The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Pacific Northwest

by Lorene Edwards Forkner

How to grow your own food in the Pacific Northwest!

There is nothing more regionally specific than vegetable gardening. What to plant, when to plant it, and when to harvest are unique decisions based on climate, weather, and first and last frost.
The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Pacific Northwest  is a growing guide that truly understands the unique eccentricities of the Northwest growing calendar. The month-by-month format makes it perfect for beginners and accessible to everyone—you can start gardening the month you pick it up. Starting in January? The guide will show you how to make a seed order, plan crop rotations and succession plantings, and plant a crop of microgreens. No time to start until July? You can start planting beets, carrots, chard, kale, parsnips, and spinach for an early fall harvest.
 
This must-have book is for gardeners in Oregon, Washington, southeastern Alaska, and British Columbia.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference, Food, Cookbooks, Nature

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2013

Reviews

[Kat Hamel]

Overall, this book is going to be super helpful when paired with other resources. As someone who knows just the very basics of gardening, I was disappointed by how often the author stopped short of a full explanation. For instance, in a section called “when to plant”, the author makes a joke about a saying that you can plant when you can sit on the soil with a bare bottom and then recommends a garden thermometer. However, she never specifies how warm the soil should be! She also recommends garden amendments without a good discussion of how to know which one/how much of what you need. Often I could take an educated guess at what I thought she was getting at, but sometimes I was at a total loss. I understand the book isn’t meant to be a comprehensive guide to gardening (more so just specifics to PNW), but I so often felt like there was just one missing sentence to a section. Something that actually gave an actionable tip.

However, this did give me a good start because it helps me know what I don’t know and will need to research! I do also really appreciate the month by month layout. Again, there was plenty in the monthly sections that isn’t really explained. But, it gave me a good way to break up research into manageable chunks throughout the year.

[D.L. Beddoe]

Absolute perfection for the PNW maritime climate. Helps that my home is situated in a microclimate nearly identical to hers and only 12 miles away as the crow flies. Forkner’s humor and helpful insights are revolutionizing my gardening plan and style—without costing $$$$. After six years of vegetable growing frustration, this is all I want: a month by month guide—simple, ultra specific, and not superfluous.

[Amber Eisold]

Informative, was a re-read, i go back and skim every now and then to refresh my memory on things.

[Abby Shade]

Recommitting to getting that green thumb this year - stay tuned

[Bryan Lovely]

I wish I’d found this book a couple of years ago, during January. It’s filled with advice specific to the Pacific Northwest climate and weather patterns, and has a month-by-month calendar of what to plant, what to start indoors, and what to harvest.

I’d always thought of vegetable gardening as a summer sport; I had no idea you could plant certain vegetables in the fall and harvest them in the spring or even during the winter.

Would recommend very highly to PNW gardeners.

[Jenny]

This book was referred to me by the local gardening group. And they said it was “The PNW Gardening Bible”. And I think that rains true. (Pun intended) aside from the lack of actual monthly tabs. I thoroughly enjoy the monthly todo lists, the tips and tricks. As well as all the “last chance” items. Makes transitioning from a 5B/6A area to a now 8A/B.

[Stephanie]

Excellent gardening book tailored to the PNW. Appreciated that each veggie or fruit listed indicated favored PNW varieties as well as having a month-by-month guide on what to do in garden (sow, harvest, to-do list).

[Ashley]

I love the way this book is organized by month and tells you exactly what you should be doing in this region to help your garden thrive throughout the year. I referenced it all year long. This was my first full year of gardening here in Oregon and it did not disappoint. I learned so much!

[Ami Sanyal]

Love the month-by-month format of this book.

[Brandy]

Really excellent, honest and thorough month-by-month guide on gardening in the PNW. Great recommendations, espe3for new gardeners but even experience gardeners can benefit from a read-through.

[Judith]

It's organized by month. Terrific! I haven't read the whole thing yet, just got it, but I might not need more than one or two others now that I have this one. Whoop!

[Alison]

Useful planting calendar guide

[Ryan Vasko]

🍅🥦🥬🥒🍓🫐🌶🫑🥕🧄🥔🍠

Just a sampling of the many veggies and fruits I’ll grow like a goddamned boss because of this insightful book.

[Kay]

Really helpful yearly checklist for PNW gardeners. There are some really quirky things about gardening in this area and as a transplant, I needed to learn about it. Great tips, nice layout.

[Kathy Munson]

Very informative for our region.

[Abby Dovre]

Phenomenal garden how to - and so personable and easy to read

[Todd]

Invaluable resource for PNW gardening. Concise yet comprehensive. I have quite a few gardening books, but none of them come close to this one for my backyard garden.

[Kari Mccrory]

Great resource for gardening in the Pacific Northwest.

[Andrei]

Directions unclear:
“Set [cauliflower] transplants 12 to 24 inches apart in full sun and sweet, fertile soil”.

I put a 5 pounds of sugar in my raised beds, ate a lot of dirt — it was not sweet.

[Deborah]

Vegetable Gardening in The Pacific Northwest is a gem of a book. It is well organized, with a nicely designed layout, and written in an inviting tone. And to the point, its packed with great explanations and scientific knowledge, specific tips and intelligent ideas. For example, use a nuanced interactive inline map to pinpoint your climate zone closely. If you do not buy local seeds, add time due to lower "heat units" in the PNW. Learn to use all the free rainwater. How to do both seed starts and use those irresistible tilth starts for certain things. Plan to use vertical space, and use different planting methods. How to batten down for winter, and also reap piles of veg that thrive without much heat, such as kale, arugula, beets. The author gives excellent alternative ideas for how to do "nose-to-tail" eating of plants, including all the parts and choices of when to harvest them. This book also has a handy A-Z appendix for quick lookups, as well as plant/harvest charts.

[Emily]

I'm a person who wants to start gardening, but doesn't know the first thing about it. I particularly don't know anything about gardening in my particular region, which I've found out is unique in its requirements and growing seasons.

This author does a great job of giving enough necessary detail about the vegetable growing needs for the region without making it intimidating. She covers outdoor gardening, as well as container gardening. The main part of the book focuses on a month-by-month planning guide with tips for flexibility in case of weather issues. She includes info on water collection and irrigation/watering, composting, and even how to check and see if old seeds are worth planting.

I'm recommending this one for the store, and planning to pick up a copy for myself!

[Janet]

The value of this book was the information on which month to plant (sow outdoors or indoors or transplant) and harvest specific vegetables. The second piece of valuable information was the section on edible plants where the author suggested specific varieties that grow well in the Pacific Northwest. Interspersed within each month, the author provided advice on topics such as how to grow the ever popular tomato, make compost, harden off plants, etc.

[Michelle Morrell]

I finished this and immediately ordered it, full of helpful information, such as what veggies to start each month (be it seeds, or starts), even how long various seeds last. Very region specific to the Pacific Northwest, but if you live here and want to grow vegetables, A+ resource.

[Robyn]

Well laid out, but not much here that I didn't already have access to elsewhere.

[Heydi Smith]

Fantastic step by step, month by month guide on gardening. The perfect gardening book for those without a green thumb, like me!

[Christina Pedersen]

I ESPECIALLY love the timeline that indicates sowing and harvesting times.

[Emma]

Great gardening book. Gets into the specifics of the PNW climate, which come with its own sets of challenges and pleasures.