Thank you to NetGalley and Timber Press for sending me a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

 

The Month-by-Month Gardening Guide was first published in Germany in 1964. This is the 30th edition of the book and translated into English for the first time. Overall, I can see how this book was so beloved in Germany to now have it translated into English: there is a wealth of information and a lot of fantastic tips from someone clearly knowledgeable in their field. However, most of the advice is limited to that specific growing region and there are no tips on adapting information to your local conditions. 

 

My favorite part of this book was the layout: dividing everything by season, month, and then type of activity (such as vegetables, ornamentals, and general gardening tasks) makes any gardening book much easier to reference. I also found the tables in the second part to be particularly helpful, especially since that information (such as seed viability) is more “universal”. 

 

However, I wish this edition had spent more time adapting the text to a new audience rather than maintaining the precise information of the original. Timber Press is based in my state of Oregon, so I was hoping for a book that was more applicable to my gardening region. Instead, I found a lot of date-specific tips (which are different than what works for my local area) and a lot of tips not relevant to my area, such as the information about hedgehogs (which is great if you live in an area where hedgehogs are found but not very useful for a North American audience). 

 

Thank you again to NetGalley and Timber Press for the opportunity to review an ARC.