Gardening for Dummies (Paperback)

~ Mike MacCaskey (Author), Bill Marken (Author) "If you want to learn more about gardening - and you must if you are reading this - just where do you start?..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Starting off with ultrabasics, like "how do I get my plants to live rather than die?" Gardening for Dummies is a terrific textbook for the novice gardener. Explanations are laid out simply, and all terms are defined as soon as they are first used--if you've never grown so much as a houseplant, this is the book to get you started. Emphasis is on choosing proper plants for your zone (it's OK--the color map will show you which zone you're in) that are fairly low-maintenance and high-success. Large sections on both seeds and bedding plants will give you lots of options and specific instructions for getting good results--seeds, especially, are treated as persnickety little critters that require some extra effort in exchange for low cost and large variety. The big downside to this book is its lack of pictures. There are lots of line drawings, but they tend to show particular stages of a process, rather than each step. Color photos are limited to two sections, and most of them are close-ups of various plants. While it's nice to see what the bark of a paperbark maple looks like, it doesn't particularly add to the value of the book. For folks who learn best with straightforward reading, the sections on mulching, pruning, soil preparation, and tool choices are all extremely helpful. With bullet-point lists, icons for highlighting categories like ecofriendly or time-saving, and simple tables and charts, how-to photos aren't essential, but if pictorial aids are what you need for learning, look elsewhere. --Jill Lightner

From Library Journal

This book has much to recommend it, in spite of the title. It is a simple, well-laid-out introduction to basic gardening by the editor-in-chief of National Gardening magazine and editors of the National Gardening Association. Its light tone is clearly aimed at novice gardeners. Snappy headings, the use of icons (as symbols are called nowadays), checklists, and diagrams make the book appealing for beginners. Gardeners with some experience might prefer a more substantial and better-illustrated introduction such as the one provided in Burpee Complete Gardener: A Comprehensive, Up-to-Date, Fully Illustrated Reference for Gardeners at All Levels (LJ 2/15/96). This volume is even more up to date, including good lists of mail-order suppliers and further readings and information about on-line resources. Recommended for public libraries.?Daniel Starr, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 2 Sub edition (February 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764551302
• ISBN-13: 978-0764551307
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #350,867 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

213 of 227 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For those to whom digging is dangerous ground, March 28, 1998

By	A Reader (New York City, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gardening for Dummies (Paperback)

I am born and bred of centuries of pure inner-city living, apartment-dwelling stock. The lights blow out, tub leaks, or toilet won't stop flushing? Call the Super. Trees and dirt? You see them in the park. Flowers? You buy them to give, smile when you recieve, and go to admire them in the Botanical Gardens. Vegetables? You buy them at the supermarket or produce store; they often are frozen or come in cans.

My sister, whose entire repitoire of handyperson skills involved changing lightbulbs, recently moved to a house in what my family calls the "country." Translation: suburbs not reachable by the New York City Subway System. She's got a lawn and a backyard, and can achieve a goal we've always yearned for...a garden. But what do you do when for all of your childhood you got in trouble for digging in dirt because it ment an extra trip to the Laundromat? Because I learned everything I needed to know to get rock 'n rollin' on computers from the very excellent "Dummies" series, and there is no Julia Child or Martha Stewart of gardening that I know of, I bought her a copy of this very excellent book. She grew tulips, hyacinths, pansies, marigolds, and lots of other flowers I forget the names of. Tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, zucchini, onions, green beans, cucumbers, etc. flourished under her stewardship and graced her table. Mint, Dill, Basil, and other herbs grown in her garden enhanced her cooking. She's organizing her work for the '98 season now.

The "Secret Garden" can be real! But don't be misled by the "Dummies" title. You don't have to be as totally green-thumb challenged as my family to benefit from this book. It's got a wealth of advice for anyone interested in growing a garden, from what experienced friends tell me.

98 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb information for all gardeners., January 26, 2001

By	Michelle Hall "Literaryhall" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Excellent tips, information and planning all rolled into one gardening book. After browsing through, then reading, I pulled out a notepad and started planning my garden.

You'll learn about your climate, what you can grow, and how to do it successfully.

Learn the basics, the beauty and the benefits of growing your own food or just for the view.

I was able to pick and choose the plants I wanted to grow that were correct for my climate and yard size.

Now I just have to wait for the ground to thaw.

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just right..., July 18, 2004

By A Customer

I am a novice gardener who is trying to figure out how to maintain a well-landscaped property that I inherited. After the first couple of years of letting the place "rest on its laurels" (i.e., get by on its past grandeur and do nothing to maintain it except to water it every now and then, but otherwise neglecting it and letting it get weedy and rangy), I have finally tackled the project of educating myself about gardening and trying to restore some freshness and style to my garden. This book offers a very skillful overview of everything I need to know in order to take on this project. It gives an overview of pretty much every fundamental of gardening, giving enough explanation to help you understand the logic behind the "rules" of garden creation and maintenance, but without the kind of technical detail that would make it tedious or would glaze the eye of the beginner. I have found this an excellent "starter" book--gives the lay of the land, as it were, so that you can establish basic competence and understanding before you go onto more specialized knowledge. THANKS!