Organic gardening / Sustainable gardening Books

Book SynopsisOrganic Gardening (not just) in the Northeast is organized around the calendar year, starting in March and continuing through the year with timely advice. Henry Homeyer's book is packed with useful information you won't easily find elsewhere: how to sharpen your pruners, use a screwdriver to test for compaction in the lawn, and build a welcoming cedar arbor as an entrance to the garden. Learn how to grow ladyslipper orchids or Himalayan blue poppies, prune apple trees, grow giant pumpkins, and even how to start a date palm from a grocery store date or build a small stone igloo to delight grandchildren. Eccentric, eclectic, and entertaining, whether you are a beginner or a veteran, this book has something and more for you.

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Book SynopsisBooks on container gardening have been wildly popular with urban and suburban readers, but until now, there has been no comprehensive "how-to" guide for growing fresh food in the absence of open land. Fresh Food from Small Spaces fills the gap as a practical, comprehensive, and downright fun guide to growing food in small spaces. It provides readers with the knowledge and skills necessary to produce their own fresh vegetables, mushrooms, sprouts, and fermented foods as well as to raise bees and chickens—all without reliance on energy-intensive systems like indoor lighting and hydroponics. Readers will learn how to transform their balconies and windowsills into productive vegetable gardens, their countertops and storage lockers into commercial-quality sprout and mushroom farms, and their outside nooks and crannies into whatever they can imagine, including sustainable nurseries for honeybees and chickens. Free space for the city gardener might be no more than a cramped patio, balcony, rooftop, windowsill, hanging rafter, dark cabinet, garage, or storage area, but no space is too small or too dark to raise food. With this book as a guide, people living in apartments, condominiums, townhouses, and single-family homes will be able to grow up to 20 percent of their own fresh food using a combination of traditional gardening methods and space-saving techniques such as reflected lighting and container "terracing." Those with access to yards can produce even more. Author R. J. Ruppenthal worked on an organic vegetable farm in his youth, but his expertise in urban and indoor gardening has been hard-won through years of trial-and-error experience. In the small city homes where he has lived, often with no more than a balcony, windowsill, and countertop for gardening, Ruppenthal and his family have been able to eat at least some homegrown food 365 days per year. In an era of declining resources and environmental disruption, Ruppenthal shows that even urban dwellers can contribute to a rebirth of local, fresh foods.Trade ReviewLibrary Journal- Many gardening books describe ample land and space as being a prerequisite for growing flowers, plants, and food. And the ever popular container gardening books, generally written for those with little land or space in which to garden, do not always cover the question of raising fresh food that way. Ruppenthal, a business professor and lifelong trial-and-error gardener, here fills a gap in gardening literature and helps readers discover techniques for sustainable food production--even on a small scale--by using every square inch of space that is available to them. His book walks gardeners through assessing their available space and its lighting, deciding what to grow in the spaces they have, and buying (or building) vegetable garden containers. Using his techniques, gardeners will learn to grow herbs, vegetables, fruit, grains, and mushrooms, as well as raise chickens and honeybees and produce fermented foods such as yogurt. It may be nearly impossible to live completely off the grid in an urban environment, but through practice, patience, and creativity, it is possible to establish such a productive urban garden that you can eat some homegrown, fresh food every day of the year. Highly recommended for public libraries, special and academic libraries with strong agricultural collections, and all those who are serious about producing food and creating a more sustainable lifestyle. "Unfortunately, many urban-dwellers avoid gardening due to a perceived lack of space. Ruppenthal explodes these barriers by showing us in cogent hands-on detail how to cultivate meaningful quantities of healthful food from the air, sun, water, and earth available to us in our own spaces, no matter how small."--Stephen & Rebekah Hren, authors of The Carbon-Free Home"Fresh Food From Small Spaces is a passionate manifesto as well as a practical primer for urban food production. It presents clear information, innovative strategies, and enthusiastic encouragement that will motivate, inspire, and empower city dwellers seeking to grow food and build greater sustainability into their lives."--Sandor Ellix Katz, author of Wild Fermentation and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved "While the information in this book will benefit all those seeking to grow and prepare their own food at home, it is especially informative for people with only limited space. Ruppenthal covers every food I ever heard of and a whole bunch I never heard of, like water kimchi (!) that can be grown indoors or outdoors where there is not enough room for a regular garden. This is the perfect answer to the question many people are asking me: How can I take charge of my own life now that food prices are soaring when I hardly have space for a container-grown tomato or two? Reading Ruppenthal, I get a distinct feeling that one can grow enough food to survive on down in the cellar and out on the porch.."--Gene Logsdon, author of The Contrary Farmer and Living at Nature's Pace: Farming and the American Dream "Every generation there is a move back to growing food close to home for various reasons: victory gardens, back-to-the-land gardens and community gardens come to mind. Now, as oil prices permanently increase, we have 'post-petroleum gardens' and Fresh Food From Small Spaces is a timely guide for a highly productive home food system, full of new and proven sustainable ways to grow and process your favorite foods in the smallest of space."--Will Raap, Founder, Gardener's Supply Company "This is one of the most important gardening books in years. Ruppenthal is ahead of the curve, promoting sustainability and even self-sufficiency in the burgeoning urban environment. His holistic approach to nutrition, conservation, recycling/repurposing, and composting will help redefine urban gardening. Fresh Food From Small Spaces is loaded with great ideas for urban gardeners. Ruppenthal gives great tips and background info to get beginners started. Yet, the diagrams, charts, and plant lists make it a satisfactory and intriguing reference even for experienced gardeners."Besides being a timely, progressive, intelligent reference, Fresh Food From Small Spaces is a great story and comfortable read. I enjoyed following Ruppenthal's personal struggles and ordeals. This is a fun, informative book."Ruppenthal has seen the future of city gardening and I like it! Fresh herbs on every windowsill. Pole beans on every balcony. Beehives with honey on every rooftop. And tasty shitakes in every garage."--William Moss, "Moss in the City" columnist at the National Gardening Association's Garden.org "Fresh Food from Small Spaces is a helpful guide to the range of food production strategies for urban spaces. A great resource for urban dwellers, enabling even those in basement apartments to produce copious food through sprouting and mushroom production. I particularly appreciated Ruppenthal's first-hand experience in building low-cost self-watering planters."--Eric Toensmeier, author of Perennial Vegetables and co-author of Edible Forest GardensTable of Contents1. Creating a food system for your space 2. Deciding what to grow in your garden space 3. How to buy or build productive vegetable containers 4. Using vertical space and reflected light 5. Starting transplants and cycling your crops 6. Growing fruit and berries in your spare space 7. Sprouting grains, beans, wheatgrass, and salad sprouts 8. Making yogurt, kefir, and fermented foods 9. Cultivating mushrooms 10. Raising chickens and honeybees in the city 11. Making compost and partnering with worms 12. Survival during resource shortages 13. Helping to build a sustainable future

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Book SynopsisThe Tao of Vegetable Gardening explores the practical methods as well as the deeper essence of gardening. In her latest book, groundbreaking garden writer Carol Deppe (The Resilient Gardener, Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties) focuses on some of the most popular home garden vegetables—tomatoes, green beans, peas, and leafy greens—and through them illustrates the key principles and practices that gardeners need to know to successfully plant and grow just about any food crop. Deppe’s work has long been inspired and informed by the philosophy and wisdom of Tao Te Ching, the 2,500-year-old work attributed to Chinese sage Lao Tzu and the most translated book in the world after the Bible. The Tao of Vegetable Gardening is organized into chapters that echo fundamental Taoist concepts: Balance, Flexibility, Honoring the Essential Nature (your own and that of your plants), Effortless Effort, Non-Doing, and even Non-Knowing. Yet the book also offers a wealth of specific and valuable garden advice on topics as diverse as: • The Eat-All Greens Garden, a labor- and space-efficient way to provide all the greens a family can eat, freeze, and dry—all on a tiny piece of land suitable for small-scale and urban gardeners. • The growing problem of late blight and the future of heirloom tomatoes—and what gardeners can do to avoid problems, and even create new resistant varieties. • Establishing a Do-It-Yourself Seed Bank, including information on preparing seeds for long-term storage and how to “dehybridize” hybrids. • Twenty-four good places to not plant a tree, and thirty-seven good reasons for not planting various vegetables. Designed for gardeners of all levels, from beginners to experienced growers, The Tao of Vegetable Gardening provides a unique frame of reference: a window to the world of nature, in the garden and in ourselves.Trade ReviewPublishers Weekly- "This thoughtful book is a guide for growing tomatoes, squash, and greens, but its most significant contribution is Deppe’s approach to gardening. She encourages the gardener to cultivate an intuitive relationship with plants and almost a sixth sense about when to actively work in the garden, and when to stand back and let the plants do the growing they need to do. She calls it the Tao of gardening, a form of 'non-doing' or 'doing that which gives maximum effect for the minimum effort,' so that unnecessary action has been eliminated. It is about balance: not watering too much, not fertilizing too much. She further enjoins the gardener to create a relationship with the garden, knowing what needs tending what needs to be left alone. The advice for raising tomatoes and greens will benefit the gardener, but the magic of the book is the way it teaches the gardener how to grow with the garden.”“With the insight of a skilled breeder Carol Deppe has drawn together the best of ancient wisdom and traditional crops. Gardeners rejoice! The past has never promised us a better future than in these pages.”--Roger B. Swain, host of PBS’s “The Victory Garden”"In The Tao of Vegetable Gardening Carol Deppe uses Taoist philosophical concepts to communicate gardening wisdom learned through longtime practice and experimentation. She seemlessly integrates excellent how-to advice with her reflections on cultivation, plants, soil, the elements, and life. This book is as profound as it is practical, and will be a great source of information and inspiration for both experienced gardeners and those just starting out."--Sandor Ellix Katz, author, The Art of Fermentation“There are many knowledgeable gardeners but very few wise ones. Carol Deppe is both. Her excellent new book, The Tao of Vegetable Gardening, serves up generous portions of homegrown know-how gleaned from three decades worth of experimentation. It will, no doubt, make you a better gardener. What sets this book apart, though, is its potential for making us into happier gardeners by sharing the deeper life lessons our gardens have to teach. The Chinese word tao can be defined in different ways but my favorite is "path," and Carol Deppe shows us that the timeless path to health, happiness and wholeness cuts right through our own backyard, if we choose to take it.”--Roger Doiron, Founding Director, Kitchen Gardeners International “Why do different ripe tomatoes harvested from the same plant in the same season taste different? What does bean seed color have to do with vigor and flavor? After nearly forty years in the seed business, I still learn amazing things from each new book by Carol Deppe. The Tao of Vegetable Gardening melds the observational skills and curiosity of a molecular geneticist with the sheer joy and inner harmonies of a practicing participant in the garden's dance of life.”--CR Lawn, founder, Fedco Seeds“The Tao of Vegetable Gardening is another absolutely brilliant book from Carol Deppe. It’s smart, ultimately sensible, refreshing in the way old assumptions get questioned, vastly informative about gardening—plus it’s a really good read. I mean, how many gardening books make you laugh out loud and get you to pick up the phone and order a tool from a place called Red Pig? I’m so grateful for this book—I will have it memorized by the time the soil is ready to work.”--Deborah Madison, author, Vegetable Literacy “If you want to read the complete, deepest-down lowdown on how to grow organic vegetables successfully, this is the book. It also stands as a guide to the most genuine, independent lifestyle possible, relying only on nature and the author's awesomely detailed knowledge of plant life to achieve successful food production and a contented way of life. The reader learns not only how to grow and cook vegetables, but how to breed new varieties and save the seed. And while you read her book, you are also charmed with the Tao philosophy of living--something I have come to believe is a sure path to tranquility.”--Gene Logsdon, author, Gene Everlasting and The Contrary FarmerBooklist- "Biologist and plant breeder Deppe (The Resilient Gardener, 2010) shares principles and practices that will 'allow a gardener to do nothing whatsoever after sowing the seed until it is time to come back and harvest.' Such wonderful pragmatism does not mean that this is a cut-and-dried how-to. Far from it. Deppe is lively, thoroughly engaged, and cheerfully direct, and her use of the tao is no gimmick. She infuses her in-depth, hands-on guide to growing, harvesting, preparing, and eating the most popular and nutritional vegetables with pithy and resonant philosophical observations, including such aphorisms as these, which preface the weeding section: 'Deal with the small before it is large. Deal with the few before they are many.' Age-old wisdom graces comprehensive, clear, and timely instructions on every aspect of vegetable cultivation and enjoyment, including Deppe’s guidance in avoiding late blight, the disease now threatening heirloom tomatoes, and her 'eat-all greens' strategy for growing succulent kale, mustard, and other leafy greens. Whether writing about squash or serenity, Deppe is pleasurable and enlightening company, and this is a vegetable gardener’s treasury.”

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Book SynopsisBring your garden to life—and life to your garden Do you want a garden that makes a real difference? Choose plants native to our Southeast region. The rewards will benefit you, your yard, and the environment—from reducing maintenance tasks to attracting earth-friendly pollinators such as native birds, butterflies, and bees. Native plant experts Larry Mellichamp and Paula Gross make adding these superstar plants easier than ever before, with proven advice that every home gardener can follow. This incomparable sourcebook includes 225 recommended native ferns, grasses, wildflowers, perennials, vines, shrubs, and trees. It’s everything you need to know to create a beautiful and beneficial garden. This must-have handbook is for gardeners in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

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Book SynopsisA design-focused, easy-to-use guide to colorful, eye-catching foliage and flowers for your whole yard, from the ground plane to the canopy, for homeowners and landscapers faced with replacing thirsty gardens in California and other dry regions in the Western US. If readers must reluctantly remove water-guzzling favorites from the garden, they need equally beautiful substitutes! This book is a visual treat that supports the transition to dry gardening by proving that gardeners can have all the gorgeous color and flowers they had in the past using just a fraction of the water. Maureen Gilmer provides chapters on design categories of plants—flowering shrubs, the ground plain, eye-catching accents, ephemeral flowers, perennials for color, animated plants and fine textures, canopy, and edibles—with profiles for each plant plus background info and top picks lists. The Colorful Dry Garden is unique because it features only bold plants that are also heavy bloomers despite heat and limited water. It also features more than just Western native plants by including varieties from the world's driest climates.Trade Review"Compact and easy-to-read, with practical tips for "going dry," a.k.a. transitioning to a drought-resistant yard, along with loads of color photos of flowering shrubs, perennials, ground covers, succulents and grasses."—The Los Angeles Times"[This book] couldn't come at a better time. As we adjust to using less water in every part of our lives, Gilmer's book provides practical guidance to gardeners who want vibrant landscapes in the future while using less of our precious resource, water."—The Oregonian"This book features beautifully illustrated profiles of drought-tolerant plants"—Texas Gardener"Includes guidelines for transitioning yards to an “arid palette,” as well as hundreds of photos and detailed descriptions of flowering plants and trees that provide the punches of color she and other floral fans crave."—Las Vegas Review-Journal "Maureen Gilmer consolidates everything you need to know to get started [in water-wise gardening] based on her 30 years of experience in the field.... The perfect resource for folks who may not be hard-core gardeners but want a beautiful yet unthirsty garden all the same." —Succulents and More

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Book SynopsisRodale''s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening has been the go-to resource for gardeners for more than 50 years, and the best tool novices can buy to start applying organic methods to their fruit and vegetable crops, herbs, trees and shrubs, perennials, annuals, and lawns. This thoroughly revised and updated version highlights new organic pest controls, new fertilizer products, improved gardening techniques, the latest organic soil practices, and new trends in garden design. In this indispensable work you will find: ? Comprehensive coverage for the entire garden and landscape along with related entries such as Community Gardening, Edible Landscaping, Horticultural Therapy, Stonescaping, and more ?The most in-depth information from the trusted Rodale Organic Gardening brand ?A completely new section on earth-friendly techniques for gardening in a changing climate, covering wise water management, creating backyard habitats, managing invasive plants and insects, reducing energy use and recycling, and understanding biotechnology ?Entries all written by American gardeners for American gardeners, with answers for all the challenges presented by various conditions, from the humid Deep South and the mild maritime coasts to the cold far North and the dry Southwest Rodale''s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening has everything you need to create gorgeous, non-toxic gardens in any part of the country.

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Book Synopsis"The Organic Grain Grower is the best resource we’ve seen for small-scale grain growers everywhere. . . . [Lazor's] passion comes alive in this fine guidebook’s depth of detail."—Mother Earth News The ultimate guide to growing organic grains on a small and ecological scale The Organic Grain Grower is invaluable for both home-scale and commercial producers interested in expanding their resiliency and crop diversity through growing their own grains. Longtime farmer and organic pioneer Jack Lazor covers how to grow and store wheat, barley, oats, corn, dry beans, soybeans, pulse crops, oilseeds, grasses, nutrient-dense forages, and lesser-known cereals. In addition to detailed cultivation and processing information, Lazor argues the importance of integrating grains on the organic farm (not to mention for the local-food system) for reasons of biodiversity and whole farm management. Including extensive information on: The history of grain growing and consumption in North America The twenty-first century and the birth of the local-food movement Considering your farm's scale and climate Understanding soil fertility and structure Planting your crop (including spring vs. fall cereals and preparing your soil) The growing and ripening process (reproductive, milk, hard-and-soft dough stages) The grain harvest Preparing grain for sale, storage, or end use (drying, cleaning seed, grain handling) Seed breeding and saving Machinery, infrastructure, and processing (both home-scale tools and larger farm equipment) Grinding grains for livestock rations (including how to put together a ration based on protein content) and sample rations for dairy cows, pigs, and chickens Processing grains for human consumption Additional resources and information for new grain farmers, and more... Beginners will learn how to grow enough wheat for a year's supply of bread flour for their homestead, and farmers will learn how to become part of a grain co-op, working alongside artisan bakers and mills. Never before has there been a guide to growing organic grains applicable both for the home-scale and professional farming scale. This will be a classic for decades to come and a crucial addition to any farmer's, homesteader's, gardener's, agronomist's, or seed-saver's library.Trade ReviewMother Earth News- "The Organic Grain Grower is the best resource we’ve seen for small-scale grain growers everywhere. The book covers necessary equipment and cultivation techniques for many types of crops: corn, wheat, barley, oats, rye, spelt and triticale, buckwheat, soy, dry beans, and oilseeds. Lazor describes himself as 'a grain-processing nut,' and his passion comes alive in this fine guidebook’s depth of detail.""Jack Lazor writes about grain growing with passion and experience. With this wealth of background and insight, readers will want to do it themselves, and with the lode of detailed information Jack provides, they will be able to do so. Although his focus is on medium-scale commercial production, many of the tips he shares are applicable to the backyard grain-grower as well."--Will Bonsall, Khadighar Farm; director, Scatterseed ProjectForeWord Reviews- "Longtime farming pioneer Jack Lazor has progressed from a back-to-the-land idealist to the co-manager, with his wife, of a profitable dairy and grain business, Butterworks Farm in Westfield, Vermont. In The Organic Grain Grower, he shares his considerable experience and expertise with new generations of holistic home and market grain producers. Lazor’s book starts with the history of grain production in his local region; early settlers found that northern New England offered a good climate for wheat, vital for animal fodder and bread making. Today, “the rebirth of grain growing” is not just common sense, but fun, Lazor enthusiastically reports. He takes readers through soil fertility and tillage, to the crucial matter of storage (“mice … have an uncanny ability to … burrow into bags that you can’t see from the outside of the pile”), drying, screening, grinding, and grading. He recommends equipment, including less expensive “retired” machinery. Grains covered are corn, wheat, barley, oats, rye, spelt, triticale, buckwheat, and flax, plus soybeans and other legumes. The book is very well organized, including a large section of clear, helpful photos. Though he is not averse to employing newfangled machinery if it does the job well, Lazor takes pride in using older farming equipment that is less complicated than modern counterparts, and some examples of these are illustrated. The Organic Grain Grower is more than 500 pages, with a colorful, informative cover. Anyone seriously considering growing grain for animal feed, human consumption, or sale will find value in this manual. It would also be beneficial for those interested in any aspect of organic farming, since the sound advice given for grains could apply to any crop. The foreword by author Eliot Coleman (The Winter Harvest Handbook) praises Lazor as the person “who inspired the movement” back to the “small farm’s grain heritage.” Lazor is as handy with a pen as with a plow, making even grain diseases sound interesting (“there is nothing like a mid-June thunderstorm to set up wheat plants for an invasion of … rust”). His flowing style demonstrates both hard knowledge and old world graces, as he modestly expresses the hope that the book “will help people avoid some of the mistakes that I have made.” Another outstanding offering from Chelsea Green Publishing, Lazor’s guide will doubtless plant the seeds of inspiration among beginners and old hands alike as they tackle the complexities of grain growing and organic agriculture, and will do its part to propagate more general interest in the subject."“The Organic Grain Grower is quite possibly the most complete and extensive text ever written on grain production in the Northeast. Jack Lazor’s deep passion and knowledge creates an astounding story, and he shares his wisdom and experience generously. If you have ever wanted to grow grain, this is a book to own and cherish.”--Dr. Heather Darby, University of Vermont Extension Agronomist“Jack writes from the top of a mountain—the mountain of his life. His long years of experience are longer than his very beard, and the wisdom and distillation of his farming life are written here with clarity and graceful articulation. As he says in the book, ‘people are hungry for meaning as well as food.’ In this classic book, Jack provides not only the meaning, but also the methods required to succeed as a small-scale grower of organic grains."--Jeffrey Hamelman, director, King Arthur Flour Bakery, and author of Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes"Given our industrial agriculture, most of us assume that grain can only be grown in huge monocultures devoted to producing as much as possible, unmindful of the quality. But in The Organic Grain Grower, Jack Lazor provides us with a practical and attractive alternative. As a farmer he has demonstrated that one can provide an emerging market with a diversity of superior quality grains, grown on a small scale, using heirloom varieties and modest investment. This book is (as Eliot Coleman puts it) “like acquiring hundreds of years of knowledge in one book.”--Frederick Kirschenmann, author of Cultivating an Ecological Conscience“I believe I can safely say, without losing any money, that if you know of one fact truly necessary to growing grains organically in the United States that is not in this book, I'll pay you five bucks out of my own pocket. Plus there's a whole bunch of stuff about how to process and use grains in the barn or on the table that I have not found all in one place before.”--Gene Logsdon, author of Small-Scale Grain Growing

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Book SynopsisRecipes Your Babies Will Love, Made with Ingredients You Trust Take charge of your children's health with these delicious, nutrient-dense recipes designed to nourish your little ones. Sorted by the ages and stages of early childhood, these 60 incredible recipes from Andrea Bemis-organic farmer, mother and creator of the popular blog Dishing Up the Dirt-will help you navigate which foods are safe to feed your kids and master the tricky business of introducing solids into your children's diet. Even better, Andrea offers helpful advice drawn from her own experiences about how to cater to your children's evolving palettes, aid their digestion and incorporate more vitamins into every meal. Start simple with pureed Cinnamon Spice Squash that will please even the pickiest baby, or enrich your child's diet with Vitamin A and amino acids with homemade Chicken Liver Pâté. Made with fresh, all-natural ingredients (and lots of love!), family favorite recipes like mouthwatering Mini Sweet Potato Frittatas or savory Sheet Pan Cauliflower Nachos are sure to help your kids develop a healthy relationship with food early on. Whether you're feeding a baby or a toddler, one thing's for certain-the tasty snacks, meals and desserts in this book are sure to be a big hit with your tiny humans.

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Book SynopsisRecipient of the GardenComm Emergent Communicator Award for 2023: Acadia Tucker Regenerative farmer Acadia Tucker proves it’s possible to grow food without land. In this, her third easy-to-use gardening guide, Tucker describes how to cultivate bountiful container food gardens in pots, planters, and raised beds. Climate activist and farmer Acadia Tucker fell in love with container gardening after glimpsing its potential to produce food—lots of food. By applying select growing practices, and managing for square inches rather than square feet, she has come up with instructions for growing a small-scale farm on your patio, your stoop, or in your dining room. If what you want is a garden big enough to line a windowsill, she’s got you covered there. Her book, loaded with helpful illustrations, includes: Profiles of 21 container-friendly crops Recipes for cultivating potted farms Tips on finding the right container Information on designing for small spaces—and making food gardens beautiful Guidance on how to raise crops in pots all year long Tucker also describes how to maximize the environmental impact of growing food in pots. She offers tips on attracting pollinators, shows how to build microbe-rich living soil, and explains ways to ditch harmful pesticides and fertilizers. Her goal is to make it easier for anyone with access to a patch of sun to grow food, no backyard required.Trade Review"This book digs into the positive impact that even a tiny garden can have on your mental health, community food security, and local biodiversity. A great read for those interested in gardening, and not sure where to start."—Jes Walton, Green America"Acadia is an evangelist for the Earth."–Jill Cloutier, Sustainable World Radio"There is truly something for everyone in this book."—Meribeth Deen, Bowen Island Undercurrent“As home gardening continues to climb in response to COVID-19, farmer and environmentalist Acadia Tucker proves that readers do not need a backyard to grow their own food.”—Food Tank’s Reading List for Spring"Gardener extraordinaire Acadia Tucker provides those of us without much yard space everything we need for planting nutritious balcony crops, indoor container gardens, and lush green rooftop farms. More delicious climate-saving ideas from this inspirational farmer-writer."–Virginia Aronson, Director, Food and Nutrition Resources Foundation“The regenerative farmer and author, Acadia Tucker, is back with her third book—a guide to growing crops in a confined space. Inspired by the rise in popularity of gardening during the pandemic, Tiny Victory Gardens is full of suggestions, tips and recipes about the best types of produce to grow in containers. No outdoor space necessary. “—Modern Farmer"Tiny Victory Gardens is both a call to action, and DIY instructional guidebook for people who don't have much space, but want to make the most of what they have. Expertly written, exceptionally well organized, and thoroughly 'user friendly' in presentation."—Midwest Book Review"Whatever your motivation for container gardening, Tiny Victory Gardens is a resource worth exploring."—Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association"Everyone can grow food! Acadia Tucker provides a practical reference for growing a huge array of crops in small spaces. Useful charts and clear line drawings make this a user-friendly guide for anyone ready to try growing food in containers."—American Gardener Magazine, American Horticultural Society

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Book SynopsisGrow your own beautiful multilayered food forest in your own backyard. Pippa Chapman is an RHS trained gardener who designs, plants and maintains abundant, biodiverse, edible and beautiful forest gardens. Here she shares her practical tips for realistically transforming your own plot, whatever its size, and with limited time, money and resources. A forest garden doesn't have to be big; you can grow a productive edible paradise in pots and containers too. Pippa explains how to create multiple layers on a small-scale to maximise your growing area, using polycultures and guilds for healthy, low-maintenance food. She shares how to use perennials for structure and for year-round food, and how to incorporate flowers for beauty, wildlife and for the kitchen. Chapters on permaculture design and forest gardening give practical advice on how to plan and plant your own garden, with guilds and plant profiles to give real-life examples to help you get started. Useful tips on propagation and seed saving help keep plant costs low and a handy chapter on the soil-food web will help you understand your own soil and how to keep it healthy.

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Book SynopsisGrapes are the most popular and widely grown fruit in the world. From the tropics to Alaska, grapes will grow successfully in almost every climate. Whether you raise them for fresh eating, or for making wine, juice, or jellies and preserves, the right grapes will reward you with abundant crops for a modest investment of time and effort. Now for the first time comes a book for grape growers who wish to use organic growing methods to raise healthy, thriving vineyards in the backyard or on a small commercial scale. The Grape Grower distills the broad knowledge and long-time personal experience of Lon Rombough, one of North America's foremost authorities on viticulture. From finding and preparing the right site for your vineyard to training, trellising, and pruning vines to growing new grapes from seeds and cuttings, The Grape Grower offers thorough and accessible information on all the basics. The chapters on grape species, varieties, and hybrids are alone worth the price of a college course in viticulture. Technical information on the major (and minor) insect pests and diseases that affect grapes, as well as their organic controls, makes this book an invaluable reference that readers will turn to again and again. Rombaugh also provides a wealth of information on hardy but little-known grapes that are native to North America, and on a wide range of topics, including: pruning neglected or overgrown vines growing grapes on arbors and in greenhouses controlling animal pests in the vineyard bunch grapes and muscadine grapes for the South winter protection, and how to increase the hardiness of grapes creating your own new varieties Trade Review"A great how-to book. The only reference you need if you want to raise a few grape vines."--Rocky Mountain News "It would be difficult to find a book covering any aspect of growing grapes that is not included here."--Gardening Newsletter "Packed with useful information, this book benefits from the author's personalized writing style. Immensely enjoyable."--Choice MagazineTable of ContentsForeword: Seed Matters / Roger B. Swain 1. Structure of the Vine 2. Getting Started: Site, Soil, and Planting 3. Pruning and Training 4. Growing Grapes Organically 5. Diseases of Grapes 6. Insects of Grapes 7. Animal and Bird Pests 8. Propagation 9. Rootstocks 10. Varieties 11. Grape Species 12. Grapes in Cold Climates and the Tropics 13. Breeding Grapes

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