Kitchen Garden Revival

This was certainly a fun book to read…and desperately needed to help with the winter blahs. I consider myself a pretty decent gardener, but I found such interesting things in Nicole Johnsey Burke’s book, Kitchen Garden Revival, that I cannot wait to get out and do some rearranging on my garden beds. It was also pretty interesting how she grouped vegetable and plants by groups…that was kind of surprising. The whole idea of the book was how great a veggie garden close (or not close) to your kitchen would be. She offers several examples of garden layouts, building materials, and even tells how to harvest. All in all, this is a very inspiring, uplifting, colorful garden manual.

Pleasant, well photographed book. Lots of ideas. Rather short on execution. And on the suggested plantings. Could have been much more comprehensive if in a longer book.

There are parts of this lavishly illustrated new garden book that I really liked, and parts that had me rather frustrated. The author helps homeowners set up kitchen gardens and also has maintained her own at many houses over the years. She tends towards high end, expensive gardens and the instructions reflect this. I cringed to see how much she estimated it would cost to put in your own kitchen garden, as it's just not that expensive at all if you don't care about the fancy aesthetic. My own kitchen gardens are simple raised beds that my husband and kids built with inexpensive safe lumber, homemade compost, and good Minnesota dirt. It's true that they don't offer the gorgeous architectural design of Burke's beautiful raised beds and metal arches, but at the heart of it a kitchen garden is just about growing food.

Burke does give good advice on topics like the families of produce that most gardeners plant, seed starting, dealing with pests, and planting close instead of in the wide rows that seed packets tend to recommend. She doesn't credit square foot gardening for this, but that really is the book/method that started gardeners on ignoring the seed packet spacing guides and learning to pack plants closely together in beds.

There are beautiful photos, helpful charts, and great advice (though not detailed advice on the garden plants). Burke is quite a cheerleader, which new gardeners may find encouraging. I would have liked to see more examples of simple kitchen gardens like those of our grandmothers (okay, my grandma ran a university, but other grandmothers had inspirational kitchen gardens). Readers who are looking for modern, beautiful kitchen gardens will be especially happy with Burke's ideas, but all gardeners are likely to find something useful or inspirational.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

A lovely little book for new gardeners looking to set up a small to medium sized "kitchen garden" (aka an herb/vegetable/fruit garden that is regularly planted and harvested for use in everyday cooking). Lots of inspirational pictures and designs for layouts, and good instructions on how to plot, build and fill your kitchen garden. Would've liked a bit more info on the plants.

This book focuses on a particular type of vegetable gardening called kitchen gardening. The author explains how to site, construct, plant and maintain a garden that is easily accessible to your kitchen. The photography makes you want to start one right away. Various sizes are provided, and the focus is on sustainable techniques for all aspects. I'm particularly impressed by the focus on using sustainable materials (no peat moss!) and integrated pest management (IPM). I would like to see a bit more on companion planting. A good primer for anyone who wants to start a small garden to grow produce.