[.ca] Gardening For Dummies, 2nd Edition (ISBN 0764551302)

From Amazon.com:
Starting off with ultrabasics, like "how do I get my plants to live rather than die?" Gardening for Dummies is a terrific textbook for the novice gardener. Explanations are laid out simply, and all terms are defined as soon as they are first used--if you've never grown so much as a houseplant, this is the book to get you started. Emphasis is on choosing proper plants for your zone (it's OK--the color map will show you which zone you're in) that are fairly low-maintenance and high-success. Large sections on both seeds and bedding plants will give you lots of options and specific instructions for getting good results--seeds, especially, are treated as persnickety little critters that require some extra effort in exchange for low cost and large variety. The big downside to this book is its lack of pictures. There are lots of line drawings, but they tend to show particular stages of a process, rather than each step. Color photos are limited to two sections, and most of them are close-ups of various plants. While it's nice to see what the bark of a paperbark maple looks like, it doesn't particularly add to the value of the book. For folks who learn best with straightforward reading, the sections on mulching, pruning, soil preparation, and tool choices are all extremely helpful. With bullet-point lists, icons for highlighting categories like ecofriendly or time-saving, and simple tables and charts, how-to photos aren't essential, but if pictorial aids are what you need for learning, look elsewhere. --Jill Lightner

Superb information for all gardeners.:
Excellent tips, information and planning all rolled into one gardening book. After browsing through, then reading, I pulled out a notepad and started planning my garden. You'll learn about your climate, what you can grow, and how to do it successfully. Learn the basics, the beauty and the benefits of growing your own food or just for the view. I was able to pick and choose the plants I wanted to grow that were correct for my climate and yard size. Now I just have to wait for the ground to thaw.

I was one of those Dummies:
I don't know how it happened but I thought I had not inherited the green thumb that my parents and Grandparents all had. That is until I found this wonderful guide to beginners gardening and it answered all the questions or told me simply how to find out the answers. I believe my local nursery was also happy that I took time out from trying to do it on my own and read the book.My mother said that she even learned a few new things while glancing through. It is also a good brush up guide before the spring thaw.

Garden Book for Idiots:
Actually this is a pretty decent book and there are many good gardening tips in it. I guess the main reason I'm not very fond of it ( got it as a gift and promptly gave it away myself ) is that I find the whole idea of it rather tasteless. Perhaps for folks whose idea of good reading is comic books, this would be the perfect garden book. It is indeed set up for those who are easily distracted, lots of bullet points and little boxes and so on. I question whether or not this book was even needed. There are many fine how-to garden books already out there. The old Taylor's Encyclopedia of Gardening, for example, can usually be found used for about the same price or less. Taylors, although old, is a real gardening book. Somehow I equate gardening with intelligence, with class, with good taste. I enjoy having shelves of books on all the different aspects of horticulture and hardly want one titled Gardening for Dummies. I have a book, Auto Repair for Dummies (also a present) and somehow I don't mind being an automotive dummy. But a garden variety dummy is a bit much. Nonetheless, if you simply don't have the patience for most books, and you don't know beans about gardening, go for it. Despite the title, the author, Michael MacCaskey, knows plenty about gardening.

San Luis Obispo guy is a Snob and a Ja-k-ss.:
Darn good Book for the intended audience: those new to gardening. I have a huge backyard and needed some simple, straightforward advice on gardening- this fine tome provided it. If you are a professional horticulturalist perhaps you don't need it, but for the other 99.9% of humanity, this book provides the essentials. If I were a physicist, I wouldn't bother reviewing books on elementary mathematics to illustrate my relative excellence. Sheesh!

Just right...:
I am a novice gardener who is trying to figure out how to maintain a well-landscaped property that I inherited. After the first couple of years of letting the place "rest on its laurels" (i.e., get by on its past grandeur and do nothing to maintain it except to water it every now and then, but otherwise neglecting it and letting it get weedy and rangy), I have finally tackled the project of educating myself about gardening and trying to restore some freshness and style to my garden. This book offers a very skillful overview of everything I need to know in order to take on this project. It gives an overview of pretty much every fundamental of gardening, giving enough explanation to help you understand the logic behind the "rules" of garden creation and maintenance, but without the kind of technical detail that would make it tedious or would glaze the eye of the beginner. I have found this an excellent "starter" book--gives the lay of the land, as it were, so that you can establish basic competence and understanding before you go onto more specialized knowledge. THANKS!