Book Review: "Guide to Missouri Vegetable Gardening"

"Guide to Missouri Vegetable Gardening" by James A Fizzell

I've been looking forward to this book. It keeps popping up just about everywhere when considering local information for gardening purposes. The book assumes you're a beginning gardener, opening with explanations of soil content, plant growth and placement, etc. Most helpfully, the front of the book as a chart indicating the first and last frost (average) for the whole state. The list of fruits and vegetables in this book is quite long, with basic information included for each plant and, for some plants, a listing of varieties. The "beginner gardener" feel to the book continues throughout the plant listings, giving overviews on when, how, and where for each plant.

Once again, however, the book assumes a fairly large plant spacing without any of the space saving planting techniques. I appreciate the inclusion of a recipe for each plant but would have rather had more in depth information about the plant. I'm strongly interested in good companion planting in our area and was saddened to find nothing of that in this book. The book also has a definite "pro pesticide" viewpoint, including a list of appropriate pesticdes for each pest but no similar information offered for organics. It's not a bad book, just very generalized and traditional.

Pros: Great for beginner gardener plant resource to turn back to again and again.

Cons: Traditional gardening techniques only, little to no discussion of organic techniques.

Bottom Line: If you need a resource guide for your traditional MO state garden, this is a great book. Otherwise, the information available is also in the "All New Square Foot Gardening" - and then you get the space saving techniques, as well.

Would I buy this book for my library? No. I have all this information already in my library - but I would recommend it to someone who is looking for a place to start (and has tons of space to work in).