Cover Image: RHS How to Garden New Edition

RHS How to Garden New Edition

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Member Reviews

"The RHS How to Garden New Edition" is good resource for both beginner and experienced gardeners seeking comprehensive guidance and inspiration. It combines expertise, beautiful illustrations, and practical advice to help readers create and maintain stunning gardens.

One of the notable strengths of this book is its breadth of topics. It covers a wide range of gardening essentials, including plant selection, soil preparation, propagation, pruning, and garden design. Whether you're interested in growing flowers, fruits, vegetables, or creating beautiful landscapes, the book provides clear and concise instructions that are easy to follow.

The book's organization and structure are well-thought-out. Each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of gardening, allowing readers to navigate through the book and find the information they need quickly. The step-by-step instructions, accompanied by detailed illustrations and photographs, make it easy to understand and apply the techniques discussed.

In addition to the practical advice, this book includes valuable tips and tricks that help readers make the most of their gardening endeavors. From troubleshooting common problems to selecting the right tools and equipment, the book covers all aspects of successful gardening.

For me, this has been a must-have reference book and I come back to it for gardening advice and ideas throughout the year.

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A very useful book that I will refer back to always.
I found it very interesting and insightful.
It covers everything really.
It covers the real basics too which is great.

I would also recommend to the experienced gardener too as it’s always helpful to go over things and nobody knows everything do they?!
So a great opportunity to maybe find out some new things.

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So much helpful information on every aspect you can think of and beautiful photos, I can't wait to get started!

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This is such a useful book to have on your shelf. Coming to gardening with such little experience, I find this is my go to book for checking what I need to do. The RHS publishes great gardening books and I just wish that my garden reflected more of their expertise

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this is what I needed in my life!
I made notes, I applied rules in my garden, I am in love and THANK YOU. not sure if more experienced gardeners find it useful, but myself: a rookie: yes!

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A great self help book on how to get started, covering a wide range of topics including trees, edibles, shrubs, flowers how and when to plant etc- really enjoyed the latter sections as a bit of a newbie for gardening, very interesting and a good place to get started.


An easy to follow guide, of how to get started with realistic end goals and the ability to follow each step helped very much so, my favourite part was the trouble shoot section which I will be visiting a great deal as a relatively inexperienced gardener!

With thanks to netgalley for the chance to read a FREE ARC in return for my review.

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Really useful book for new and more experienced gardeners. It's nice to see something aimed at those of us in the UK so all the info is relevant to us.

Only thing I would say is the format/design could be better but because this is an arc I'm assuming that will be changed around anyway.

Would definitely recommend!

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This book is really a complete guide to gardening and perfect for someone (like me!) who is just starting out and needs to be talked through what can be done in your garden.

The book starts off with instructions of how to assess your garden and work out what you are going to be able to do with what you've got. It also adds some inspiration to help you try and picture your ideal garden in your mind's eye. It then talks you through various types of plant before discussing tools and techniques, what can go wrong and a helpful year planner.

Great reference for a new gardener,.

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Since moving to a house with a 3/4 acre garden almost 15 years ago I've managed to accumulate a bulging shelf of gardening books. So my bookcase and I are both very thankful to Net Galley for furnishing an eARC of ths new edition from RHS.

It is exactly as advertised - a comprehensive introduction to Gardening. Indeed a novice Gardener will find clear and complete instructions and pages of ideas that will take their plot from building site to blooming wonder within a couple of seasons. This book covers the basics of everything you are likely to need until your skills and interest lead you down a more esoteric garden path requiring some specialist advice.

The book is very logically organised - and beautifully illustrated.
The pictures alone are enough to inspire a spending spree at the garden centre - but the opening sections offer sage advice on assessing the soil, knowing the impact of climate (micro and macro), planning garden structure and design and the book is written to encourage the reader to spend time to develop an understanding of their own garden needs and inspiration.
Buying plants kicks in at page 66 - which in a 350page book on gardening seems about right to me/

After that the practical advice covers whatever takes your fancy - from edibles to roses, from containers to hedges. You really can't go wrong with the RHS and Mr.Barter.

When the time comes to hit the garden centre you can be guided by the "TOP PLANT" lists towards the end of each section. In addition to the smashing pictures there is a brief plant description so that you can understand that the little 1l Buddleia that you are picking up today will in 5 years fill half the bed you are planting it in.

I would consider this an essential book for anyone planning buying a spade to turn the sod on their first border!

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A wonderful book that is perfect for every gardener, new or experienced. Packed with information and a lot of photos, it's a book I'll be referring to a lot from now on! Highly recommend.

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I will definitely be revisiting this book again and again! So informative for a novice gardener,

Whilst my ARC wasn't quite displaying as it would in a book, however I still had access to a wealth of information. I found examples of plants to plant in different types of gardens especially helpful - it gives me a ready made list for visiting a garden centre. And providing a step by step account of how to test soil is really useful as this is something we need to determine in our garden.

I will be looking out for this book in print form as I think it would be a useful reference book to share with family.

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An excellent reference guide and the perfect book if you are starting to work in the garden.
It's full of explanations, informative and made me learn something new.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

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As an experienced gardener, I was intrigued to read “How to Garden” – wondering how one small book could cover such an enormous topic. But the RHS is a superb reference source for gardeners of every level of experience and this book will no doubt be a useful, practical starting point for a beginner. I can envisage giving it as a gift to a young couple starting their first garden.
The book is beautifully presented and easy to follow. It provides, as the introductions states “ a guide through the basics, so you can get to understand your soil and site, with advice on choosing good plants and looking after them properly” Lots of photographs and names of plants for specific areas would be of real use to a beginner gardener too.
Little nuggets of useful information such as choosing monk’s hood over delphiniums because they are not eaten by slugs and snails, avoiding planting Leyland cypress or the pitfalls of planting some varieties of bamboo add to the overall value of the book.
It is impossible to cover every aspect of gardening in one book and with the plethora of information on the internet I would have liked to see some form of “to find out more….” to point novice gardeners to more detailed information from reliable sources.

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perfect starter gardener book, how to identify soil, drainage routes, shade and sun and some great suggestions for plants. Also a section on gravel gardens and containers, ideal if you are new to gardening or moved to a house with a blank canvas. Everything you need to know and a great start to gardening.and garden planning. Thank you #NetGalley for the book to review.

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RHS How to Garden New Edition by Guy Barter and the Royal Horticultural Society is an excellent primer and self-help guide to understanding the fundamentals of gardening in order to create, start, and succeed in a healthy and vibrant garden. I loved this!

As someone who finally is getting a chance to truly “blossom” into gardening, I found this guide to be extremely helpful, easy to follow, and promising in my realistic goals.

It covers such a wide range of topics such as flowers, edibles, trees, shrubs, borders, cultivation, how to nurture, and when to plant. There is also a section in quick troubleshooting. All of this is brought to the reader in clear, quick, concise, and easy to comprehend concepts and dialogue.

An invaluable resource for me and for anyone that is creating something wonderful at home.

Highly recommend!

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and DK Publishing for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR, Waterstones, Instagram, Amazon, B&N accounts immediately. Date of Publication: 3/4/2021.

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