Haven't read it. Considered buying it at Amazon. But, don't think I will now! Thanks for the info!

username: If you haven't already, you should consider posting your comments on the Amazon site. That way anyone contemplating purchasing the book will see your feedback..

Thanks for the info!

Good idea, John. I went and did just that.

Wow. I was curious what was in that book, but I am really happy I didn't buy it to check. I feel bad for all the newcomers who will read that first and not know any better.

I have a copy of Cubed Foot Gardening and I like it very much. Actually, I like it much better than Square Foot Gardening, which I think uses glossy production to make up for a lack of information. It also doesn't have the annoying tone of Mel Bartholomew's book. It's conversational, straightforward and supplies a lot of good information on the plants you're most likely to grow, germination time, average first and last frosts, etc.

With regards to pesticides, the general philosophy is that you may or may not use pesticides according to your preference. The reviewer above likes to imply that this is unconscionable, but offers no proof to support his/her allegations about pesticides. It should be noted that some organic pesticides, like Rotenone are just as nasty as some synthetics. Likewise with the pressure treated wood. As a point of fact, the author does *not* use pressure treated wood, stating that regular wood is cheaper, lighter and pressure treated doesn't offer any significant advantages. This is mostly a moot point, since CCA wood is no longer widely available.

To sum up, I'm not sure why the first reviewer hates this book so much. It's got a lot of valuable information and it's concise. Is it the greatest gardening book ever? No, but it's a solid introductory book. Do I like it better than Square Foot Gardening? Very much. Do I know why the first reviewer feels so wounded by Christopher Bird? No idea.

Ditto what Eric said.

When CFG says "I have no scientific evidence to support this...", the next part of the sentence is "...but in my decades of gardening, I have found this to work for me...." I'll take personal experience over gardening any day.

Nothing new in this method? I've never seen a perfect and easy way to get blanched CLEAN asparagus, stretch out a corn harvest AND make sure the stalks never blow over, or such a perfectly supported denunciation of sloped-sided beds. Dry humor is hilarious, and in this case weilded like a scalpel to keep the unique information interesting. The original post was MUCH more scathing than CFG is, maybe the lack of vitriol was the real reason Username didn't relate to CFG?

As for the pesticides? If you don't want to use them, don't. Even SFG advocates pesticides and treats organic gardening as a weird offshoot.

I think that covers all of Username's objections. I learned stuff from SFG, and this probably happened because I'm in a good mood from getting enough nappy-by time, unlike some posters.

I've read the book and consider it a rip off of SFG. The author advocates pesticides which is fine, I suppose, but the author doesn't go a chapter without bashing organic methods. Not legitimate bashing, just bashing.

Forgetting about the author's personality I didn't see any difference between CFG and SFG other than CFG goes 12" deep and uses soil mixed with sand.

To each their own, but I agree with username, CFG is one of the lamest books I have read. A blatant rip off of SFG with nothing much to add.

I have both the Cubed Foot Gardening and Square Foot Gardening books at home currently. Having read both, the SFG is a much better book! The only worthwhile differences from CFG that I read were the following.

1. Deeper raised beds 12" to 18" over double-dug soil will perform better than shallow raised beds.

2. Planting a small block of sweet corn every week will allow pollination and staggered harvest when planted in succession within the same larger block of corn.

3. Sinking bottomless styrofoam cups or bottomless cans into soil and starting seeds at the bottom of the 'wells' will allow vegetables like corn or tomatoes to root deeper for better roots and more wind-resistant plants, when the cup or can is later removed and soil is packed around the plant stem.

4. A 32 gallon garbage can allows growing icebox watermelons in a container, which would would otherwise not grow well in a shorter container.

Aside from these points, CFG starts with an almost apology for the similarity to SFG for the book title. For the most part CFG was generic garden information with no growing system like SFG offers, no matter what one thinks of SFG.