The 20-Minute Gardener: The Garden of Your Dreams Without Giving up Your Life, Your Job, or Your Sanity

by Marty Asher, Marty Asher

For those with only 20 minutes a day to spare, this hands-on, uproariously funny, user-friendly guide puts the fun back into gardening. Here, finally, is gardening for the rest of us. Author tour & Web site promotion. 35,000 print.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference

223 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Sharon Reamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've owned this book for years and read it many years ago. Now I decided to read it again in my mission of eliminating books from my garden book library.

Published before the turn of the century, this is still a very good guide to gardening for busy people. Great humor and well-written prose that eschews gardening technical terms.

Perfect for casual reading.

[C. M. Rule · Rating 5 out of 5]

Owned and read many times over 20 years. Fun and usable. Chapter on tips for hiring teens works! An entertaining backyard bible.

[minz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was comical, fun and entertaining. Typically I get a gardening book, go to the section that I am working on, read that 10 pages and take it back to the library. I read most of this book the first evening. It was the little goofy things like’…the writings of Gertrude Jekyll (that’s GEE-Kull, you boob).’ Like he knew I was thinking of Jekyll and Hyde.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently bought a house and have been finding it hard to keep up with my yard. I found this book to have some great practical tips and tricks.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew I would ever read books on gardening for leisure and enjoyment? It's a strange old world.

Favorite tip: to determine what should be lawn and what should be garden: cut your lawn with the mower without stopping or backing up. Anything that can't be cut that way needs to be marked and turned into garden. Don't want plants? Throw down black tarp and cover it with mulch.

I just can't wait! I'm going to have a garden that I just love and look like a home owner and not a squatter for the first time in nearly 12 years!

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Oscar Madison and Felix Unger, these two garden writers put together a funny and helpful guide to realistic gardening. It's a how-to book with practical time saving solutions to landscaping and flower and vegetable gardening. Took lots of notes that I’ll apply to my gardens this spring and summer!! The first step will be stopping at the liquor store to stock up on my wine! Haha!

[Emma Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read The 20 Minute Vegetable Gardener by the same authors, but Goodreads didn't think that it was an actual existing book. Anyway, that book was very useful and funny; and I highly recommend it.

[J Crossley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors of this book are interested in cultivating the joy of gardening for those who don't have a lot of time to spend. They show how 20-minute increments can be used to accomplish many things in your garden.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining (lots of laughs), and very practical too: a great combo for a gardening book.

[Barbara Radisavljevic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides a lot of helpful tips to those who want a productive and lovely garden without devoting all their free time to it. Very practical!

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The wit of the authors was hard to follow at times but I think it still makes for a good resource.

[Malina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. Some cute project ideas that seemed reasonable.