Great Vegetable Growing Books

The weather forecast keeps saying rain, but the rain has yet to come...

Since my vegetable patch hasn't been very exciting yet, I thought I'd share some of the books I've been buying/reading that I've found very helpful in starting my new hobby :)


The Vegetable and Herb Expert by Dr. D.G. Hessayon.
I've found this to be my most useful book! It's quite small and not very thick, but it is just jam packed with information. Not only does it describe veggie types, sowing directions, plant specific diseases, and more in great detail, everything has a picture to make it that much easier for the reader to understand.

Grow Magazine by Fine Gardening Magazines I love this magazine so much, I've already pre-ordered volume 2 that comes out in May. :D Every article is worth reading, and there are plenty of fun tips and info. For every type of vegetable/fruit it covers, it follows up with a few recipes that I can't wait to try out with my harvest.

Grow Vegetables by Alan Buckingham and Jo Whittingham

My most recent purchase. It is just overflowing with gorgeous photos in every page that I just can't stop flipping through them. This truly keeps me motivated in the upkeep of my garden :) My favorite part of this book is that it includes a yearly planner that pretty much tells you what you need to do/plant each month. Very very useful for a beginner like me!

The next book I'm hoping to buy is a book on companion planting, as none of these really goes into that in much detail... Hopefully I find a good book soon!

Starting a garden blog...

This is more so for my personal use, to keep track of dates, what I'm planting, how things are going, etc. But if this expands and I meet new friends that's pretty cool too :D



So this is my garden so far. I bought my house 2 years ago, and it already had raised beds in the backyard. It was filled with rose bushes and weeds though so last fall I dug up everything (I replanted the roses in various parts of my yard) and added compost and rabbit manure to it. So hopefully it's good soil for vegetables.



I built the trellises myself. It's a bit flimsy but I hope it'll stay put. I think I'll put bricks on the bottom to better support it. I'm planning to grow my squash, okra, eggplants and cucumbers on it.



I've sowed most of my seeds already. Half are in a mini-green house and and the other half are directly planted. I sowed on 4/20/09, and I can't tell if the stuff sprouting up are the actual veggies or weeds >__>;; Well, I'll try to update this regularly. Wish me luck on a bountiful harvest in the summer!! (Or at least a tomato... please?) :)