The Family Garden Plan
Melissa K. Norris has a wonderful new book hitting the bookstore shelves on January 7th, 2020… and this one is definitely worth the investment! The Family Garden Plan: Grow a Year’s Worth of Sustainable and Healthy Food has a wealth of information for anyone who wants to raise their own fruits and vegetables!
Disclaimer: I received a copy of The Family Garden Plan by Melissa K. Norris for free to review on my website. I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.
Great Gardening Information for Everyone
Do you want to learn to garden and provide nutritious fruits and vegetables for your table? This book is chock full of helpful gardening advice, worksheets to help you plan, and tips for making your homesteading life easier.
Maybe you’re already a gardener but you always have too much of ‘this’ and not enough of ‘that’. Even if you’ve been growing your own food for decades, this new book has plenty to offer.
I have a ton of gardening books, seriously, a TON! I absolutely adore a good gardening book.
So when Melissa K. Norris of the Pioneering Today podcast put feelers out for bloggers to review her new book, I was super excited about getting a copy…hot off the press before anyone can even buy this puppy! Score!
The Family Garden Plan Gives Details!
To say that Melissa gets down to the nitty-gritty is certainly an understatement! In her chapter ‘Getting the Garden in the Ground’ She shares the list of seed starting materials that you’ll need, with details on different products. Then she guides you through the step-by-step process of growing, hardening off, and transplanting your little seedlings.
Next, she discusses direct sowing, winter sowing, and caring for those baby plants in detail. To follow up there’s a chart on Seed Starting and Planting for all of the common garden veggies. This list shares the best method for starting seeds (indoors or direct seeding), germination periods, and when to direct sow. Plus there’s a section for your notes for the first and last frost dates and when to sow your seeds.
In the chapter ‘Caring for Your Garden,’ there’s a handy recipe for creating your own organic pest spray, plus plenty of other ideas for handling disease and pests naturally. Another handy feature is the Organic Pest and Disease Chart with lists of problems and how to handle them without toxic chemicals. Weed control, composting, and a pest and disease chart for record-keeping are also important features shared.
This gives you a little taste of what kind of information to expect from this lovely book!
So not only does Melissa show you how to plan your garden for the best harvest, but she also walks you through the day-to-day care of your garden and preserving the bounty you harvest. And here’s the part I like best, she tells you how to do all of this without using any toxic chemicals!
The Family Garden Plan Worksheets
One of the great features of this book is all the wonderful worksheets that help you plan your garden and then put your plans into action!
There are worksheets to determine your family’s food needs for a year, planning which crops to plant, evaluating your microclimates, choosing your gardening and season-extending methods, as well as calculating how much of each crop to plant.
And this is just the beginning of all those wonderful planning tools!
Not sure when to harvest? There’s a handy chart for that! Melissa includes the best methods for preserving each crop, how many pints or quarts to expect from your fresh produce, plus harvest tips.
Whew! There is so much helpful advice packed into this book that I can honestly say it is a must-read every winter while you plan for the upcoming year!
As you start planning for your spring planting, take a few days to read through The Family Garden Plan. Then fill out the worksheets to help make the most of your garden space in the coming year.
My Garden Journal
Along with all of the handy worksheets and helpful charts included in The Family Garden Plan, I received an extra… ‘My Garden Journal.’ This booklet is great for jotting down notes and records during the garden season, plus planning the layout of your garden on graph paper.
Does crop rotation sound complicated? Melissa gives details in The Family Garden Plan on why and how to rotate your crops and the garden journal gives you space to draw out your garden plan so that next year you’ll know where to plant. This helps reduce the chances of pests and diseases for a better harvest without applying toxic chemicals!
The Family Garden Plan Guides You
The Family Garden Plan is dedicated to guiding you every step of the way through your garden experience!
This delightful gardening book is written for everyday people, no matter what their gardening skill level is. Melissa shares down-to-earth advice on topics such as soil testing and amendments, container and raised bed gardening, watering, crop rotation, determining your growing season and microclimates, and much much more.
There are lovely photos, helpful diagrams, in-depth advice, and plenty of friendly encouragement from Melissa in each chapter. You’ll feel like a friend or neighbor has taken time to share a lifetime of gardening and growing knowledge to help you make the most of your food plot.
Go to Melissa’s site and …Order your copy of The Family Garden Plan in advance to claim over $96 worth of bonuses!
I’ve tried the ‘seat of my pants’ method of gardening in the past, and I have to say that having a dedicated plan for harvesting an abundance of food from your land is so much better.
But it can be confusing to determine how much to plant, which varieties to choose, and how to preserve your harvest. Let Melissa share her experience and knowledge with you!
I hope you have found this review of The Garden Plan: Grow a Year’s Worth of Sustainable and Healthy Food by Melissa K. Norris helpful! Leave a comment and tell me what you think?
Don’t have a space to grow your own garden? Check out How to Start a Community Garden!
The Turn Over a New Leaf Giveaway has ended. Congratulations to our winner, Abigail from Washington! When she won, Abigail said…
“Wow, this is really cool. I was actually not expecting to win at all, I just saw the giveaway on Mary’s heirloom seeds and signed up just for fun. This is really nice because I am getting my garden space ready for this year’s planting. It is still a bit too cold for planting outside where I am from, but the ground is soft enough to shovel. Thank you so much to all of the parties involved in this giveaway! “
Would you like to be notified when I share a giveaway? Sign up for my newsletter over on the right side of this page!
Thank you again for offering this giveaway. I’m excited to hear who won, it is sure to be a blessing!
Happy to share, Elizabeth! Best wishes!
I would like this book because I tend to just plant and not really plan things out as I should.
Hi Sue,
It’s a struggle to really plan things out and then follow through! I’ve had the same problem some years when life just gets really busy.
I would love to read this book because I’m a beginner gardener. It helps a lot if I can read instructions as I go.
I find it helpful to read gardening books too, Wen…best wishes!
This is interesting. I have been trying to plan out how much of everything to plant for my family. This would be very helpful.
I found it very helpful and I’ve been gardening forever (almost) 🙂
Hoping to win this book!
Best wishes, Jamie! It really is a wonderful gardening book full of practical advice. 🙂
What a great book. Going to ask my wife to buy it for me!
Hi Rob,
I am really enjoying The Family Garden Plan…it has a ton of great info! Best wishes!
Hi! Would love to win these wonderful products! Thanks for the chance!
Hi Wendy…they are great prizes…wish I could win them myself! Best wishes!
This book sounds like exactly what I need! My husband is always telling me to rotate my crops but every time I do production goes down. I can’t wait to read this book.
And thank you for the giveaway!
Hi Christy…the author goes into pretty good detail as to which crops to follow another crop for best results…very helpful!
Along with caring for the garden, does Melissa give advice/ideas for different regions?
Hi Elizabeth,
She starts out early in the book with a section on how to find your zone and the micro-climates in your yard. Because there are so many zones and different climates, it isn’t within the scope of the book to address them fully. I hope this helps.
Thank you for the clarification. I kind of thought that would be the case
I subscribe to Melissa’s youtube channel & just came across some videos that I think relate to the book. I’m not sure if they go into more detail than what is in the book but that video series would be good for whoever wins/owns her book (Best Garden Planning Challenge).
Thank you for the opportunities to enter the A New Leaf giveaway!
Thank you for offering this resource in the giveaway! I’m sure it will be a benefit to the winner.
Hi Elizabeth…it will be a great source of information for even a seasoned gardener!
I’m a fairly new Gardener and really planning to expand A LOT this coming season! This book and planner would be very, VERY helpful in getting me organized and planned out properly!
Hi Deserae!
It really is a very helpful book and I know you would love it! Best wishes!
I wish I could give everyone a copy!
Love this book!
It is always great to have a reminder next to you when gardening.
Most gardening books are so cumbersome & not very practical for using while outdoors.It is also nice to share knowledge with questioning neighbors.
I also really like the journal, awesome!
I do keep a binder for our planting ideas, types of veggies & harvests, but even that is large to tote around & sometimes I forget to jot my ideas at the time…if I don’t write it down when I think of it, well..pop..it’s gone! Hahaha…age and all that jazz.
Fantastic giveaway! Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Good Luck in the up coming growing season!!
I would love to read this book and I think the journal would be very helpful. I have a large garden trying to grow enough to feed 5 boys and cut out the grocery store. This book sounds like just what I need to be better prepared for the growing season.
Hi Melissa!
That is a wonderful way to reduce expenses! And with 5 growing children, it can get pretty pricey to buy groceries. Best wishes!
🙂
I would love to read the book…any information is a tool to a better garden and being more self sufficient!
So true, Joanne! Best wishes!
I have been waiting for this book! I am looking forward to the work sheets!
Hi Tami!
The worksheets are wonderful!
Regarding the giveaway:
What is a Pinterest URL? How do I find it? How do I get one?
Thanks in advance for the information!
God bless and have a prosperous 2020!
Hi Jamie,
The Pinterest URL should be right in the Giveaway Form…just click the link provided and save to your Pinterest board. If you have any more trouble, please let me know!
I am a newbie to gardening and don’t own any gardening books. I need all the help I can get. This book looks awesome and would probably serve me well.
Hi Jamie!
The Family Gardening Plan is a great resource for a new gardener who wants to raise their own food…you would find it very useful. Best wishes!
My family recently moved to a new home & I have dreams of turning it into an urban homestead. This book would be very helpful in my journey as I have only grown a few potted herbs before & I know Melissa offers great information on gardening so I’m sure this book would be one of my go to guides
Hi Elizabeth!
Melissa’s new book is wonderful! I really enjoyed reading it and I’m sure you would too. 🙂 Best wishes!
This book sounds like exactly what I need! My husband & I have been wanting to garden a lot more so we can grow our own food on a regular basis.
And thank you for the giveaway!
Hi Samantha!
Best wishes with the giveaway! I hope you can grow more of your own food this year. 🙂 You are very welcome and remember, there are ways to enter every day to increase your odds of winning. 🙂