Growing Guides
A field guide for the vegetable garden
Grow vegetables with a plan, not guesswork.
Practical, seasonal notes from a small family farm in Oregon: what to do this month, and why it works.
This month in the garden · SeptemberThis month · September
Harvest, store and get ready for frost.
Where to start
Pick the job in front of you
Garden Planning · 41
Start with a planBeds, rotation, what to grow first and when.Start here if: it is your first season
Growing Guides · 39
One vegetable at a timeFrom seed to harvest, crop by crop.Start here if: you know what you want to grow
Soil & Compost · 29
Feed the soil firstNo-dig beds, compost made on site.Start here if: plants grow but struggle
Seeds & Seedlings · 19
Get them off to a good startSowing, bottom watering, hardening off.Start here if: your seedlings keep failing
The book
The Year-Round Vegetable Garden for Beginners
A simple no-dig guide that puts the method from the farm in the order a first-time grower needs it: planning and soil preparation, care profiles for the common vegetables, small spaces, water and organic soil management, natural pest control, and how to store and use the harvest.
- Planting calendars and spacing, side by side
- Soil, compost and succession, explained for a first garden
- Season extension, so the beds keep working
What beginners usually get wrongSowing too late, spacing too close, and starting in soil that was never fed. The book is built around those three.
From the field notes
Latest guides
What readers say
Verified Amazon reviews
Quoted as they were written.
shericka burroughs
★★★★★
“Very very very awesome beginners gardening book! If your just starting out this is the book for you! Im a beginner myself. The way they break down everything is so easy to follow. Helped me alot. Great read!”
Julie Wade
★★★★★
“Very well written, easy to read and follow. Definitely a great book for if you are not familiar with gardening.”
GarageTinker
★★★★★
“For begginners but great information for all gardeners. Purchased to replace personal gardening library books damaged by insects while stored in a box in my garage.”
Bryan Wimmer
★★★★★
“Great book of you are starting out. Good price. Expect to purchase other books for greater detail.”
HuggedbyGrandma
★★★★☆
“I like the book, provided good insight for beginning gardening”
Christina S
★★★★★
“Lots of good information”
Rodney Mann
★★★★☆
“It’s a good book”
shericka burroughs
★★★★★
“Very very very awesome beginners gardening book! If your just starting out this is the book for you! Im a beginner myself. The way they break down everything is so easy to follow. Helped me alot. Great read!”
Julie Wade
★★★★★
“Very well written, easy to read and follow. Definitely a great book for if you are not familiar with gardening.”
GarageTinker
★★★★★
“For begginners but great information for all gardeners. Purchased to replace personal gardening library books damaged by insects while stored in a box in my garage.”
Bryan Wimmer
★★★★★
“Great book of you are starting out. Good price. Expect to purchase other books for greater detail.”
HuggedbyGrandma
★★★★☆
“I like the book, provided good insight for beginning gardening”
Christina S
★★★★★
“Lots of good information”
Rodney Mann
★★★★☆
“It’s a good book”
About Benjamin
Born on the farm he still grows on
Benjamin Greenfield is a vegetable gardener and the author of The Year-Round Vegetable Garden for Beginners. He grows on the small family farm in Oregon where he was born in 1965: no-dig raised beds, compost made on site, natural pest control instead of sprays, and a planting plan that follows the seasons.
He learned by being handed a hoe as a farm kid, and later by working alongside growers in Asia, South America and Europe. His one rule is balance: feed the soil and work with the land, not against it. On the blog he writes down what works on the farm, what fails, and why, one vegetable and one season at a time.
Benjamin’s rule of thumb
Feed the soil and work with the land, not against it.
