All New Square Foot Gardening, is a really good book for those who want to grow lots of vegetables and stuff in an extremely limited area. SFG's ideas greatly increase the efficiency of growing in a specific area.
I'm giving the idea 5/5 stars. BUT the book, i going to have to give a 4/5 stars. Reason being, the book has a very odd flow, probably because it is a rewrite. Its a little choppy and slow in some areas, so I usually end up skimming over those areas. Also, some of the ideas are a little odd, and no alternatives to these odd ideas a presented. Its like, "if its not done MY WAY, don't do it at all", some examples include his soil mix and his raised bed height. His soil mix is good and all, but its really expensive, and it will break down into dust in an extremely short time. And his recommendation of 6 inch high beds and NO higher are pretty ridiculous, i mean that is not that high, and if you planting lots of crops in one of these, they probably are going to compete with each other for root space...
Another thing i didn't like with this book, was that it was written with the market target being old people and little kids. Being right inbetween, i felt like it was grannying and babying the reader at the same time. I mean, this book would be so much better if it didnt lead to those "feelings", and was written to convey "Square Foot Gardening" and ONLY Square foot gardening... NOT how little kids can do it, and how old and disabled people would enjoy it. I mean thats great and all, but old peoples' enjoyment of gardening has NOTHING to do with Square Foot Gardening... I mean really. If i wanted to learn about old people gardening, id read something else...
Final note, he recommends growing flowers in a square foot garden. I dont know about you, but my personal opinion torwards this is that this is the dumbest idea ever, i dont think it looks good at all... If you want to grow flowers, id apply this SFG knowledge into putting them into pots and planters, and not 4x4 cubes in some random spot on your lawn.
Good book, recommended, just beware feeling that your getting babied and grannied. Dont buy it for retail price, get it only if you can get a real deal.
Also... little unrelated, i noticed the majority of the books information can be obtained free from previewing this book on Google Books, it goes over the entirety of the square foot gardening method, but doesn't go into detailed specifics on growing certain veggies.
Posts
