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13th out of 200 books
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46 voters
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You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening
by
Gayla Trail (Goodreads Author),
Gayla Sanders
This is not your grandmother's gardening book. You Grow Girl is a hip, humorous how-to for crafty gals everywhere who are discovering a passion for gardening but lack the know-how to turn their dreams of homegrown tomatoes and fresh-cut flowers into a reality.
Gayla Trail, creator of YouGrowGirl.com, provides guidance for both beginning and intermediate gardeners wit
...morePaperback, 208 pages
Published
March 2nd 2005
by Fireside
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i've got this at home from the library right now and already regret not having purchased it as there are so many great ideas and recommendations, i wish i could bookmark and write notes on the pages.
i love that it's a gardening book for impulsive, crafty, urban people - very niche but i completely relate (although i feel there's an unusual emphasis on growing a garden on your fire-escape or window sill and making the most of your space, although the cover gives exactly the opposite i...more
i love that it's a gardening book for impulsive, crafty, urban people - very niche but i completely relate (although i feel there's an unusual emphasis on growing a garden on your fire-escape or window sill and making the most of your space, although the cover gives exactly the opposite i...more
Kit
rated it
Recommends it for:
urban/small space beginner gardeners
Recommended to Kit by:
Zorianna Z.
This book was recommended to me a couple of years ago, but I never had much use for it because I was living with my parents and sharing a huge country garden with them. Now that I live in the city with my husband, yard space is limited and reading this book was extremely helpful.
It's packed with tips on anything garden-related, from how to easily & inexpensively construct a small fence to making your own organic pest control. A great book for beginners, especially those who feel alie...more
It's packed with tips on anything garden-related, from how to easily & inexpensively construct a small fence to making your own organic pest control. A great book for beginners, especially those who feel alie...more
As a new gardener, I was looking for a beginner's guide to learning about gardening. I liked this book because it went beyond creating a beautiful aesthetic to really enjoying the actual act of gardening. Some other gardening books I have come across are mostly concerned with the final result of having a beautiful, this author focuses on also enjoying the process, learning and growing plants you can eat and use in out of the ordinary way.
I loved the photos and the illustrations, alon...more
I loved the photos and the illustrations, alon...more
Ali
rated it
Recommends it for:
city slickers, green thumbs, black thumbs, and anyone with a windowsill to a yard
Recommended to Ali by:
Gayla Trail
I was introduced to this book through the gardening website YouGrowGirl.com. Like the site, it's a combination of fun, practical and inspirational gardening advice and projects. The book is useful as an intro for DIY-inclined urban gardeners. It's unassuming and breaks down any stumbling blocks a new gardener might come across. Flipping through it always makes me think "Hell yeah, I'm going to plant something right now!"
When I had my first in-depth to Gayla Trail with her Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces, I noticed that, while I loved the book, it was missing some of the more basic info that was needed by beginners like me, so I went back to her fist book, You Grow Girl. And lo and behold, there was the missing link. You Grow Girl covers all the gardening fundamentals, starting with basic gardening equipment you should have and going through all of the stages of planning, planting, caring, harves...more
Love this book!!! Will own it soon.
IMO this book is a must have for the crafy garden girl on a budget. This book helps with the projects that would cost a whole lot more if you had to buy from the chain department store or local nursery. I plan on making some of the trellises that are shown in the book. I have been putting off buying them at the store b/c I wanted my flower budget to go to buying actual flowers and not the items needed for the flowers. Yes, I could look up some of th...more
IMO this book is a must have for the crafy garden girl on a budget. This book helps with the projects that would cost a whole lot more if you had to buy from the chain department store or local nursery. I plan on making some of the trellises that are shown in the book. I have been putting off buying them at the store b/c I wanted my flower budget to go to buying actual flowers and not the items needed for the flowers. Yes, I could look up some of th...more
A fun book that proves anyone can grow plants even if all you have is a windowsill. It's a great jumping off point into the world of gardening.
Love the design/layout of the book as well.
Love the design/layout of the book as well.
Okay, so I bought this for the permaculture guild but liked it so much that I kept it. Oh, simplified. Wonderful.
At first I thought "You Grow Girl" was going to be a disappointment. The introduction seemed to be very specific towards urban gardening. I'd read the summary and the reviews online and while it talked a lot about "small space" gardening it never suggested the book was solely for the urbanites. There's even one point during the introduction that suburbanites seem to be all wealthy white women with too much time and money.
That's not me. I live in my parents gar...more
That's not me. I live in my parents gar...more
I love this book as much as I love the blog (yougrowgirl.com)! There are really great ideas, tips and solutions for all sorts of issues - from dealing with plant disease, to seedling transplants to companion planting. It's not so much a cutesy book as it is a practical no-nonsense guide to gardening for those who may have once thought they couldn't grow anything. Case in point: me. I used to proclaim I had a brown thumb, and while I still make mistakes, my veggies and flowers are doing very ...more
I wouldn't say I have a black thumb, but it's something like green with a pretty brown thumbnail. Hopefully, You Grow Girl will change that this season (assuming Wisconsin doesn't have the crazy June rains and exploding tomatoes that we did last summer). I picked this up because of the title, but stuck with it I liked Gayla Trail's smart, fun book. It's like a Stitch 'n Bitch for urban gardeners.
Despite the goofy title, this is actually a really good book for anyone interested in taking up gardening for the first time. It's especially geared towards city and apartment dwellers with little or no space to work with. Clear, youthful voice and presentation with a wide variety of project types. I swear it's not nearly as cutesy as it looks.
AWESOME book! I was completely addicted! I got the gardening bug and thought this book might teach me a few things. Not only did I learn a ton but it increased my obsession ten-fold. This book is sure to inspire anyone to get their garden on! It's funky, witty, crafty, trendy, and filled with INEXPENSIVE ideas. It's genius!
gayla trail is a big advocate of growing in whatever space you've got. lots of tips on what and how to grow on balconies, in containers, in minimum lighting, etc. and super-cute to boot;). there are fun projects like sewing your own reusable tea bags (to go with your herbal tea garden!) and constructing a window box.
This is the only gardening book I have discovered so far written by someone who actually has a personality and a sense of humor. I also like the fact that the author assumes you know absolutely nothing about growing things, because gals like me really do need someone to explain exactly what mulch is.
To promote the saying: "it's not your grandma's" gardening book. Very easy to read with fun crafting projects and practical information for people who must garden from containers only. I originally borrowed this from the library, but it's the kind of book you want on the shelf for reference.
Okay- this book isn't super-helpful if you have done much gardening before, but it's really fun and has attitude. I mean, 4 stars for the feminist gardener out of principal, I feel. Great for starting a new garden (on your porch, in the window, in a plot, wherever!)
This is book is fun, creative, clear and very useful. Great for the woman who knows nothing about black gold, but wants to plant fruits, veggies & flowers of her own! I still haven't really gotten my back yard or back porch to bloom as I'd like. This books is amazing!
While I found this book much more helpful than any gardening book I've tried before, I was hoping it would focus exclusively on container gardening. But as a beginner living in an apartment with no space other than my patio, this book was much more in line with my needs on the whole.
This book is an easy fun read that has a lot of information for the gardener. It also has craft projects listed that seem easy to do. i have a friend who is much more talented in the craft area than I am. Think I will pass a project or 2 her way. I learned a great deal about all types of gardens.
Every time I open this book I learn something new. It's a great beginners' guide to the hopeful urban gardener, and includes a lot of fun craft ideas to complement your adventures in growing! The only drawback is that I would like to see more about indoor and container gardening, but it looks like her new book (out Feb 2010) will delve in specifically to those things! Looking forward to it!
This is the hip-girl's introduction to gardening, filled with fun projects and useful advice about everything from container gardening to making organic pest sprays. I would recommend this book to beginners who are ready to get growing.
This book is SO GREAT! A fun, girly and super informative book on how to garden with style. Filled with great tips and ideas in a user friendly format. I checked this out from the library but definitely plan on purchasing it!
I could do without the Debbie Stoller-esque cutesy-ness of the layout, but I'm a huge fan of Gayla's blog and this is really excellent as a primer for the average urban/container gardener. Full of little garden-aesthetic diy projects, too, like how to leaf-print your own garden stones, and how to build big wooden box planters (think square foot gardening). Glad to own it.
Ignore the sometimes overly cutesy craft ideas and mine this book for its decent how-to information on dealing with pests, fertilizing sanely and selecting which plants to grow in your particular set of conditions.
Love this book - great ideas for harvests, great crafts, and a fun approach. Love the broad focus too from edibles, to flowers, to carnivorous bog containers. Definitely my go- to guide!
I read this book 6 years ago when I first found her website and started gardening in containers. This book is useful in different ways than her new book, I should reread it.
Having read this book, do I feel like I can grow a plant successfully, or even multiple plants successfully? Eh, maybe. Do I hate how these kinds of books make it seem like [insert activity which you suck at] is easy peasy? Yes.
All in all though, it does give some good basic instructions for basic gardening (for those with the Black Thumb of Death), and I really liked the emphasis on organic gardening and natural pest management, foregoing all the chemical nonsense. I read a little ...more
All in all though, it does give some good basic instructions for basic gardening (for those with the Black Thumb of Death), and I really liked the emphasis on organic gardening and natural pest management, foregoing all the chemical nonsense. I read a little ...more
i refer to this all the time. easy to understand and fairly thorough for an introduction to gardening. it was immensely helpful to me during my first year of 'serious' gardening.
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I write and speak about urban gardening and growing food. I take pictures too. I do graphic design work. And some other stuff.
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