Customer Reviews

You Bet Your Tomatoes: Fun Facts, Tall Tales, and a Handful of Useful Gardening Tips

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you want to read a funny book on how to grow beautiful tomatoes, then You Bet Your Tomatoes is right up your alley. Mike
McGrath (NPR host of the gardening radio show, "You Bet Your Tomatoes") not only shows you quick ways to keep your tomato plants happy and thriving, but he tells some funny stories and bizarre factoids along the way. In fact, I why wonder this book isn't also sold in the humor section at the bookstore?

You Bet Your Tomatoes! by Mike McGrath is the only how-to grow-tons-of-quality-tomatoes one will ever need. It is the only 'mater book I have and my 'maters are the envy of the neighborhood -- Not bad, since I've only been gardening for a couple of years, as a hobby.

McGrath starts off with a basic question: Why am I Doing This Instead of Enjoying my Summer??? then proceeds to give the reader plenty of logical reasons like "Tomatoes are easier to grow than watermelons..." and "Most other summer endeavors have a much higher risk of death and/or dismemberment." Yes, the god of all-things-humorous seems to reign in this book!

Chapter 1 -- Picking Your Tomatoes (Do all these things have funny, rude, or mysterious names?)
this chapter contains the names of all the top tomatoes, Determinate or Indeterminate, Hybrid or Open-Pollinated, Days to Maturity, Comments. A must-have reference!
Chapter 2 -- The Joy of Germination (Or, Killing your own tomatoes from seed)
Chapter 3 - The Art of Tomato Planting (You want me to BURY them? You MONSTER!!)
Chapter 4 - Staking and Caging (No, not "or," "AND!" Got it?! "Staking AND Caging"!!!)

The little drawings of all the 'mater-babies are absolutely precious! My favorite is the 'mater-baby sitting in a stroller with a pacifier in its mouth.

Chapter 5 - Food, Water and Basic Keeping-Alive Skills (Ooops---you mean I shouldn't have watered them each and every day?)
Chapter 6 - Pest Control... (Am I the only creature around here NOT eating my tomatoes???)
Chapter 7 - Dealing with Disease (Can't we just take them to the hospital?)

Did I mention all that neighbor-envy your are going to bask in -- growing those big, beautiful 'maters. Better than sunshine, to be sure. :) --Katharena Eiermann, 2005, the Realm of Existentialism -- Presidential Hopeful

Mike McGrath gives good information on growing tomatoes. He gives this information in a humorous format which I really enjoyed. I have read several books and articles on growing tomatoes, but learn a little bit from each, including this one. I would recommend this book, especially if you appreciate humor. It makes the learning fun.

I've been gardening for many years (actually, my garden survives in spite of me, not because of me), and I found a lot of new and useful information in this book. It's a little "cutesy" but that makes reading it more fun. I'm re-reading it to try to absorb more of the information.

One of my favorite writers. Such a comic genius. Any gardener would enjoy his observations. Easy reading.

I love Mike McGrath's public radio show, so I guess I shouldn't have been shocked that his book is written EXACTLY in his voice - from abrupt changes in font sizes to Jersey-fied spelling of words, the book reads like something he dictated and captures his quirky style. More pamphlet than reference guide, you'll find some good advice and helpful reminders in here, but since the book's composition is rather stream-of-consciousness, arm yourself with page flags if you ever want to refer to those gems again. All in all, I'm glad to have this on the bookshelf, but I wouldn't rely on it for an education in tomato growing.

I liked the author's writing style and his attempts at humor. It was a quick read
and would be a good gift to the novice gardener before the planting season.

I really did not like this book. I didn't learn any useful tips. The writer mainly talks about his experiences in tomato growing but doesn't really offer any useful info.