Selective Reading: The Edible Front Yard

Because I recently moved, I got the pleasure of getting a new library card in my new hometown. I was pretty excited at the prospects, even if it meant I was only temporarily allowed to take out two books until my card showed up in the mail. Once the card showed up, eureka, I could get out 50 at a time. Talk about serious reading time. Before I've gotten myself into too much trouble with getting out 50 at once, I chose "The Edible Front Yard" as one of my two first items to borrow. I'm becoming a little bit of a gardening freak so this book was a perfect fit.

I was particularly excited about the book because I find myself obsessively shopping for small houses online since my husband and I are still in the renting phase of our lives. I hate the idea of maintaining a lawn by mowing (which is a total waste of gas and time). But, I do enjoy growing veggies and fruit trees. I'm all about the practical, so this book seemed like it was just what I needed to feed my obsession. Ivette Soler fed my imagination more than she actually fed my mind with this book. I guess I probably got more out of the concept of the book than the actual content.

Much of the book is set aside for talking about the various types of veggies and herbs to grow and how they function. I was excited by the section on actually designing the front yard, but I was sorely disappointed when I found that there were only 3 plans laid out as examples. Much of the advice given was pretty basic and mostly common sense: check with your local building codes & call before you dig. As well, the discussion of irrigation systems was definitely lacking. Soler basically mentioned irrigation systems as a useful thing but then didn't explain the best methods for putting together these systems- while she does describe lots of other "crafty" types of projects for the front garden.

I did find it helpful to see the best methods for actually destroying the front lawn's grass and the few examples designs were interesting to see and I would have like to see at least 7 more of these (rounding out the examples at an even 10).

Also, Soler does mention that plants native to the planting area should be used and avoids getting very specific on this topic- even for her native state of California. Am I disappointed that I took the time to flip through the book and read selectively? No. But, I'm glad I didn't buy the book since I felt like I'd read the whole 200 page book within an hour. The more I think about it, this book is probably best used as a coffee table book because it has an abundance of lovely pictures and just enough info. to tease the reader a bit, but not allow the reader to get too cozy. It makes me want to write a book or two since it seems like any noob can do it but it does make me a bit interested in her blog to see what all she covers.