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whoischels's review
informative
fast-paced
4.0
Fortier writes exactly what you need to know if you're someone looking to start intensively farming a small amount of land. It's a great jumping off point to do more research about specific aspects of farming, like weed control, pest control, and irrigation issues.
stompyboots's review
3.0
Aspiring market gardeners, take note: This book is much-loved by people who wish to have a farm someday, and despised by actual diversified veg farmers. Read it with an enormous grain of salt, because J-M's success has not yet been replicated by others and the entire premise of this book is that it can be. Business plans that look beautiful on paper, especially when it comes to agriculture in the age of industrial capital and climate change, can change and fail spectacularly.
As with anything, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
This is not a full review, but if you haven't started farming, it's just what you need to hear. Much respect to J-M Fortier, but listen to your elders and talk one-on-one with small farmers before accepting J-M's word as gospel.
As with anything, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
This is not a full review, but if you haven't started farming, it's just what you need to hear. Much respect to J-M Fortier, but listen to your elders and talk one-on-one with small farmers before accepting J-M's word as gospel.
serenam's review
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
This is an excellent reference book for small-scale market gardeners. It focuses on practical, efficient, and sustainable methods using hand tools. Most helpful of all, while many market gardening books center exclusively on the specific practices used by the author, Jean-Martin Fortier encourages readers to adopt and adapt whichever methods work best for them.
aimee70807's review
5.0
I put off picking up this book because I have no inclination to sell any of my food, even though I devote quite a lot of time to producing all the vegetables my husband and I eat in a year. I shouldn't have delayed. Because Fortier's beautifully illustrated and easy to read book fills in gaps in my production campaign, giving me ideas for streamlining production so my crops will be more bountiful with less work. His focus on hand tools and on high-density production makes this a book that will suit backyard gardeners just as much as, or maybe even more than, market gardeners. No matter your goal, if you like to grow things and want to do so in a sustainable fashion, The Market Gardener is a good book to have under your belt and I can't recommend it highly enough.
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