Booklist “Kids interested in growing their own vegetables will find a useful introduction to the essential steps and equipment in this slender entry in the Gardening for Kids series. The enthusiastic text ("What are you waiting for?") guides readers through crops and preparing the plot, sowing and planting, and fundamental caretaking before harvest. The broad scope and low page count result in simplified coverage of topics, making this title a basic entrée to the subject rather than a one-stop, practical guide. Still, the author includes detailed information, such as how to read a seed packet, and readers will come away with a sense of how a garden is planned, planted, and maintained. A final section about container gardening widens the audience to readers without outdoor space of their own. The crowded spreads combine somewhat cramped blocks of text with color photos, but valuable reference charts, including a full-page listing of companion plants, enhance the text, as does the glossary and thorough appended resource lists of books, organizations, and Web sites.”
--Gillian Engberg, Booklist, October 2008 School Library Journal “While this series is consistent in terms of presentation and design, it is very uneven when it comes to project difficulty and writing clarity. Children are likely to experience the most success in both engaging with the material and completing the projects from Flower Garden, Vegetable Garden, Butterfly Garden, and Perennial Garden. All the tasks delineated are well within the scope of children’s abilities, and the items needed to complete them are not hard to find. At the other end of the spectrum are Landscape Design, which calls for benches and birdbaths that can be very pricey, and Pond and Water Garden, which requires readers to determine the configuration of a hole in which to place a liner and then dig a massive hole; these could not possibly be done without adult assistance and supervision. While all six books have excellent full-color photography and include charts and diagrams to assist in the completion of the projects, individual titles should be considered instead of the whole set.”
-- School Library Journal, November 2008