[.ca] Vegetable Gardening For Dummies (ISBN 0764551299)

From Amazon.com:
The ubiquitous For Dummies series, while not known for pretty illustrations or lush photography, does manage to pack the maximum amount of information into an easy-to-read format--something that gardeners with an eye on the financial bottom line love. For vegetable gardeners, the right information is especially important, because if you don't end up with edible food on the table, you've failed. Charlie Nardozzi and the National Gardening Association editors seem comfortingly aware of this fact, but they also want to make vegetable gardening fun and interesting, and to that end there's a lot more here than just the standard tomatoes and zucchini. Bok choy, fingerling potatoes, kabocha squash, daikon radishes--they've included just about every vegetable you might be able to think of, with pithy recommendations of the tastiest and easiest-to-grow varieties. The book's first three chapters deal with deciding what to plant, where to plant it, and when. Nardozzi then turns the bulk of the book--nine chapters--over to the vegetables themselves: the tomato (the most popular vegetable for the home gardener); the pepper and eggplant; root crops; legumes; vine crops; cole crops, such as broccoli and cabbage; greens; and sweet corn and unusual vegetables. A special chapter goes to nonvegetables like herbs and berries. The book's third section is devoted to gardening techniques, which more experienced gardeners may want to turn to immediately. There's good, solid information here on irrigation, mulching, reading a fertilizer label, companion and secession planting, and much more. As with all For Dummies titles, the resources listed in the appendix are comprehensive and up to date, and the index (without which any reader might be lost) is complete and useful.

Very informative:
Like the rest of the books in the Dummies series, this book takes a light-hearted approach to a heavy topic such as gardening. By focusing on vegetables the content remains helpful and informative. The book was divided into sensible sections--the basics, what to plant, how to plant, and so forth. I appreciated the instruction on gardening beginnings such as constructing a bean pole and what tools a novice needs. The last half of the book talks about specific vegetables, and has handy information on what grows best where. I believe this makes a good first-time gardener book or a companion to a book with more pictures.

Any Gardener's Must-Have Book:
I have other gardening books, but none of them are as easy-to-follow or as comprehensive as this one. The text is so much fun, it's easy to read cover-to-cover. Yet, if you need specific information on a certain type of vegetable or technique, the index is very easy to use. The appendix gives the dates and growing seasons for every major (or minor) city in the U.S., as well as additional resources and catalogs to consult. A wonderful resource for a novice or an experienced gardener.

A must have for every gardener!:
This is a great book for any vegetable gardener. It is easy to follow and you don't have to read it from start to finish. It is laid out so you can go to the sections that interest you the most. I am a first year gardener, and I got many, many compliments on my first ever vegetable garden, thanks mostly to the help of this book. A must have!