The Planet Whizbang Idea Book for Gardeners
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.
The Planet Whizbang Idea Book for Gardeners by Herrick Kimball offers a great combination of tools, tips and stories to enlighten and inspire just about any gardener. From sturdy trellis systems, cloches and raised beds to biochar and Brix meters, this is one you’ll come back to year after year. (Yes, this is written by the creator of the Whizbang Chicken plucker.)
Sprinkled throughout the text are excerpts from old books, magazines and almanacs dating back to the 1800’s. So often we think we’re creating something new, when we are really rediscovering what was lost. Take this featured quote by E.P. Roe from The Home Acre (1886) about cheaper vegetables:
I am often told, “It is cheaper to buy fruits and vegetables than to raise them.” I have nothing to say in reply. There are many cheap things we can have. Experience has proved that one of the best things we can have is a garden, either to work in or to visit daily when the season permits. We have but one life to live here, and to get the cheapest things out of it is rather poor ambition.
I couldn’t agree more. We need to take the best from the past and team it up with the best new ideas to create a better future. Herrick strikes me as the sort of fellow who understands this wholeheartedly.
How The Planet Whizbang Idea Book for Gardeners is Organized
There are 35 sections to the book, plus a list of additional resources. Some of the projects covered include:
- How to Make and Use Solar Pyramids
- How to Make Your Own Forever Plant Tags
- How to Harvest and Use Wood Stove Biochar
- An Introduction to Soil Remineralization
- An Introduction to Brix and Brix Testing
One “project” that I implemented right away (that had me thinking “I should have thought of that” was How to Make a Whizbang Pocket Cultivator. Herrick re-purposed an old fork by giving it a nice tape-padded handle for an easier grip. This hand cultivator is then used to work up the soil in tight areas between closely spaced or small plants. The last time I swung through Goodwill, I hit the mis-matched silverware bin and found myself a nice bent tine fork with a chunky handle. Ta-da! Hand cultivator.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Pros and Cons of The Planet Whizbang Idea Book for Gardeners
Pros:
- Lots of food for thought – literally dozens of ideas, plus the historical excerpts
- Clear illustrations to help you replicate the project at home
- Conversational tone of writing, easy and comfortable to read
Cons:
- Some photos would be nice, but I understand that increase the cost of the book significantly
- I need more hours in a day to build more of these things, or my kids need to get building… 😉
You may also enjoy our other Gardening posts, including:
- Build Your Own Simple Seed Starting Shelves
- 5+ Terrific Tomato Trellis Ideas
- Cleaning and Sharpening Garden Tools
Just for the record, I received nothing for doing this review other than a copy of this book and another book of Herrick’s, Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian. I believe that this is an exceptional book that my readers will enjoy, so I chose to share it with you.
Note: This post did include a giveaway when it first went live, but the giveaway has ended.
Love the Deliberate Agrarian and Planet Whizbang! Please enter me!
Cynthia (C.L.) Lewis
Would love to win this. Why isn’t subscribing enough anymore? Twit, twat, this and that…enough. General comment–not so much this site specific. Just annoying. Common sense…
The reason that bloggers have additional entry options is that it makes a dramatic different in traffic to the site. We’re competing head to head with huge websites with big budgets like Mother Earth News. I don’t have an advertising team or advertising budget. All I have is thoughtful readers who are willing to share my posts – or the promoting that I do myself. I always have an basic easy entry option – other entries are completely optional.
This books looks fun and full of good ideas!
We plan to start a garden next year and I would love tips for preparing garden beds for maximum soil health.
I’d love to learn even more about composting! this would be a great book to add to my collection!
I am building a key hole garden right now, so that is my focus.
Hope I logged in correctly. I would love to know how to successfully grow green peppers, since some mysterious THING eats my plants. Winning this book of Herrick’s would so not stink, either… 🙂
So much to learn! We just bought a house and I’d like to learn how to take care of the blackberries and raspberries the previous owner left for us.
I am a beginner gardener and we plant a small garden of basic vegetables. We buy starter plants and plant them but they start to die and by July when we should have nice veggies we have nothing. Its happened for the last 2 years. We watered it everyday and I have no idea why it won’t grow. So any information on items like this would be helpful.
I’m very new to gardening. I have SO many questions I’m not even sure where to begin! I guess I’d like to know which plants are good companions for others and how to rotate crops for best nutrition. This book would be awesome to get!
I’m very new to gardening. I have SO many questions I’m not even sure where to begin! I guess I’d like to know which plants are good companions for others and how to rotate crops for best nutrition. This book would be awesome to get!
I would love to have this book. One thing I am really interested in learning about gardening right now is organic soil preparation.
Raising berries, asparagus, perennial type stuff. Maintaining fruit trees organically. Love Herrick’s other books. Looking forward to reading this one.
Sounds like a very cool helpful book. My biggest problem with gardening is finding the time and convincing my husband we don’t need to till but do lasagna gardening.
this looks very interesting! thank you for giving us a chance to win
Would sooooo love this book….would also like to know more about making and using biochar.
It’s great to see a review of the book. I was a little on the fence about purchasing, but if I don’t win this copy, I’m definitely going to purchase a copy of my own.
This book sounds very interesting. Could always use new tips and ideas. Started growing some herbs this year and planted one tomato plant in a large patio pot.
Now HERE is a book I will buy, if I am not lucky enough to win it! Let’s see, a comment about what I want to learn about gardening. . .other than, ‘all of it’? How about. . .I want to learn more about companion gardening.
I always need any help with gardening I can get!!