Herb Gardening For Dummies

by Karan Davis Cutler

A plain-English guide to the world of herb gardeningStarting an herb garden isn't free, but it certainly outweighs the growing costs of buying retail herbs. Plus, adding homegrown ingredients to your meals is a healthy and tasty way to improve upon any dish you whip up at home.

This friendly, hands-on guide is an excellent introduction to the world of herb gardening. It gives you tips and advice to grow a thriving herb garden that will add depth and flavor to home-cooked meals-as well as boost your health.How to choose, plant, and care for herbsCovers ready-made versus homemade soil mixes, starting plants from seeds, and other fundamentalsHow to prevent insects, pests, and diseases from invading your containersOver 30 herb recipes for everyday uses, including rubs, marinades, beauty products, and more

Whether you're interested in getting step-by-step instructions for starting on your first herb garden or already have one and want to learn new tips and techniques, "Herb Gardening For Dummies," 2nd Edition has you covered

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Gardening, Plants

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Brenda Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the perfect book for me. I knew nothing about herbs and only a little about gardening. This covered all aspects of raising herbs including planting, growing, harvesting, drying and using. Even a section on composting. It was useful information without getting overwhelming.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book definitely has some useful information in it but it is 100% aimed at Americans and American climate which is less than useful for someone not living in America. That being said, still learned and will hopefully manage to grow some herbs come springtime

[Isabel Giraldo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too many corny jokes but now I have no questions about herbs!

[Anna Urbanek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good primer, misguided and cringy attempts at humor.

[J.S.]

I'm not new to gardening but other than a few occasional attempts I've not grown many herbs. I knew enough to plant mint in a container (to keep it under control) but that was about it. I wasn't even sure what to do with most of them once they were grown. But this winter I've especially been looking forward to spring and getting out into the garden - and planned on including some specific herbs (after noticing how expensive they are in the grocery store!).

Herb Gardening for Dummies starts with the approach that the reader knows almost nothing about gardening. It covers such basics as an overview of what herbs are, climate zones and basic growing instructions, sample garden designs, pests, etc. Fortunately it goes on to explain methods for drying and storing herbs and includes a few recipes and instructions for how to use them in different situations (not all herbs are used only in the kitchen). Perhaps the most useful section after you've read it once is the encyclopedia of herbs at the end which is about 100 pages and full of useful information specific to each plant.

As is typical of the Dummies series of books it's well-organized, clearly written, and easy to follow using a corny kind of humor to explain concepts. It's got a small section of color photographs but most of the book is simple black and white drawings which are certainly adequate. It's more suited to the novice gardener than one with some experience, but still a useful introduction.

[Ladyacct · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful and informative.