Personally, I love reading gardening books in the winter, when I am dreaming and planning for the planting season ahead. ‘Raised Bed Gardening’ was a delight! It kickstarted my garden design for the upcoming year and I learned ways of planting that are new to me.

I highly recommend this title and I look forward to a hard copy to add to my garden reference collection.

If you are a beginning gardener wanting to growing vegetables in raised beds, this book is a good resource. It's written in very simple terms, assuming the reader has no experience with carpentry or gardening. The level of detail is minimal, so as not to overwhelm the reader. Yet, there is enough basic information for someone to be successful with this guide. I'd suggest that perhaps the title could be revised to include "Vegetable," as there really is little information about other plants such as annuals, perennials or other ornamental plants.

The first part of the book deals with siting, planning, building and filling the beds with soil. For the most part, good horticultural principles are incorporated in these instructions (e.g., efforts to avoid compaction, methods to prevent overwatering), but there could be some improvement in the area of sustainable practices. Also, I think the notes on Pests, Disease and Environmental Issues are too general and will not help the beginning gardener. A little more space should be devoted to especially pests/disease in a separate section. Integrated Pest Management should be included here.

The last half of the book deals with growing specific plants. It seems to be focused on vegetables (with a couple of edible flowers thrown in). Each profile includes a nice photo of the plant (or a part of it), a brief description, growing information, and a short list of "Problems" that includes pests or diseases. Often, this results in a lot of white space on the last page. It would be extremely helpful to the beginning gardener to see a photo of the disease or pest, as well as a bit more information about control.

Overall, a beginner could probably do OK with this guide, but it does have some deficiencies. I'd like to see more illustrations that are actually helpful in the first half of the book, rather than what appears to be more like clip art for decorative purposes. With my suggested improvements, it could be a great guide!

Raised Bed Gardening for Beginners is a new tutorial gardening guide by Tammy Wylie. Released 25th June 2019 by Rockport, it's 168 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

Gardening is enjoying a well deserved surge in popularity. It provides so many positive health benefits including stress reduction, exercise, meaningful stewardship of natural resources and healthy food & beauty for the gardener and their family and friends. This is a good introduction to raised bed gardening, its benefits and limitations. The book has an easy to use, logical layout starting with an introductory chapter which makes a compelling case for using raised beds for growing; less weeding, higher yields, healthier plants, better drainage, etc.

The next chapters cover planning and siting a garden, building raised beds, soil, planting, growing & harvesting, and ends with an alphabetical list of plant profiles.

Worth noting for Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is included in the KU subscription to download and read for free.The ebook format also has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. The links and references are mostly slanted toward readers in the USA. A google search will provide equivalent resources in the reader's local geographical area.

There is scant photography or illustration in the book and the photos which are included are mostly stock photos (credited). The hardiness map which was included in the resource section is very vague and only covers the US. Gardeners in search of this info would do well to check their local extension agency for more specific information. USDA hardiness zone maps are really only needed in the case of perennials, and more general info for expected high temps and annual rainfall for use with annual crops is widely available locally.

I am a fanatical gardening enthusiast and I love this book's 'you can do it' vibe. Gardening is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and provides so many benefits.

Four stars. There is some good info here for all gardeners, not only beginners.

Truly, if you have never gardened and want to get started in the most efficient way - this is the book for you. Very straight-forward, in a logical sequence, and with pertinent details. I honestly can’t think of an aspect of getting a garden started that Wylie neglected to cover. Even for the experienced gardener, it is a concise reminder of the considerations you should entertain with each planting season.

I am perplexed by the final chapter of plant profiles. It does give the reader some basic information about the featured plants, but it omits a ton of gardening favorites - watermelon, pumpkin, and strawberries, to name a few. Also, it provides information on planting zones, but the map is rather vague and seems somewhat dated. It would be better to point the reader to a good outside resource. And speaking of resources, I thought Wylie’s list was lacking the great detail she provided in other parts of the book. My final thought is on pests and pollinators. I would have loved to see a little space devoted to the power of ladybugs and the necessity of honey bees.

I am a novice gardener but do so avidly. I blog about gardening and life at Patch405.com. I received an advance digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts and opinions express here are my own.

Thank you Netgalley, Author Tammy Wylie and Rockridge Press for allowing me to read and review this ebook as an ARC.

This book is amazing for anyone needing reference or resource for starting and sustaining a raised bed garden. I love the organization of the book, starting with planning, building the structure, soil, planting, then growing and harvesting. Final chapters deal with plant profiles and additional resources. I enjoyed the clear instructions for any novice gardener to attempt a raised bed garden. I was very interested in this as an aspiring home cook interested in growing their own herb garden and plant varieties. Zoning and spacing is very clearly explained in order for the garden to thrive. I believe that anyone trying to start this raised garden from scratch without any prior experience should pick up this book and will be certain to have a thriving raised bed garden.

5/5

Although I found the book informative, I also wish it had been been illustrated/photographed. There is a lot of great information but it can be very difficult to actually build a planter based off one or two cartoony illustrations. The bulk of the book is about growing individual 'common' type of plants such as herbs or cabbage, with instructions on the family, growing season, zones, spacing, seeds to harvest time, indoor cold stratification, earliest outdoor planting, and watering. I was looking more for different types of planters to create and how to create them.

The book breaks down as follows: Planning your garden, building structures, soil, planting, growing and harvest, and plant profiles (30 different plants, all vegetables/legumes and herbs). The back has resources and plant hardiness zones.

What I was missing were the visuals - actual photographs of raised beds, how they were placed in various back yards or community gardens, and how the plants inside looked when young and then mature. There were loose illustrations but it was pretty much a quick sketch and then some water color loosely brushed on top - not much int he way of detail. The book was heavy on information but light on inspiration, I felt.

That said, there is a lot of great information in here to make sure that you do your box beds correctly and so the plants thrive. Since this is a beginners guide, only the most common vegetables and herbs are included - from radishes to potatoes. So it is a great starting point before branching out to e.g., flowers.

In all, although it was not what I was looking for, I can still recommend it for the wealth of information inside, it's easy accessibility, and usefulness. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

If you are thinking about making raised beds for your garden, read this book first! It is full of all kinds of helpful advice and tips. You will refer back to this book often as you plant and care for your garden. Thank you Callisto Media via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

I liked the graphics on what plants go together and which ones that don't. A lot of good info.

I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.