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Reviews

I love Sunset Magazine and was excited when I found out about this book. I own Sunset's "The Edible Garden" (2005), which is my favorite gardening book. As I suspected, Sunset's "Western Garden Book of Edibles" (2010) is an updated version of the prior book. It has 304 pages, as opposed to the 194 of the earlier book. Recent readers of Sunset Magazine will recognize some of the pictures in the new book. I think this book is very useful. It is just beautiful to look at as well, which is important to me. I love their comprehensive climate zone information; all 32 zones! The book is also full of inspiration, especially for gardeners with challenges, like apartment dwellers. The majority of the book consists of individual listings of plants in six categories: vegetables, herbs, berries, fruits, nuts, and tropicals. Each individual listing tells you what zone the plant works in, how much sun and water it needs, information about how to eat it, information about different varieties of the plant, and specifics on how to grow it. The specifics on how to grow beets, for example, list sections on the best site, yield, soil, planting, spacing, water, fertilizer, harvest, and challenges (such as bugs). The section on garden design discusses issues like color, texture, & form, balance & repetition, focal points, relating to architecture, arbors & trellises, paths, raised beds (including building instructions), containers, and space-saving garden plans. The practical guide section is a step-by-step guide to just about everything else a new or moderately experienced gardener would want to know. It is meant to be an overview covering the basics in a few pages for each topic. Overall, this would be a great book for newbies. This is our family's third season gardening in a community plot and it is the perfect book for us.

I was entertained by this book. Some great points and helpful hits about specific plants.

Sunset's Western Garden Book has such positive reviews, I assumed that their new book focusing on edible plants would be a good purchase. I wish I had flipped through this book in a store before I went ahead and ordered it. I am a novice gardener, about to start my first vegetable garden, and this book does not have enough useful information in it to help get me started. The information would be too general for an expert gardener as well. It is chock full of photographs, and while the photos of garden design provide some inspiration, most of them are mediocre and add nothing to the book. Most of the photographs filling the book are close-ups of ordinary fruits and vegetables and are neither inspirational nor informative. I was also disappointed with the amount of space devoted to fruits, nuts, berries, and tropicals, since I am interested primarily in growing vegetables. This book feels a bit like an issue of Sunset magazine - with lots of photographs and a little specific information - which is fine for a throwaway magazine but it's not something I want to sit on my bookshelf for years. I highly recommend Pam Peirce's Golden Gate Gardening instead, if you live in the Bay Area or California coast.

Reviews

I've been waiting for this book since Dec 2009 from the great reviews of the earlier edition. A great book for the beginner and experienced. This is mainly for veggies, but does go over some native plants, pests, sun and climate, and recipies. This guide is a great read and highly recommended.

This book tells me almost everything I need to know to start my first vegetable garden, from planning my garden to dealing with pests. I can't imagine a better all-around book for gardeners who live in the Bay Area or California coast. The information is all specific to local micro-climates, with no space wasted on information that is not relevant in this part of the country. My only criticism is that I would have left out the handful of recipes scattered in the book.

This is a great reference for what, when and how to grow food in Northern California.

Reviews

This is an all-in-one guide to growing food plants in containers. It is useful for someone who has never gardened before, with short but informative explanations of what potting soil is, which fertilizer to use, and what sort of pots to look for. The section covering plant choices is organized alphabetically and provides some suggestions for plant types. The suggestions are helpful, since these women actually know which plants will really thrive in a container. They don't advise you to force a larger plant into a container and hope it works; they let you know which plants enjoy being rootbound, which ones sprawl too broadly, etc. Sprouting temperatures are given, so you can decide for yourself when to plant based on the climate where you live. There are nice little sections inserted throughout giving ideas about combinations of plants in one container. This is nice, because it breaks the box of thinking that only one tomato can live in a pot. Of course that seems obvious, but if you are used to growing vegetables in tidy rows it can be intimidating to consider sticking a marigold in the pot, too. If you are an experienced gardener, parts of this book will be review. I am of the opinion that a little review is always useful, even if you think you know what you're going. I've been gardening since I was a kid, but I still found some helpful tips in every section of this book. It is a nice guide if you want just one book to walk you through the entire process -- no need to have five books just to make one garden. The only downside is that there is absolutely no emphasis on organic gardening. Fertilizers are recommended and organic options are given in the fertilizer section, but after that the authors assume you'll be using a standard liquid fertilizer.

I am so glad I bought this reference for container gardening. It covers everything I've wanted to know about veggies, fruit, herbs, and more. I love that it's easy to read without being dumbed down. The authors' passion for gardening as well as their deep knowledge of this particular aspect of gardening clearly shows through. I find myself referencing this book over and over again, particularly when I'm interested in planting something new each season. There are recipes, diagrams, and of course the basics including pests and diseases. The only complaint I have is that there aren't pictures, only illustrations. I feel any good gardening book should have some real life examples that truly highlight the colorful nuances of each plant, flower, etc. I think this is a must-have for beginners to learn the basics, as well as for advanced gardeners as a foundation book in their library.

With their "year-round" planting schedule, this is a good reference for people like me who live in hotter climates and know nothing about "spring planting." I love the gardening ideas of grouping plants, the recipes and little sidebar information throughout the book. The layout makes it easy to read (split into two columns), the print isn't too small or too big and the authors' descriptions help you visualize the sights and smells of having a healthy and happy container garden. It's fun, informative and gets you motivated to start buying for your container gardens!

I bought this book because a lot of people recommended it. I think its great if (1) you're up for ALOT of reading (its 432 pages long), and (2) if you want to know EVERYTHING there is to know about container gardening. Personally, I felt this book had TOO much information. I found myself swimming in information about how to choose the right plant container for the deck of a boat - seriously, that's in there. Wayyy too much information for someone who has killed 4 "oh so easy to maintain" ivy plants. All I wanted was a small container garden with some peppermint, sage and a few tomatoes. This book however is so overwhelming. If you're a newbie like me, go for "Easy Container Gardening" by Pamela Crawford. Loved it! Simple and to-the-point.

This is an excellent resource for people interested in starting their own vegetable garden but are limited to containers. I used this book to grow my first garden this year and it is beautiful! Fall is approaching and I have tons of veggies with more on the way. I especially like the creative use of containers. The ladies provide tons of ideas on blending different types of vegetables within the same container giving the garden a beautiful, natural flow. The only book I've seen like it. Thanks so much for creating a book that is so long overdue.