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Rating: 
Summary: A step-by-step guide
Review: I relocated to South Carolina in July of 2003. Our new yard contained the remnants of a vegetable garden -- skeletons of bush beans and peppers protruding from red clay as hard as concrete. I purchased Mr. Bird's book about a year ago and read it during my Christmas vacation. Having no prior experience growing vegetables,I followed the instuctions exactly. The two-tier indoor plant stand was my first effort. The materials including grow bulbs and some sturdy seed trays from Harris cost under $100. I started my spring-crop seeds a bit late, the end of February, as we are usually frost-free by April 1. About the same time, I started building the 4'x4'x12" frames, a total of six. I thought about building larger frames but was glad I didn't as my wife and I could just lift and carry one comfortably. Then we had a ton of sand and two of topsoil dumped next to the boxes. I blended it with peat moss and composted manure and filled up the boxes. This was the hardest part of the project, but the resulting soil was wonderful. My spinach, lettuce, chinese cabbage and bok choi all did well until it got hot, then bugs started to eat them up despite my best efforts to use ecologically-friendly deterents. The nine heads of broccoli I grew in one frame were particularly nice. They al ripened at the same time so I gave several away to friends. As promised, radishes are especially easy to grow. I didn't get around to building pea/bean trellises but will definitely do so next season. My bush beans gave several good harvests before it got really hot. Once the tomatoes started coming, they didn't quit until frost. Mr. Bird recommends Celebrity for the heat. I had even better luck with Juliette. It has an oval shape, is somewhat larger than a cherry tomato, and produces in abundance. I also grew several varieties of both hot and mild peppers which did very well. Only my okra was a dissappointment, and I'm still not sure why? Per instruction, I got a sweet potato from the grocery store, washed and planted it in the center of the bed where the broccoli had been. For a long time, I thought it was just going to rot. One day I decided to pull it up and discard it only to find it had taken root. Once it got going it was unstoppable. Rather than prune the vines, I just headed them back into the bed. The leaves turned black with our first frost a couple of weeks ago. On Thanksgiving, I ripped up the vines. At first I didn't think there were any potatoes attached. Then I noticed something pink-orange protruding from the dirt. I started digging and unearthed thirty pounds of sweet potatoes. One weighed three pounds. They were extremely tender compared to store-bought. My wife steamed and mashed a few that afternoon and they were much better than any I've ever eaten before. So I'm hooked. I've grown flowers before but never vegetables. I checked a bunch of gardening books out from the library but found myself returning to Cubed Foot again and again. It's a blueprint for success based on Mr. Bird's long experience gardening in many different climates. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: It's about what works best, organic or not.
Review: If you're looking for a time- and labor-saving method of growing vegetables, this is your book, whether you're a complete beginner or a more experienced gardener. Everything you need to know is clearly set out, including charts, diagrams and practical tips (e.g. why buy expensive little pots for your seedlings when you can recycle styrofoam cups from the office?). The at-a-glance guide to each vegetable from seed to harvest is especially useful, as are the more detailed sections on individual veggies. Christopher Bird writes in a refreshingly informal way that neither patronizes you nor blinds you with science, and the text is enhanced with plenty of mouthwatering full-color photos from the author's own gardens.A previous reviewer criticizes the book for not being organic enough. But it's obvious to me that Cubed Foot Gardening isn't about organics. It's about intensive, raised-bed vegetable gardening using the most effective techniques available, some of which are organic, others not. That makes perfect sense to me.
Rating:
Summary: It's about what works best, organic or not.
Review: If you're looking for a time- and labor-saving method of growing vegetables, this is your book, whether you're a complete beginner or a more experienced gardener. Everything you need to know is clearly set out, including charts, diagrams and practical tips (e.g. why buy expensive little pots for your seedlings when you can recycle styrofoam cups from the office?). The at-a-glance guide to each vegetable from seed to harvest is especially useful, as are the more detailed sections on individual veggies. Christopher Bird writes in a refreshingly informal way that neither patronizes you nor blinds you with science, and the text is enhanced with plenty of mouthwatering full-color photos from the author's own gardens. A previous reviewer criticizes the book for not being organic enough. But it's obvious to me that Cubed Foot Gardening isn't about organics. It's about intensive, raised-bed vegetable gardening using the most effective techniques available, some of which are organic, others not. That makes perfect sense to me.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Guide to Vegetable Gardening
Review: In a way I wish this had been available when I first started gardening, but I'm not sure I'd have been open-minded enough to accept it then. I cut my teeth on Ortho's very basic (and inorganic) ALL ABOUT VEGETABLE GARDENING. Dick Raymond's JOY OF GARDENING opened my eyes to new possibilities. Then I read (and tried) Mel Batholomew's revolutionary SQUARE FOOT GARDENING. But, at least for now, CUBED FOOT GARDENING is the ultimate, the gardener's equivalent of the physicist's elusive "theory of everything." And it's so simple! It makes me wonder why I didn't think of this myself.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book, but short on organics
Review: This is a great book and I would have given it a 5 if the author had stressed the benefits of organic gardening, rather than recommending standard chemical fertilizers. The author shows you how to get started with gardening and clearly demonstrates how to build raised beds using wood 2x12's (and others sizes). He also offers great coverage of each of the major vegetables that he recommends that you grow. This part contains some particularly good material. There are many practical and original techniques in this book. Although this is not necessarily a beginner's book, I would recommend this book to a beginner. The only problem I had was his reliance on chemical fertilizers. Many beginners might find it easier at first to use standard chemical fertilizers, as recommended by the author. However, today many gardeners are finding their way to organics to avoid the industrial wastes sometimes found in the standard chemical fertilizers. I get the feeling that the author writes with your best interests at heart. He appears to be a successful gardener with much practical experience. His writing is very clear and at times quite humorous. There are plenty of pictures and diagrams to keep the book interesting. I use raised bed gardening, but use concrete blocks and take an organic approach. Although the materials are different, the methodology is very similar. I highly recommend this book to any one getting started, or anyone who wants to build raised bed gardens using wood (looks better than concrete blocks, but deteriortes more quickly). John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX
Rating:
Summary: Great book, but short on organics
Review: This is a great book and I would have given it a 5 if the author had stressed the benefits of organic gardening, rather than recommending standard chemical fertilizers. The author shows you how to get started with gardening and clearly demonstrates how to build raised beds using wood 2x12's (and others sizes). He also offers great coverage of each of the major vegetables that he recommends that you grow. This part contains some particularly good material. There are many practical and original techniques in this book. Although this is not necessarily a beginner's book, I would recommend this book to a beginner. The only problem I had was his reliance on chemical fertilizers. Many beginners might find it easier at first to use standard chemical fertilizers, as recommended by the author. However, today many gardeners are finding their way to organics to avoid the industrial wastes sometimes found in the standard chemical fertilizers. I get the feeling that the author writes with your best interests at heart. He appears to be a successful gardener with much practical experience. His writing is very clear and at times quite humorous. There are plenty of pictures and diagrams to keep the book interesting. I use raised bed gardening, but use concrete blocks and take an organic approach. Although the materials are different, the methodology is very similar. I highly recommend this book to any one getting started, or anyone who wants to build raised bed gardens using wood (looks better than concrete blocks, but deteriortes more quickly). John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX
Rating: 
Summary: Good basic introduction, but not consistent philosophy
Review: This little book is a crash course into raised bed intensive gardening. It can be very helpful to beginning gardeners, containing enough info on how to get started - and how to keep going. My major personal peeve is the lack of emphasis on organic gardening, and the "bigger context". Many people start gardening to experience and learn about nature, and about (self-) sustainable agriculture. The author goes to great lengths explaining that gardening to him is a hobby and NOT a way to be self-sustainable. In this light, I ask myself why he doesn't seem to be very concerned about using pesticides (he does opt for organic methods first, though). I mean if it's fun and learning, without much pressure to "cash in", why poison your soil at all? Even if you lose a crop to pests, you learn something along the way - and next year you try again (hopefully with more and better knowledge about organic pest management methods), or try another crop alltogether. I would rather lose a whole crop than to ever use any syntethic pesticide in my garden! BTW, he often mentions how cheap produce is in the US - however, that's generally not true for organic produce. Hobby or not, by keeping your garden organic, you DO get organic produce a lot cheaper than buying it. That is the only reason (but it is a good reason for me) why I wouldn't recommend this book to beginning gardeners.
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