Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast

I received one copy of Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast from the publisher at no charge to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on a link and make a purchase I will receive a few pennies to put towards my blogging adventure.

I grew up in New England and my dad was an avid gardener. He was quite successful at it, too. Once you get all the rocks out of the ground, gardening in New England isn’t too hard. You have a short growing season but we got so many zucchini and cucumbers I was banned from bringing them to friends and neighbors. Vegetable gardening in the Southeast is not quite so easy. Here in Georgia we have bugs the size of small mice and more plant diseases than I could possibly identify. So when I was asked to review The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast

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I was happy to do it. I need all the help I can get!

Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast

vegetable gardening in the southeast

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Title:    The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast
Author:  Ira Wallace
Publisher:   Timber Press (December 31, 2013)
ISBN:  978-1604693713
Length/Format:  Paperback:  216 pages

From the Publisher:

Growing vegetables requires regionally specific information—what to plant, when to plant it, and when to harvest are based on climate, weather, and first frost. The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast tackles this need head on, with regionally specific growing information written by local gardening expert, Ira Wallace. This region includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Monthly planting guides show exactly what you can do in the garden from January through December. The skill sets go beyond the basics with tutorials on seed saving, worm bins, and more. This book also includes a comprehensive gardening primer and an A to Z of edibles—a detailed, invaluable source for the region’s tried-and-tested varieties.

My Review:

If you live in the region described above you will understand the challenges that come with gardening in the Southeast. Warm, wet summers and mild winters can be filled with abrupt changes in temperature that makes planting tricky. The author considers ‘southeast’ to include planting zones 6,7,8, and 9 with a small amount of zones 5 and 10. She discusses the various regions, microclimates and last frost dates for this area as well as basic gardening advice. If you are a novice to gardening, the first several chapters will be very helpful. If you are not new to getting your hands dirty you can move right into the month by month planning guide for gardening in the southeast.

Every month of the year is broken down into simple chores and things you should be growing. Within each chapter is also tons of useful info about things like drip irrigation, inviting beneficial insects into your garden, dealing with pests, dealing with weeds, saving seeds and so much more info that I cannot include it all. She included many recommended varieties for the vegetables you will be planting. When you are gardening in the southeast you need to choose different strains of seeds than you would for a cooler summer climate. There are also recommendations for when to harvest and seed saving for next year’s harvest. I love that the author encourages year round gardening in this region and helps you with the details on how to have a productive garden every month of the year.

While this book is definitely geared towards gardening in the southeast, much of the information is helpful no matter what region you are gardening in. I know I am going to find the year long to do list very helpful….although whether I will actually WANT to be out in the garden in December is debatable!

 

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