read "my" chapter in Groundbreaking Food Gardens

Rustik Magazine has published an excerpt of Niki Jabbour's new book Groundbreaking Food Gardens on their website. The except is about MY old garden - my shady urban garden! I can reminisce about all the fun I had there.

Here's the link: "Turning a shady backyard into an urban food garden".

looking forward to an exciting new garden book....

Garden writer Niki Jabbour (Author of The Year Round Vegetable Gardener, 2012 American Horticultural Society Book Award winner) has put together a brand new book. Its titled Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden. It includes plans from really interesting food gardens - AND ... one of them is MINE! (ah, well, Skippy's, I should say...)

Our section is titled "Urban Shade Garden". It includes a beautiful diagram of my garden plan drawn by an artist. And Niki's write up after interviewing me. I've seen the copy of my section and I love it. Can't wait to see the rest of the book. It has a March release date set - I think towards the end of the month.

Here's a link to her first book review. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is the most versatile, user-friendly, practical and absolutely gorgeous food growing manual I have ever seen!" Wow, sounds super!

books for beginning gardeners?

Does anyone have a good book to recommend for a beginning gardener? I got a nice email from Julie who is planning to start a garden and is looking for a good resource.

Hey Kathy, I'm fairly new to gardening and I'm feeling a little confused about where to start learning about it. I plan to start a garden this spring in my parents backyard and I'm trying to educate myself on the basics of this subject as fast as possible. Don't want to totally mess it up :) Could you recommend any sources to study? If you could only use one book on gardening what would that be for you? ps. I'm planning on raising edible foods in my garden

a nice gardening book

Timberpress sent me a copy of a new book that I really enjoyed reading. "Sugar snaps and Strawberries" by Andrea Bellamy.

Its about small-space edible gardening and has really nice photos of container gardens. Great photo (page 46) of a garden planted in an old canoe! Nice section (page 58) on building raised beds. And (page 67) a chart of "the dirty dozen": 10 fruits and vegetables that consistently test highest for pesticide residues. They include kale, potatoes and spinach. Makes me glad to know I grow these at home. A nice book for a new gardener or an old one - to sift thorough as we wait for the gardening season.

pickles!!

My first try at making pickles! They are yummy. I made the recipe called Famous Back Eddy House Pickles from the book Quick Pickles by Chris Schlesinger and others. This book has lots of similar recipes and I'm hoping to try more of them soon. I like pickle recipes that use a mix of vegetables, in addition to cucumbers. I added beets (striped Chiogga's) to the recipe, which darkened my brine.

gift for a friend

This is a beautiful book that I was given to review. It has wonderful pictures and seems perfect for my friend and her very young girls who are budding gardeners. I also gave them broccoli and pea seeds, since broccoli is their favorite vegetable. They are container gardeners with a rooftop patio, so I'm interested to see how these will do for them. Its time to plant both now!

The Family Kitchen Garden: How to Plant, Grow, and Cook Together (link)
By Karen Liebreich, Jutta Wagner, and Annette Wendland
(Review copy from Timber Press)

book review: What's Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?) by D. Deardorff and K. Wadsworth

Another very nice book that Timber Press sent me for review.

What's Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?) by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth, is a brand new gardening book. Lots of step-by-step drawings of how to figure out what's wrong with your plants.

First thing I did was to check on all the vegetable problems I've had recently. This kept my busy for a long time. Corn ear worms, apple maggots, late blight, Septoria leaf spot, slugs, ... This book is a wealth of very helpful information. Pictures of everything. And all organic solutions. Flow charts lead you from the problems to the solutions.

I love the photo of an apple tree with small paper bags all over it covering the fruit! A perfect solution for my apple pests. I'll use this method this year for my apples, as bags are easier to get than the knee-hi stockings I used before. (Hopefully my little pear tree will have fruits for me to bag this year too.) I'm also looking forward to trying beneficial nematodes for the corn ear worms. And I'm studying the slug section very carefully.... And reading about mason bee nests to increase pollinators....

In addition to step-by-step identification, drawings and photos, the book has complete background and explanation on diseases, plant conditions, plant parts and proper growth conditions.

Best of all is the book's message: "Above all, do no harm." Don't leap to a conclusion that your plant is dying and needs a toxic chemical sprayed on it. Instead, study it carefully and figure out the symptoms. Then identify the problem and apply a safe organic solution. Sometimes this means watering differently, or improving drainage. Maybe more or less sun. And sometimes you need to try a a series of solutions and then resort to a chemical. Organic approved chemicals are included.

You can find the book here.

a FANTASTIC book: Designing the New Kitchen Garden by J Bartley

I'm really enjoying reading this book. Every word. Its wonderful.

Who would have thought a book on designing the New Kitchen Garden would start way back with medieval gardens? And that garden history would be so fascinating? The drawings of courtyard gardens are detailed and beautiful. Jennifer Bartley is a wonderfully creative and inspiring writer.

I'm enjoying the lists of plants grown in different types of gardens. Medicinals and herbals from monastery plots. Always ready for new (and old!) ideas for next year's garden, I'm imagining an officinalis section with borage, hyssop, lavender, lemon balm and rosemary.

I love the lessons Bartley brings - "that our garden would be a source of pleasure and healing to those that visit us." And the gardener of course. The possibility of balancing spirit, soul and body by nurturing an oasis that provides beauty, a haven of restfulness and fresh authentic food. Of the garden as a "workshop". Of the potager not as a plot hidden in the corner of the backyard, but as a central feature, an all-season landscape. Herbs, vegetable and flowers even in the front yard of the most exclusive neighborhood.

Bartley's photos are beautiful: rhubarb grown to blanch in tall willow baskets with nasturtiums trailing over the edges. Old espaliered fruit trees next to young rows of greens. Companions, structures, plans and lists. I may read this five or six times. It is a rich and full book for gardening at many levels. Outlined guidelines, garden principles, plants list and diagrams. A true inspiration for the new potager.

Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager Handbook by Jennifer Bartley

Thanks to Timber Books for sending me a free copy of this book for review.

botany of desire - on PBS yesterday

I set the time and date on my calendar. And it was a great show.

I read the book "Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan, a while ago. A very good read. And the show on PBS was very good also. Lots of exciting information and footage - for a gardening fanatic anyway.

I wrote down a few things that struck me:

"What are the chances that we'd have the same sense of beauty as a bee? Smell, color, symmetry..." Definitely true. Also taste. Not much that's better than honey!

On tulips: "Flowers are exquisitely useless." Now there's a non-bee speaking. And someone who don't need the pleasure of beauty.

I did like to hear potatoes described as "exciting".

The Irish potato famine of 1740, caused by Late Blight spreading rapidly in Irish fields planted almost exclusively with a single variety, lasted 3 years. I hope our Late Blight episode in New England is more short-lived. And hopefully it won't spread outside of New England. I didn't know that the most popular variety in the US is the Russet Burbank, the variety McDonald's prefers. Its planted almost exclusively in Idaho's fields. The big tubers with very high sugar content make long perfect fries. Next year, I'm looking forward to trying some blue varieties. Its exciting to hear about the biodiversity of potato fields in Peru.

vegetable gardening books to read

I have a big pile of edible gardening books that Timber Press sent me. I am looking forward to sitting back and reading all of these. Nothing like a good gardening book on a cold winter day.

edible front yards

I got an email I thought was interesting: someone is looking for front yard garden stories for a book. I love to see vegetable gardens in the front yard!

For this new edition of the book (Metropolis Books, 2008) we are
looking for more reports from across the country from those that have
decided to engage in "full frontal gardening". Have you replaced the
lawn in front of your house or apartment building with a completely
edible garden? We will be selecting one garden story from each zone,
with each contributor receiving a copy of the book. Questions and
submissions: assistant@fritzhaeg.com

We will need:
- a 500 word story about your garden
- 4 or 5 photos of your garden at the highest resolution (include the
street or sidewalk in one)
- your name, mailing address, size of garden, date established, and
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone
http://www.fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/edibleestates/2010stories.html

a gift from my mom

My mother gave me an old copy of The Oxford Book of Food Plants, published in 1969. (She found it at a library book sale for $1.) I love the old drawings of vegetables. The ones above are the squashes. They look like the Delicata that I just collected seeds from.



garden gifts

winter reading

Here is my bookshelf. I bought most of these back in the fall when it started to look like winter was coming after all.

Unfortunately, I'm an incredibly slow reader. I pick up a book and by the time I figure out where I left off, I fall asleep. I've been reading Micheal Pollen's Omnivore's Dilemma" forever now. It seems a steamy romantic novel should follow this.... Don't see any of those on this shelf. Oh well. Not sure which I will pick up next.

gardening books

Earlier this winter I had a surprise email from a publisher. It turns out I sold my first photograph. (Yeahh!!!!) The publisher found the photo at my Flickr site. I'm not even sure what photo it is but it shows plants mulched with salt marsh hay. The photo is now in a paperback book titled "Complete Guide to Perennials (Miracle Gro)".

Since I'd like to see my picture, I'm ordering a copy. I'd also like to order another gardening book. What's the best gardening book? (Ordering gardening books seems like a nice wintertime "gardening" activity).

The best selling "gardening" book on Amazon is "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle". I've already read that - I didn't really need a lecture about why to grow my own food - I'd prefer a nice how-to book.

So my picks were "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible" by Edward Smith. Also "Great Garden Companions: A Companion-Planting System for a Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden" by Sally Jean Cunningham. I'm looking forward to reading these. Are there any great gardening books I'm missing?