Read It and Eat
With the recent tidal wave of interest in growing edibles, it's no wonder that a bounty of new books on the subject has hit the shelves
By Jenny Andrews
Photo by: Jon Whittle
In addition to the can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-in-the-dirt inspiration, these books have a healthy helping of solid information on every aspect of growing edibles, including such topics as compost, worms, seed sowing, harvesting, preserving, plant selection, pests and even recipes. With all these experts at your side, what are you waiting for? The sooner you get started, the sooner you can enjoy the harvest.
Photo by: Jon Whittle
One of the best we've perused is Grow Great Grub: Organic Food From Small Spaces by Gayla Trail (Clarkson Potter). Trail, who is the brains behind yougrowitgirl.com, proves that produce can be produced in any situation, however unlikely, from coffee cans on a windowsill to rubble-strewn backyards. Her inspiration: a bucket of potatoes growing on her grandmother's tiny balcony in Toronto.
Photo by: Jon Whittle
Another newcomer in Cico's Green Home series is Creating Your Backyard Farm by Nicki Trench. Embracing the full circle of life, this book covers everything from fruits, vegetables and herbs to bees and chickens! (Trench calls her egg-laying hens "pets that deliver.")
In keeping with the concept of there's no space too small for growing things you can eat, two books show you how to take container gardening to a new level: the latest addition to Cico Books' Green Home serioes, Grow Your Own Herbs in Pots by Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell and ...
Photo by: Jon Whittle
Easy Container Combos: Vegetables & Flowers by Pamela Crawford (Color Garden Publishing) -- one of our favorites
Photo by: Jon Whittle
Even if you've never grown so much as a tomato in your life, it's not too late to learn. To help you get a leg up, check out Starter Vegetable Gardens by Barbara Pleasant (Storey Publishing).
Photo by: Jon Whittle
The Beginner's Guide to Edible Herbs by Charles W.G. Smith (Storey Publishing) is another good starter guide.
Another good starter guide: Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs: A Bountiful, Healthful Garden for Lean Times by Jim Wilson (Creative Homeowner).
Photo by: Jon Whittle
Despite its very general title, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Year-Round Gardening by Delilah Smittle and Sheri Ann Richerson (Alpha) is indeed edibles and is another good introductory guide.
Photo by: Jon Whittle
Pay Dirt: How to Make $10,000 a Year From Your Backyard Garden comes from micro-farmer and small businessman John Tullock (Adams Media). Look here for gardening, marketing and selling strategies, as well as specific plant information that willl show you how to turn a plot of land into a profitable resource. Tullock encourages readers to think beyond the farmers market and on to direct sales to local restaurants, selling cut flowers, packaging and more.
Photo by: Jon Whittle
So you are ready to carve out a potager but don't know where, or how, to start? The Vegetable Gardener's Book of Building Projects by the Editors of Storey Publishing contains 39 projects from building a compost bin to raised beds to get you started. And most of the projects do not require any previous woodworking experience.
While the beautifully illustrated catalogue of over 150 culinary herbs and their varieties will introduce herbs you never knew you wanted to know, The Cook's Herb Garden by Jeff Cox and Marie-Pierre Moine (DK Publishing) will inspire many a tasty dish and bring your entire kitchen garden to life on the plate. Learn which herbs will grow best in your conditions, how to harvest and store, and how to assemble a window box that is both beautiful and practical. Plus, there are plenty of delicious recipes to get you cooking from your herb garden right away.
Seriously, i>Eat Your Yard! (Gibbs Smith) has to be my favorite title for a book. Nan K. Chase proves you can have a beautifully landscaped property and eat it too. Find 35 edible plants that perform best as ornamentals in your garden design and are delicious ingredients in your kitchen. Learn culinary uses for the harvest from fruit and nut trees while also learning how how to mix the ordinary with the exotic in your garden design.
Turned off by fruit picked before it's ripe and flown hundreds, if not thousands, of miles before it ends up on your market's shelves? Grow Fruit by Alan Buckingham (DK Publishing) gives foolproof, easy-to-follow advice for beginners that makes picking a ripe, still-warm-from-the-sun piece of fruit seem like a real possibility. By following Buckingham's instructions, anyone can be harvesting and eating their own blackberries, plums, pears, apricots, redcurrants, melons, figs and more. Yum-my.
Carol Klein shares at least a dozen reasons why we should want to grow our own vegetables in just the first few pages of her book Grow Your Own Vegetables (Mitchell Beazley/Octopus USA), co-written with contributing editor Fiona Gilsenan. The authors break down space, soil, choosing the right plants for the climate, composting, drainage, watering and irrigation, overcoming pests and weeds and planting. The book is also well illustrated, and includes tips for planting, growing, harvesting and cooking over 40 favorite vegetables.