Michael Holland

These days many primary schools provide opportunities for young children to grow plants and vegetables so I can imagine teachers would find this a useful teaching-aid to encourage youngsters to think about all aspects of gardening. Divided into short sections, the simply-explained advice includes how to encourage beneficial bugs (and how deter unwelcome ones using natural methods rather than chemicals!), understanding how to look after the soil so that their plants will grow, how to care for seeds and plants once planted, what tools are needed for specific jobs, how (and why) to make a compost heap and much more. I think the only essential advice which was missing was how important it is to clean tools after using them!
Children can learn that they don’t need a large garden to enjoy gardening, that both edible and purely decorative plants can be grown in pots, window boxes, cans, glass jars … even old wellies! One of the lovely things about this delightful, beautifully illustrated and educational book is that it really does make gardening sound like a fun activity! I also appreciated the fact that although the language used in the text is age-appropriate, there’s never any hint of ‘dumbing-down’ … in fact, I think that many adults who are new to gardening would find this book useful!… (more)

My granddaughter is 4 and loves to be outside in the garden. She is showing an interest in plants, flowers, bugs and loves pebbles. This book is perfect for her.

As my granddaughter is not able to read yet it doesn't matter as the pictures explain everything. The first section is all about plants, and there is a page dedicated to building a bug hotel. The other sections are getting started in the garden, all about vegetables and growing plants.

I can see my granddaughter getting lots of pleasure from this book. As she grows and gets a better understanding she will have hours of pleasure from this book.

The illustrations are beautiful, bright and colourful with easy to understand text. This book is just perfect.

Thank you to Readers First and the publisher for the book. I'm sure my granddaughter will just love the book very much.… (more)