This Is The Easiest Book About Gardening! By Gemini62167 on Apr 07, 2009 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

Well, I've gone and done it good this time. I've decided to finally put a victory garden in my itsy bitsy back yard this year. Now the problem has been the fact that I have your basic tiny city lot that is about the size of a water closet - thus the concept of square foot gardening comes to the rescue!Mel has been praising the benefits of square foot gardening for many years now, and this book is considered the bible, while he the father of this technique. Square foot gardening is a form of high intensity gardening that takes advantage of small spaces with high yields. This method is perfect for those who have small yards, or perhaps terraces. The technique is largely dependent on building raised beds and using a special mix of peat moss, compost and vermiculite for sucess. Yes, you should use his recipe for the soil mix which can be a bit expensive to begin with, but once you've purchased those three ingredients once, that is it. What I like so much about this book other than the concept, is the way Mel lays out in utter simplicity how to garden in this manner from seed to harvest. There are many many instructional pictures that provide ample example of his ideas. My favorite part of this box are the charts in the back that show when to plant what and when as well as how to do succession planting. Knowing when to plant has been a mystery to me forever, and these charts are a godsend. They are very easy to read and intelligently laid out.If you are serious about putting a veggie garden to work for you, this would be the perfect book for you to start with.