. This book is also great for those whose gardening attempts have been meager and want to strick out again with more success.
Well done.
I would like to thank Fox Chapel Publishing IMM Lifestyle Books, Alex Mitchell and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

No matter your gardening skill this is a helpful book. Beginners will learn much, but those that have gardened before might learn a few new skills to help them too.

An interesting book, not exactly my cup of tea but an interesting read for the unconventional gardener.

What a Gem of a Book, Beginners Garden: A Practical Guide to Growing Vegetables & Fruit Without Getting Your Hands Too Dirty
by Alex Mitchell is.
I loved this book. I've always wanted to grow my own Vegetables and this is a brilliant book to get started with. This book is a brilliant fun guide to grow your own salads, vegetables, herbs, fruit etc from seeds. It also tells you how to do this from the start and how to care for them to get lovely food from the seedlings, plants etc.
Throughout this book, it gives you clear guidelines on what to do, how to care and water your plants. It is aimed at beginners but its also good for people who know what they are doing in the garden.
It also has delicious recipes for homemade soup, salads, herb butter, drinks etc, which I am going to do. It also has fun projects for your outside space wether you have a big garden or a small area. This can be for the weekend or for holidays etc that can involve everyone in the family etc.
I loved the area of the book about flowers etc, every garden has to have flowers, how to grow them and care for these. This was also well illustrated and a bonus it informs you that you that some flowers are edible.
This is a Must for anyone who wants to start growing their own Vegetables etc. Plus, it would make a beautiful Birthday present for someone who wants to start to do this.

Big fat 5 stars from me.

Big thank you to Fox Chapel Publishing, and NetGalley who gave me a copy of their book for an honest review.

Beginner's Garden is an introductory guide for new gardeners. Author Alex Mitchell has teamed up with Fox Chapel Publishing to produce an upbeat and encouraging guide for the less experienced gardener.

Especially slanted toward urban and suburban gardening, there's a lot of emphasis on easily grown crops which are suited to containers. The most common crops get their own listings with cultural info and are ranked with regard to difficulty with 1-4 trowels (1 is 'You couldn't kill it if you tried' :) The entire book is filled with full color photographs of everything including growing spaces, plants, bugs and food.

The book is split up into logical sections which start with an easily digested introduction and getting started sidebar. The introduction includes a short discussion of tools and supplies (which are few and easily acquired). The next chapters detail seasonal jobs and crops starting with spring and moving through the year to winter. There's an interlude chapter in the middle of the year which talks about entertaining and includes recipes which showcase the production from the gardener's efforts. I loved the inclusion of recipe themed containers: 'Salsa in a box', 'Patio Friendly Greek salad', 'Ratatouille riot', etc.

The end of the book has a short chapter on parasites and 'garden villains' and some info about how to identify and deal with unwanted critters in the garden. There are also reference and glossary sections which cover the basics. The index and resources sections finish up the book and include useful links for further reading.

Four stars, encouraging and supportive help for new gardeners with some interesting takes on common problems and recipes for the more advanced gardener. Very chatty and informal.

160 pages softbound, expected publication date: 12th March, 2018

Some excellent tips in this book. An absolute must for the new gardener. Not bad for an old hand either!

It is currently 21 degrees here. So, earlier this morning, I snuggled up on the sofa with a cup of tea and read this lovely beginner's gardening book. And while I am not new to gardening, I enjoyed this book.

Being that we have snow on the ground here, I found myself skipping around a bit while reading this.

I skipped forward to the section on winter jobs and then onto the section that promotes starting seed trays and pots inside in early spring.

I then viewed the section on soil type and preparation.

From there, I moved onto composting, planting and harvesting.

I paused for a while to check out the section on terracotta pots and flowers.

Throughout the read, beautiful photos and tasty recipes lure one to want to begin gardening as soon as possible.There are some descriptions of pesky garden villains too.

If you're just starting to garden, this is a great resource. Organized in an interesting fashion, by season, the book begins with a "getting started" section that teaches the basics of gardening. Then, the Spring chapter covers lots of plants that can be started in spring. Each plant has a well-organized, 2-3 page layout that covers all the basics (when/how to sow, maintenance, harvest, and possible pests/diseases. In particular, I like the "If you do only three things this season" entry, that shows three easy-to-grow plants to start. This saves the beginning gardener from becoming overwhelmed with starting too many plants (or trying to decide which to choose). Each season also has sections for various tasks or issues (e.g., fertilizing, recipes for using herbs, pruning). The last part of the book contains a section on "Garden Villains," a glossary, and a resources page. I would recommend this guide to anyone just starting to garden.

A Beginner's Garden: A Practical Guide to Growing Vegetables & Fruit without Getting Your Hands Too Dirty is a beautifully illustrated tutorial for garden enthusiast who do not have a lot of gardening experience. The book is divided into sections according to the seasons, which is quite helpful. There are recipes included. I especially enjoyed the container combo tips, since I am an avid herb and container gardener myself. This book makes for an ideal housewarming gift. I received a copy of this book from Net Galley, but this did not affect my rating. I have provided an unbiased and honest review.

An excellent book for the gardening wannabe - one that I truly savoured reading it from cover to cover. Full of useful ideas, and also very good to read, it would be a super gift for a nervous gardener or housewarming present.

The last section of the book is on recipes - simple things that won't give you anxiety attacks, just showcase the produce from your garden, from soup, salad and bruschetta, to herb butter, drinks and dips. Super yum.

I love, love, LOVE the idea of the container combos, and will certainly be planning my planting around these ideas - I'd be happy with just a book of these, along with some recipes.

A great guide for the beginner gardener, or someone who just wants to stretch their food budget. A year round guide provides the reader with suggestions for what to plant, how to take care of them and how to deal with pests that may stop by. Projects can be simple or more difficult and there are even some things to try in the winter. This describes what to do with a small piece of land for a backyard, and offers some tips for apartment options. Recipes in the back include a wide variety of things to try. This gives me some new ideas for seeds to order.