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Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening Review

I'm a complete beginner to gardening (even in containers) and decided to start a small vegetable garden this year. I picked up this book based on Amazon reviews and got some other beginner gardening books from the library to supplement my learning. Even though the author says that it's not a comprehensive gardening book, I found myself referring to it much more than the other books I got. He has a down-to-earth, scientific, thoughtful writing style that gained my trust through his explanations of his gardening methods and experiences.

Some points I found invaluable as a beginner:

1. Importance of fertilizing - basically, soil quality is poor all over the PNW because of constant rain, so fertilizing (without adding too much compost) is crucial.
2. Not over-watering, which lowers soil temperature and leeches nutrients.
3. Approximate sowing dates for various vegetables.
4. Buying quality seeds - the home gardener often gets sold the cheapest quality seeds, which can affect your entire harvest (and all the time, money, energy you've spent on it). It's important to buy from catalogs that test their seeds and insist on commercial quality.
5. And of course, the list of vegetables and how to raise them, how well they adapt to our climate, etc.

Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening Feature

• ISBN13: 9781570615344
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening Overview

Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades is an invaluable resource for any gardener looking to become more knowledgeable and grow better vegetables. The book features basic info on soils, composting, chemical-free fertilizing, efficient water usage, and planning, but it is also filled with up-to-date tips on seed sources and new growing and cultivation techniques. Featuring a Earth-friendly focus on organic gardening practices, the book helps readers acquire a foundation of master-gardening knowledge that they can use to organize and plan their own gardens however they want.

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Customer Reviews

Especially benefits those who live in the Pac. NW. But contains many opinions (and "advice" contradictory to reliable sources) - xfrozenfirex - Sammamish, WA USA
CAVEAT: I have only read up to the third chapter so far

This book is written purely from the experience of the author (who is quite successful, I'm sure), but I was looking for a book that was more objective and grounded in concrete data. However, much of the advice is good and I've only found some places where the author makes it sound as if the information he is giving is definitely right (and all others are wrong, or doesn't acknowledge that there exist alternatives), but my research has shown some controversies or contradicting information in that area.

The strongest point of this book is that it is locale-specific (focus is on the Pacific Northwest, mainly Oregon). Consequently, much of the good advice I'm talking about above are the neat tricks and techniques that actually work well in that climate.

Overall a good book, but I think it would be wise to do a bit of your own research while reading this book.



Happy - -
I moved to the NW from New England and needed some gardening help! This is very helpful and detailed. Would reccommend!!



excellent resource for the Pacific Northwest gardner - Tami L. Skelton - Seattle, WA USA
I'm a new gardner, having just bought a weekend home with some acreage. After doing a bit of research I realized that gardening in the Pacific Northwest has some specific requirements and pitfalls. This book addresses all of them. The only thing stopping me from giving it a 5 star review is the fact that it's a bit wordy for what should be a technical guide. It certainly keeps it from being dry, but I found myself wanting a more straight-forward style, such as bulleted list. Instead, this is written in more of a novel-like way with observations and discussions heavily peppered with specific facts and recommendations. I starting reading it with highlighter in hand, which helped, but my husband was much more patient. He's used this book to start our very first garden, with very few other references.




*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 10, 2010 18:30:08