Vegetables Books

All New Square Foot Gardening

Mel Bartholomew

Amazon Price: $13.59 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Cool Springs Press Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $11.57

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Techniques -> Container Gardening
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> General
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Vegetables

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 113 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Do you know what the best feature is in All New Square Foot Gardening?

Sure, there are ten new features in this all-new, updated book. Sure, it's even simpler than it was before. Of course, you don't have to worry about fertilizer or poor soil ever again because you'll be growing above the ground.

But, the best feature is that anyone, anywhere can enjoy a Square Foot garden. Children, adults with limited mobility, even complete novices can achieve spectacular results.

But, let's get back to the ten improvements. You're going to love them.

 

1)      New Location - Move your garden closer to your house by eliminating single-row gardening. Square Foot Garden needs just twenty percent of the space of a traditional garden.

2)      New Direction - Locate your garden on top of existing soil. Forget about pH soil tests, double-digging (who enjoys that?), or the never-ending soil improvements.

3)      New Soil - The new "Mel's Mix" is the perfect growing mix. Why, we even give you the recipe. Best of all, you can even buy the different types of compost needed.

4)      New Depth - You only need to prepare a SFG box to a depth of 6 inches! It's true--the majority of plants develop just fine when grown at this depth.

5)      No Fertilizer - The all new SFG does not need any fertilizer-ever! If you start with the perfect soil mix, then you don't need to add fertilizer.

6)      New Boxes - The new method uses bottomless boxes placed aboveground. We show you how to build your own (with step-by-step photos).

7)      New Aisles - The ideal gardening aisle width is about three to four feet. That makes it even easier to kneel, work, and harvest.

8)      New Grids - Prominent and permanent grids added to your SFG box help you visualize the planting squares and know how to space for maximum harvest.

9)      New Seed Saving Idea - The old-fashioned way advocates planting many seeds and then thinning the extras (that means pulling them up). The new method means planting a pinch- literally two or three seeds--per planting hole.

10)  Tabletop Gardens - The new boxes are so much smaller and lighter (only 6 inches of soil, remember?), you can add a plywood bottom to make them portable.

 

Of course, that's not all. We've also included simple, easy-to-follow instructions using lots of photos and illustrations. You're going to love it!

Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long

Eliot Coleman, Barbara Damrosch

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chelsea Green Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $15.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> General
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Techniques -> Organic
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Vegetables

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

If you love the joys of eating home-garden vegetables but always thought those joys had to stop at the end of summer, this book is for you. Eliot Coleman introduces the surprising fact that most of the United States has more winter sunshine than the south of France. He shows how North American gardeners can successfully use that sun to raise a wide variety of traditional winter vegetables in backyard cold frames and plastic covered tunnel greenhouses without supplementary heat. Coleman expands upon his own experiences with new ideas learned on a winter-vegetable pilgrimage across the ocean to the acknowledged kingdom of vegetable cuisine, the southern part of France, which lies on the 44th parallel, the same latitude as his farm in Maine.
This story of sunshine, weather patterns, old limitations and expectations, and new realities is delightfully innovative in the best gardening tradition. Four-Season Harvest will have you feasting on fresh produce from your garden all through the winter.

The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World's Most Beautiful Fruit

Amy Goldman

Amazon Price: $23.10 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Bloomsbury USA Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $20.91

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Cooking by Ingredient -> Fruits
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Vegetables & Vegetarian -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the world-class garden of acclaimed food writer Amy Goldman, a gorgeously illustrated guide to the world’s most beautiful and delicious tomatoes.

Every year, renowned grower Amy Goldman produces an amazing 500 varieties of tomatoes on her farm in New York’s Hudson Valley. Here, in 250 gorgeous photos and Goldman’s erudite, charming prose, is the cream of the crop, from glorious heirloom beefsteaks – that delicious tomato you had as a kid but can’t seem to find anymore – to exotica like the currant tomato, a pea-sized fruit with a surprisingly big flavor. Along with the photos are profiles of the tomatoes, filled with fascinating facts on their history and provenance; a section of more than 50 delicious recipes; and a master gardener’s guide to growing your own. More than just a loving look at one of the world's great edibles, this is a philosophy of eating and conservation between covers — an irresistible book for anyone who loves to garden or loves to eat.

Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer

Tim Stark

Amazon Price: $16.32 List Price: $24.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Broadway Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $13.72

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Gastronomy -> Essays
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Situated beautifully at the intersection of Michael Pollan, Ruth Reichl, and Barbara Kingsolver, Heirloom is an inspiring, elegiac, and gorgeously written memoir about rediscovering an older and still vital way of life.

Fourteen years ago, Tim Stark was living in Brooklyn, working days as a management consultant, and writing unpublished short stories by night. One evening, chancing upon a Dumpster full of discarded lumber, he carried the lumber home and built a germination rack for thousands of heirloom tomato seedlings. His crop soon outgrew the brownstone in which it had sprouted, forcing him to cart the seedlings to his family’s farm in Pennsylvania, where they were transplanted into the ground by hand. When favorable weather brought in a bumper crop, Tim hauled his unusual tomatoes to New York City’s Union Square Greenmarket, at a time when the tomato was unanimously red. The rest is history. Today, Eckerton Hill Farm does a booming trade in heirloom tomatoes and obscure chile peppers. Tim’s tomatoes are featured on the menus of New York City’s most demanding chefs and have even made the cover of Gourmet magazine.

Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series)

Steve Solomon

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: New Society Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $12.13

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Fruit
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> General
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Techniques -> Organic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The decline of cheap oil is inspiring increasing numbers of North Americans to achieve some measure of backyard food self-sufficiency. In hard times, the family can be greatly helped by growing a highly productive food garden, requiring little cash outlay or watering.

Currently popular intensive vegetable gardening methods are largely inappropriate to this new circumstance. Crowded raised beds require high inputs of water, fertility and organic matter, and demand large amounts of human time and effort. But, except for labor, these inputs depend on the price of oil. Prior to the 1970s, North American home food growing used more land with less labor, with wider plant spacing, with less or no irrigation, and all done with sharp hand tools. But these sustainable systems have been largely forgotten. Gardening When It Counts helps readers rediscover traditional low-input gardening methods to produce healthy food.

Designed for readers with no experience and applicable to most areas in the English-speaking world except the tropics and hot deserts, this book shows that any family with access to 3-5,000 sq. ft. of garden land can halve their food costs using a growing system requiring just the odd bucketful of household waste water, perhaps two hundred dollars worth of hand tools, and about the same amount spent on supplies - working an average of two hours a day during the growing season.

Steve Solomon is a well-known west coast gardener and author of five previous books, including Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades which has appeared in five editions.

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners

Suzanne Ashworth, Kent Whealy

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Seed Savers Exchange Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $15.57

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> General
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Vegetables

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Seed to Seed is a complete seed-saving guide that describes specific techniques for saving the seeds of 160 different vegetables. This book contains detailed information about each vegetable, including its botanical classification, flower structure and means of pollination, required population size, isolation distance, techniques for caging or hand-pollination, and also the proper methods for harvesting, drying, cleaning, and storing the seeds. Seed to Seed is widely acknowledged as the best guide available for home gardeners to learn effective ways to produce and store seeds on a small scale. The author has grown seed crops of every vegetable featured in the book, and has thoroughly researched and tested all of the techniques she recommends for the home garden. This newly updated and greatly expanded Second Edition includes additional information about how to start each vegetable from seed, which has turned the book into a complete growing guide. Local knowledge about seed starting techniques for each vegetable has been shared by expert gardeners from seven regions of the United States-Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast/Gulf Coast, Midwest, Southwest, Central West Coast, and Northwest.

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Regions

Edward C. Smith

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Storey Publishing, LLC Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $12.47

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> General
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Techniques -> Organic
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Vegetables

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Wouldn't it be lovely to have a patch of corn, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and beans just steps from your kitchen door? Would you like to learn how to control your zucchini plant? Ed Smith, an experienced vegetable gardener from Vermont, has put together this amazingly comprehensive and commonsensical manual, The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. Basically, Ed and his family have been growing a wide variety of vegetables for years and he's figured out what works. This book, filled with step-by-step info and color photos, breaks it all down for you.

Ed's system is based on W-O-R-D: Wide rows, Organic methods, Raised beds, Deep soil. With deep, raised beds, vegetable roots have more room to grow and expand. In traditional narrow-row beds, over half the soil is compacted into walkways while a garden with wide, deep, raised beds, plants get to use most of the soil. In Ed's plan, growing space gets about three-quarters of the garden plot and only about a quarter is used for the walkway. Ed teaches you how to create raised beds both in a larger garden or in separate planked beds. One of the most important--and most often overlooked--aspects of successful vegetable gardening is crop rotation. Leaving a crop in the same place for years can deplete nutrients in that area and makes the crop more likely to be attacked by insects. Rotate at least every two years and your vegetables will be healthier and bug-free. There's also a good section on insect and blight control.

Before choosing what to grow, go through the last third of the book, where Ed takes a look at the individual growing, harvesting, and best varieties of a large number of both common and more exotic vegetables and herbs. Whether you are a putterer or a serious gardener, The Vegetable Gardener's Bible is an excellent resource to have handy. --Dana Van Nest

The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener (A Gardener's Supply Book)

Eliot Coleman

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chelsea Green Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $15.64

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> General
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Techniques -> Organic
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Techniques -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

simply down to earth - literally 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This is absolutely the best, straightforward, down to earth, organic gardening book I have ever read. No hype, no buzzwords, no new age crap, no agenda. Simply down to earth - literally.

My new constant companion 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Mr. Coleman has packed so much information into this wonderful book! I have started to use many of his suggestions. Keeping the costs of growing food down was one of the first subjects that caught my attention.

Wooo... 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Got me hiped up for my next several years here in Missouri. Practical, simplified systems for both the new and novice organic gardener. Definitely a fun read. Bring your highlighter. Thank you to the author, and all of the great shoulders that he stood on to get to this point...

Amazing Book... A must have for organic gardening 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book is awesome. Eliot presents an abundance of information. The information is organized and clear. Eliot does not assume what we already know, and what we have at our disposal. For example, many books will tell you how to create a mulch pile. You need this much brown matter, this much green matter, ... . That is all fine and dandy, but where do I magically get all of this material! Eliot understands this and explains many ways we can obtain the mulch material. He also does not assume your knowledge basis. For example, he will explain what and how a lugume works. This book is a constant resource for the organic gardener.

A great book!

How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits: (And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) (How to Grow More Vegetables: (And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains,)

John Jeavons

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ten Speed Press Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $12.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Fruit
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> General
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Techniques -> Organic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not a book for "casual backyard gardening" 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 13 people found this review helpful.

The people who are disappointed with this book are the ones who bought it without understanding what it was. This book isn't a "gardening for the soul" book of fluff, nor is it a typical "how to get bigger tomatoes" text.

What this book is is a compendium of information on growing as much food as possible for real, live people to eat.
Yes, it delves into the science and discusses the big, scary numbers involved. For you 'visual types' who find yourselves having to use your fingers to complete a single digit multiplication problem, don't bother. If you want purpler plumbs or redder radishes, look elsewhere.

Assuming your IQ is above 100 and you're looking for a book to tech you some of the skills required to feed your family under all circumstances, I can hardly think of a better book than this one. It is exactly what it says.

If I had to put my family on a fertile island and give them one book on gardening, it would unquestionably be this one.

Editorial Review:

A classic in the field of sustainable gardening, HOW TO GROW MORE VEGETABLES shows how to produce a beautiful organic garden with minimal watering and care, whether it's just a few tomatoes in a tiny backyard or enough food to feed a family of four on less than half an acre. Updated with the latest biointensive tips and techniques, this is an essential reference for gardeners of all skill levels seeking to grow some or all of their own food.

Burpee : The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener : A Guide to Growing Your Garden Organically

Karan Davis Cutler, Cavagnarok David, Barbara W. Ellis, David Cavagnaro

Amazon Price: $26.37 List Price: $39.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wiley Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $19.30

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> General
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Herbs
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Gardening & Horticulture -> Techniques -> Organic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great overview book 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This book is great if you're a beginner gardener, and want just one book to sit down and read that covers all aspects of gardening. You'll want to go on an buy other books that go into more detail on specific topics, but this is a great place to start, and one to keep on the shelf.
It is presented as a gardening book should be - a large hardcover with lots of glossy colour photographs.
Chapters are:
1) Growing you own
2) Getting Started
3) Garden Tools & Equipment
4) Improving the soil
5) Laying out the Garden
6) Planting the Garden
7) Caring for the Garden
8) Coping with Garden Problems

Editorial Review:

Burpee has created a truly encyclopedic, but non-intimidating, guide to organic vegetable gardening that can be used and appreciated by anyone, whether or not they've ever stuck a seed in the ground. All the essential information is here--how to condition the soil, how and where to plant, sprouting schedules, what kind of yield to expect from each plant variety, and harvesting tips--in beautiful, bountiful, illustrated detail; the book's largest section, "Plant Portraits," contains explanations of the many cultivars of each vegetable and herb. If you're a novice vegetable gardener or new to organic gardening and can only afford one gardening guide, this may be your best value.