The 20-30 Something Garden Guide: A No-Fuss, Down and Dirty, Gardening 101 for Anyone Who Wants to Grow Stuff

Urban farming is the hot new movement sweeping the country: growing food closer to where we live, whether it's on a condo deck, in a backyard or in a community garden. The 20/30-Something Garden Guide gives that busy, mostly urban, cohort a fun, non-intimidating introduction to the basics of gardening. These are the folks who want to know where their food comes from, and they're hip to the importance of good health and the environment. They may not have a lot of free time or change in their pockets, but if they could find a no-fuss Gardening 101 that spoke their language and gave achievable goals, they'd go for it. This is that book: high graphic appeal, fully illustrated, step-by-step projects and essential tips. Garden expert Dee Nash divides her book into four types and sizes of gardens, starting with "Farming Your Patio, Balcony or Deck," and giving incremental goals for the first year, and the second and third. With this guide as a basic roadmap, new gardeners can be as creative and out-of-the-box as they want. It's theirs to enjoy.

About the Author :
Dee Nash is the mother of two "20/30-Somethings". Her garden writing has appeared in Organic Gardening, Fine Gardening, flower, The Oklahoman, and the Oklahoma Horticultural Society's Horticultural Horizons. She regularly contributes writing and photography to Oklahoma Gardener. For three years she wrote for Lowe's "Creative Ideas Team" blog, and she currently writes online features for Fiskars Corporation and Proven Winners plants. She is a member of the Garden Writers Association. https://plus.google.com/u/0/106216649199501412059/posts

Review :
If you know someone planting their first garden, buy them a copy of this book. It matter not if they have a balcony or a larger backyard growing space, it's all here: the how-tos, the whys, and the whens. Dee lays it out in an easy going style. Along with the book, wrap up a pair of your favorite garden gloves and a pack of lettuce seeds, and you will have launched someone on a lifetime of gardening. -Mary Ann Newcomer, the Dirt Diva and author of The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Mountain State Think of Dee Nash as your favorite horticultural big sister. Pretty soon, your thumb will be green and your salad bowl will be filled with tasty greens you've grown yourself! -Debra Prinzing, author of Slow Flowers and The 50 Mile Bouquet If you're looking for a book that combines practical food growing experience with innovation, humor, and country sense, look no further. Dee Nash is an enthusiastic garden coach who provides the basic know-how and the encouragement for young (and not-so-young) wannabe gardeners to start growing their own food - Niki Jabbour, author of The Year Round Vegetable Gardener and Groundbreaking Food Gardens Where was this book when I was a struggling young gardener? Dee Nash writes with an ease, depth of knowledge and familiarity as only a true, hands-in-the-soil gardener can. I am grateful that Dee is sharing her passion with new generations of gardeners. Carpe terra! - Sharon Lovejoy, author of Trowel & Error You can't do better than Dee Nash for your personal gardening coach; she's learned from the ground up and knows how to make it fun and rewarding, whether you want to start small or jump right into growing a bountiful harvest of food and flowers. -Nancy Ondra, author of Grasses and The Perennial Care Manual Dee Nash’s new book, The 20-30 Something Garden Guide (St. Lynn’s Press $17.95) takes me back to those blissful and excited days when I knew nothing, but plunged ahead anyway. Nash understands that a young adult’s first forays into gardening are often constrained by full time jobs and caring for young children. She successfully introduces novice gardeners into the basics of gardening with encouragement and some of the latest garden knowledge and techniques. The 20-30 Something Garden Guide is divided into three main sections that first take the gardener into a container garden, and all the basic information about potting soil, garden soil, fertilizers, watering, and bugs. Let it be known that Nash’s own garden is organic. In addition to providing herself with healthy food and beautiful flowers, she is determined to do her part in supporting the natural world with its pollinators and other bugs, good and bad. She also takes the gardener into the second and third years of gardening, as knowledge and experience grow. Nash is an engaging writer, with a conversational style. She is an excellent coach, like the one she urges every new gardener, of any age, to find. We all look for information and advice in different places. I began with a subscription to Organic Gardening magazine. It was my bible. Nash’s book will serve well as a bible for today’s new gardener. . . If you want more advice from Dee Nash you can visit her at her informative and inspiring blog www.reddirtramblings.com and http://20-30somethinggardenguide.com where you’ll also be able to link to the Dear Friend and Gardener virtual garden club where a whole variety of gardener/bloggers (including me) will be writing about their vegetable garden adventures this year. The uplifting, encouraging tone is exactly what makes this gardening book so special. As Dee writes in the book, “One of the great disadvantages to being a gardener is perfectionism… I want to help you think more about gardening as a process and not a series of to-do lists. Let’s turn the idea of chores into a meditation that benefits your entire life…” Beginning gardeners will especially find this book helpful, but experienced gardeners will still appreciate Dee’s horticultural knowledge and attention to best practices.