3-Step Vegetable Gardening: The Quick and Easy Way to Grow Super-Fresh Produce [Paperback]

Steve Mercer (Author), Sally Roth (Author), Gardening (Author), Vegetable (Author), How-To (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2008 | Series: Gardening

Many people would love to enjoy eating super-fresh homegrown produce but don't know how. Starting with what varieties to plant through how to tend their garden and when and how to harvest the fruits of thei labors, this book is the complete vegetable gardening system for busy people. The book breaks things down into three simple steps: sow, grow, and harvest.

Readers will learn how to set their garden; how to install raised beds and a watering system; and why the time spent getting ready to sow will be repaid many times over during the summer. They will find out how to grow, learning all about mulches and weed covers, garden sites, and planting plans. Then day by day through the growing season, they will see how to make their garden grow. And finally they'll learn how to tell when it's time to harvest and how to store vegetables they can't eat right away.
By spending growing their own vegetables, readers will enjoy crops harvested at the peak of perfection, bringing food from garden to table in minutes flat. And they'll be eating the freshest home-grown vegetables, herbs, and fruit available instead of the underripe or limp, sickly offerings so often found in supermarkets.

Editorial Reviews

Review

-Step Vegetable Gardening is a good choice for the beginning gardener. Experienced gardeners will appreciate the quick and easy reference style when help with a specific fruit or vegetable is needed. Lots of photographs, large typeface and a simple one-two-three style of instruction for most fruits and vegetables make this book a useful garden tool.

                                                                                                                           Suite101.com
                                                                                                                           April 6, 2009

Book Description

3-Step Vegetable Gardening is the complete vegetable gardening system for busy people, breaking things down into three simple steps: sow, grow, and harvest. Readers will learn how to set their garden; how to install raised beds and a watering system; and why the time spent getting ready to sow will be repaid many times over during the summer. They will find out how to grow, learning all about mulches and weed covers, garden sites, and planting plans. Then day by day through the growing season, they will see how to make their garden grow. And finally they'll learn how to tell when it's time to harvest and how to store vegetables they can't eat right away.
- 300 color photographs

- Explanations of the three steps--sow, grow, harvest--for each vegetable or fruit

- Do-it-yourself soil tests

- Dozens of hints and tips, many even experienced gardeners will find interesting

- How to choose the best easy-care vegetables and varieties

- Strategies for sowing and planting in both hot and cold conditions

- How to draw up and follow a cropping plan to stay on track

- Keeping one step ahead of weeds the natural way

- Ways to keep crops fresh and full of flavor after picking

- A-Z guide to fruit and vegetables

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Creative Homeowner; First edition (November 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580114075
• ISBN-13: 978-1580114073
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #559,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great reference, January 23, 2009

By 

Scott T. Nakatsu - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 3-Step Vegetable Gardening: The Quick and Easy Way to Grow Super-Fresh Produce (Paperback)

I bought this book from a local book store and it's a great reference for the beginner gardener. It goes into detail about how to make raised beds, container gardening, and exactly how to raise a variety of fruits, herbs, and vegetables. It specifically states when to plant certain crops, how to plant them, and all the details you need.

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because of a few things. First, in certain plants, it states the type of fertilizer that the plants need, but it doesn't recommend an N-P-K ratio to use. Second, it doesn't give container sizes for all plants. I know some don't grow well in containers, but I don't think they gave enough detail in this area. Third, although this happens in a few books I've read, they don't specifically say what tomato suckers are, they just say to get rid of them. I had to do a search on what they were to find out. There are a few other things, but they're minor.

Despite it's shortcomings, it's invaluable for the beginner. Some of the things it talks about are: plant spacing, planting depth, transplanting, intercropping, double sowing, how to make raised beds, how to grow the plants, how to train them, how to harvest, when to harvest, and more.

Before this book, I knew next to nothing about vegetable gardening, but I feel this book is a great starting point for anyone interested in gardening.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Confidently recommended for personal and community library Gardening/Horticulture reference collections, November 14, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 3-Step Vegetable Gardening: The Quick and Easy Way to Grow Super-Fresh Produce (Paperback)

First time gardener or expertise. In either event, learning to sow, grow and harvest vegetables and fruits can be a frustrating task if you aren't receiving the results you want or don't know the best way to grow your fruits and vegetables. In "3 Step Vegetable Gardening", aspiring gardeners will learn how to grow and harvest dozen of popular vegetables and fruits. Step by step photographs show important gardening tasks and green tips tell you how to help the planet while watching your garden grow. Author Steve Mercer, with the assistance of Sally Roth, U.S. Consultant, provide a beautifully rich text with step by step instructions, frequently asked questions, gardening tips, and hundreds of photos, making "3 Step Vegetable Gardening" an essential 'how to' guide for horticultural efforts ranging from small gardens in pots to large gardens in a landscape. Easy to read and thoroughly 'user friendly', readers will follow their green thumbs each step of the way with instructions on sowing, growing and harvesting. A must have for anyone wishing to grow vegetables and fruits, "3 Step Vegetable Gardening" is confidently recommended for personal and community library Gardening/Horticulture reference collections.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for Inexperienced Gardener, February 23, 2010

By 

K. Colvin (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 3-Step Vegetable Gardening: The Quick and Easy Way to Grow Super-Fresh Produce (Paperback)

I thought this book was a fabulous resource for me, someone who is setting out to begin my first vegetable garden. What I liked most about it was the pictures of things. So many books tell you how to harvest things, or how to plant things, or say harvest "when mature" without explaining what that means. This book provides pictures of mature plants, and in some cases, pictures of people harvesting them, along with the instructions. I also like the fairly simplistic way they discuss everything, and don't assume you are an expert gardener, like many other books (even beginning ones). I do wish that it did a better job of discussing organic gardening, and it only devotes about two pages to getting rid of pests organically, but I guess I can get a separate organic gardening book to do that. I did only give it 4 stars, mainly because I found a number of editing errors (one page ends mid-sentence, then does not ever continue it on any of the following pages), but it wasn't like it was unreadable. Just annoying. However, since I bought it for the pictures of what things should look like, it definitely has met my expectations in that regard.