The best of Dick Raymond's vegetable gardening wisdom is illustrated with full-color photos and at-a-glance charts that make his methods accessible to any gardener.

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I am not a fan of tillers and I am biased against chemicals, so Raymond had to overcome my initial skepticism. He did. While he extols the use of his tiller [he has a long relationship with Troy-Bilt, owned by Garden Way, publishers of this book], he also shows how to garden without one. And in most cases he offers organic alternatives to chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Furthermore, he started out on a farm, paid for his first home with a garden and roadside stand, has appeared in food production documentaries and has given gardening classes throughout the country, face-to-face and on radio and television.

I do not agree with all he writes, nor is he inclusive of all gardening methods, for instance Fukuoka's no-till, Steiner's biodynamics or Mollison's permaculture. But in gardening, the proof is in the eating and it is clear that Dick Raymond eats very well. Beginning, mid-field and advanced gardeners alike will learn valuable techniques for soil enrichment, bed-building, seed-growing, transplanting, spacing, weed-killing and insect-handling. He is excellent on green manure crops, seeding and harvesting. I was especially taken with his Eternal Yield experimental plots, where he imports only seeds and lime but has improved yields and soil over a ten-year period. "My goal was to plant different sequences of green manure crops to see if they alone could provide all the nutrients food crops need. My guidelines were simple: don't add any fertilizer, compost, or manures to the soil. As for organic matter, till under only the crops that grow on the plot. Do not bring in any outside material--no leaves, no mulch, nothing."

This is the best-illustrated gardening book I have found. Hundreds of color photos and drawings on high-quality paper illustrate every lesson. All popular plants are given their own coverage including gourds, peanuts and sunflowers. In the section on pests I learned a technique I am eager to try on the mole army here--sticking pieces of blackberry canes into the runways. There is an insect pest section as well as one on diseases. An eight-page planting guide supplements and synopsizes earlier coverage, there are maps on first- and last-expected frost dates. The index is small but adequate.

Should your budget allow only one gardening book, this is as good as you can do.

31 of 31 found the following review helpful:

My Gardening BibleMar 09, 2001
By Jennifer "Jennifer"
I never gardened until I moved to Vermont a few years back. As a city slicker I was amazed a little seed in some dirt could amount to anything. I got a few gardening books to help me, but this one handed to me by my mother-in-law was the very best (I found the others, especially "Gardening for Dummies" a waste of money). Dick's book is filled with photos of just about any run-of-the-mill vegetable (such as the tomato) as well as the more exotic (like my favorite, the brussels sprout). With clear and easy to follow directions and photos, Dick guides you through the process of growing any vegetable successfully. My second season of gardening I had an incredible bounty of tomatoes as my fellow gardeners' tomatoes were hit by blight - I just followed Dick's suggestions for planting and mulching. With the help of this book, I became a somewhat comfortable organic vegetable gardener. I just bought it for a friend on the West Coast as a housewarming gift - he plans to plant his first garden ever, and as he spoke, I just knew this book would help him.

The only caveats I would add are: 1) I did not find much success with his seed-scattering method. For some veggies, he suggests using a wide row and putting seeds in a salt shaker to scatter and over-sow, and then raking through to thin the young sprouts. I did find his wide-row method helpful for planting more in a smaller area, but I found I had to plot out where things would go. 2) This is a book for organic vegetable gardening. If you are interested in commercial pesticides or primarily in flower-gardening, this book is not for you.

Good luck & happy planting!

14 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Breaks the Mold of Traditional GardeningFeb 04, 1999

My parents gave me this book when it first came out. I'd already been rasing vegetables for over 20 years and considered myself somewhat of an expert. This book provides a lot of great ideas which I have never seen elsewhere. These include techniques for weed control, getting the earliest crops, getting the most out of available space, and expecially for reducing labor. And they work! I've had a 30 by 40 foot garden for years which has provided my family (of 7) with good eating in season and plenty for canning and freezing. This year, I'm going to use all my available space (about 50 by 80). I fully expect to raise enough to keep the family in veggies for most of the year. Whether you're a novice or an 'expert', you can benefit big time. The Joy of Gardening is far and away my number one reference. Nothing else comes close.

10 of 10 found the following review helpful:

This book is a MUST for any gardener!Apr 14, 1999
By Scott Stein (Scottcs@hotmail.com)
About 10 years ago, as a Pastor of a small church in Ohio, I began to garden a small plot in the back of our house for fun and for survival. My first attempt was feeble, and I went to the local library to read up on vegetable gardening. That's where I "met" Dick Raymond and this book. It changed my gardening life overnight. Over the next couple of years, I had gardens in my small town that even the "old timers" came around to see and compliment me on, as I followed the techniques Dick outlines in this book. His "wide row" gardening approach is just common sense, but flies in the face of traditional gardening wisdom. He writes in a very down-to-earth and simple-to-understand manner about every subject concerning growing more and better vegetables and with such enthusiasm that convinces anyone that they can be successful growing vegetables. If you own only one book to help you grow better vegetables, this one is it! Thank you, Dick Raymond for hours of gardening pleasure and some of the most delicious vegetables I have ever tasted!

10 of 11 found the following review helpful:

Reminds me of home! Fun, simple and insightfulJan 23, 2002
By Jan Conley
When I first glanced over Dick's book I thought that it would be based a little too much on his sponser (garden way-great carts by the way, have used them for 20 years) and perhaps some fertilizer company. Although he supports the use of some chemical fertilizers and tills quite a bit more than I might support, he has really terrific organic methods, green manures and old-fashioned thinking that remind me of what gardening used to be - a means to feeding the family with all of the fun short cuts and ideas!
The book has fabulous photos, great wide row and multi-cropping ideas, super tips on all aspects of gardening , and offers insight into maximizing your harvest. His tried and true methods and down-home common sense really make for motivating garden reading! I am going to try to grow sweet potatoes from started slips this year in my community ocean-side garden in Maine, as well as attempt his tomato caging technique with roofing paper. This is a great book to learn heaps about gardening in a simple, friendly way.

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