Review: The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Ed Smith

Title: The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible
Author: Edward C. Smith
Publisher: Storey Publishing

[su_highlight background=”#fef7a1″]Buy on Amazon: The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible, 2nd Edition[/su_highlight]

Ed Smith is a vegetable gardener in Cabot, Vermont who tends a 1500 square foot garden filled with raspberries, blueberries, flowers, herbs, and nearly 100 varieties of vegetables. A gardener since he was 8 years old, Ed set out years ago to design a garden bed that gives plant roots substantially more room to grow than the traditional row garden, and at the same time can be easily built and maintained. Ed’s wide, deep, raised beds provide almost 8 times more space than the traditional row garden, which gives his plants plenty of room to grow and establishes a healthier, more vigorous plant.

The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible provides step by step instructions for building your raised garden beds; ideas on garden design; interplanting tips; crop rotation; cold frame gardening and greenhouse growing; soil conditioning; why some tools are better than others; dealing with pest problems; and my favorite section, a plant directory with detailed info on growing the most common vegetables in raised beds.

Whether you’re a novice gardener or a pro, you’ll find The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible helpful. I refer to it often when I’m planning my garden and planting.