The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook: Identify and manage diseases and other common problems on edible plants

by Susan Mulvihill

Overview

If you’re tired of battling blight on your tomatoes, losing your basil to downy mildew, and watching deer raid your vegetable garden, you’ll find all the answers you need right here.

*2024 American Horticultural Society Book Award Winner* 

In The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook, author and veggie-growing guru Susan Mulvihill of YouTube’s Susan’s in the Garden is ready to set you up for long-term success in the vegetable garden. In these pages, Susan hands you all the info you need to stand firm against plant diseases, viruses, disorders, stressors, and even animal pests, and to do it without having to turn to harsh synthetic chemical products. All-natural solutions to your worst gardening woes are featured in an organized, problem-by-problem manner that makes this a quick and useful reference for both beginner and expert gardeners. This book is a wonderful companion to Susan’s previous book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook, which covers organic solutions for managing insect pests common in home veggie gardens.

In this book, not only will you discover how to get your plants off to a healthy start, you’ll also find out how to properly identify plant pathogens, how to troubleshoot problems like pollination issues and weather-related disorders, and how to prevent ailments such as fruit cracking, leaf roll, and blossom end rot.

In addition, Susan hands you natural solutions to: 
 

• Over 28 bacterial and fungal diseases, including nasties like powdery mildew, potato scab, and leaf spot 
• Limit damage from plant-eating animals, including birds, chipmunks, rabbits, groundhogs, gophers, deer, and 8 other critters 
• Manage a dozen physiological disorders common to the veggie garden, including bitterness, bolting, and sun scald 
• Prevent problems before they occur using the many strategies detailed throughout these pages

Keeping vegetable plants healthy and productive is no easy task. An extensive quick-reference chart is included to help with identification and to direct you to the best possible solutions based on both the symptoms you see and the vegetable those symptoms have appeared on. This truly is THE guide every vegetable gardener has been waiting for! 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780760377482
Publisher:	Cool Springs Press
Publication date:	02/07/2023
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	409,727
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Susan Mulvihill is a long-time garden columnist with The Spokesman-Review, a Master Gardener, and author of the blog, Susan’s in the Garden. Susan and her husband, Bill, live in Spokane, Washington, where they tend five acres. Susan is known for her down-to-earth approach to teaching and writing that appeals to beginning and experienced gardeners alike. Her humor and enthusiasm for gardening are evident in the hundreds of how-to-garden videos found on her YouTube Channel. In 2019, Susan was the recipient of the Media Award given by the Master Gardener Foundation of Washington State.

Susan is passionate about vegetable gardening and following organic practices. She is co-author of Northwest Gardener’s Handbook and author of The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook. In addition to being a prolific writer, Susan is also a garden photographer.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1 NURTURE YOUR GARDEN & TROUBLESHOOT PROBLEMS
Get Your Plants Off to the Best Start Possible
2 VEGETABLE PLANT DISEASE GUIDE
Vegetable Crops and Potential Diseases
Disease Profiles
Organic Strategies Explained
Organic Disease Control and Prevention Products
3 CRITTERS IN THE GARDEN
Birds, Chipmunks, Deer
Gophers, Pocket
Groundhogs (a k a Woodchucks, Marmots)
Mice, Moles, Opossums, Porcupines
Rabbits, Raccoons, Rats
Skunks, Tree Squirrels
Voles, Meadow
RESOURCES
PRODUCT SUPPLIERS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PHOTO CREDITS
INDEX
 

Editorial Reviews

There’s no such thing as a problem-free vegetable garden, but you’ve got no need to worry if you’ve got a copy of The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver at hand. This book by Susan Mulvihill is the essential guide to troubleshooting problems and guiding your crops from seed to harvest.”—Niki Jabbour, author of The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener and Growing Under Cover; co-founder of SavvyGardening.com

"Susan is my kind of gardener - thinking from the ground up to solve garden problems at the root, and truly explaining why they happen so you're armed with not only the solution - but the understanding that takes you from a good gardener to a great one." —Kevin Espiritu, author of Field Guide to Urban Gardening and Grow Bag Gardening; founder of EpicGardening.com

“Susan Mulvihill has done it again! This is the ideal resource for many of vegetable gardening's most common and troublesome challenges. Practical, thorough, and loaded with useful charts and helpful illustrations, your gardening knowledge and confidence is about to jump to a whole new level. If you grow food, consider this your new must-have, go-to reference. I love it and you will too!”—Joe Lamp'l, Creator & Executive Producer of Growing a Greener World®; Founder of joegardener.com & The Online Gardening Academy™

"The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook fills a nice niche in the home vegetable gardening world. It's a good companion to Susan's previous book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook. The disease and animal sections have clear, identifying photos and descriptions of diseases and animal damage, and Susan offers detailed, straight-forward solutions. What I really like is the amount of time Susan spends on describing and offering solutions to non-pest related problems such as poor germination, harsh weather, inadequate pollination, and physiological disorders. These problems often get overlooked by the home gardener and Susan's identification, descriptions and remedies offer helpful solutions." —Charlie Nardozzi, author of The Complete Guide to No-Dig Gardening and Foodscaping

"After reading this book, I feel more confident going into the growing season and looking forward to having a new reference book for dealing with vegetable garden issues!"—Budget Earth

 "...let me assure you that this book will not, well, lead you down the garden path to unverified, nonscientific solutions. Mulvihill knows her stuff, and she knows how to present it. This is a well-written, encouraging guide to making your garden the best it can be."—Erica H. Smith, Washington Gardener: Top Gardening Books of 2023

From the Publisher

12/16/2022

No home gardener should be without this book as a guide. Master Gardener Mulvihill (garden columnist, The Spokesman-Review; The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook) offers readers invaluable information, starting with basic instructions for getting a garden started. The book contains guides to crop spacing, watering, and composting. It also explains best practices for determining when and where to plant. Readers will also find detailed information and images of the diseases, disorders, viruses, animal pests, and weather woes that commonly plague crops, plus the best ways to remedy the situation with all-natural solutions. VERDICT Novices and advanced gardeners alike will find valuable tips and strategies in this resource. Recommended as a companion to strong gardening collections.—Whitney Bates-Gomez

Library Journal