Pleasant - Starter vegetable gardens: 24 no-fail plans for small organic gardens

Food gardens can be as pretty as they are productive. Including colorful flowers looks great and attracts butterflies and bees as well as scores of pest-eating beneficial insects such as lady beetles.

This book is intended to be of endearing value to three groups: new gardeners ready to jump into food gardening with both feet, experienced gardeners who are coaching new gardeners, and seasoned greenies who can grow prize-winning roses or peonies but are stumped on the fine points of growing a gourmet salad garden. In pursuit of this goal, the book is divided into three parts.

New gardeners are often told to start small, but how exactly is that done? The first section of this book takes the confusion out of this process by showing planting plans for three different Growing Gardens, each of which starts very small and simple and gradually expands to approximately double its initial size over a three-year period. Check out all three Growing Gardens if youre having trouble visualizing how a robust food garden can fit in your yard. Each uses a different soil-building strategy to transform underutilized space into a fertile new garden.

The Easy-Care Bag Garden is sized for one or two people to plant and maintain, and it starts out with a no-dig approach: bags of potting soil arranged on top of lawn grass or untilled earth. At maturity, it supports two dozen delicious food plants.

A Bountiful Border uses design principles borrowed from formal flower borders, with emphasis on building superior soil through deep digging. These balanced planting plans are ideal for gardeners who prefer the order that comes with formal style.

The Front-Yard Food Supply transforms a small front yard into a beautiful tapestry of colorful beans, tomatoes, and chard. Eye appeal is built in from the first season, and soil quality improves as the beds receive regular helpings of compost and mulch. As the garden evolves, there are plenty of opportunities to add personal touches with handmade trellises and artful accessories.

For Growing Garden graduates and other experienced gardeners who simply want to enjoy plenty of great garden food, garden plans. Designed for short-, moderate-, and long-summer climates, these plans make the most of regional crops with proven track records for delivering great results.

Every passing gardening season teaches me new things, so learning to be a better gardener is not the exclusive turf of beginners. Thats the double-duty goal of may give experienced growers new insights into the world of bugs.

As you get to know your climate, site, and soil, youll encounter certain challenges, be they drought, disease, or stubbornly infertile soil. Reacting to problems gets old fast, so instead this section invites you to build your gardening skills, which will improve your ability to prevent many problems and manage them better when they do occur. Explore the practical possibilities here, whether youre installing your first soaker hose in the .

Choosing strong varieties is vital to growing a healthy garden. Can you simply buy packets of seeds off the rack at the store? (Yes.) Or should you order seeds from a specialty seed company? (Yes, there too.) But whether youre stocking up on cheap seeds, ordering gourmet or historical strains, or looking for a variety to address a specific problem, be sure to check out . In these pages, I review the best old and new varieties for your garden. Read before you buy, and youll be several steps closer to finding the perfect varieties for your garden.

When youre just getting started, sometimes you can feel a bit confused about precisely what gardening terms like cover crop, hardening off, and intercropping mean. Dont let the lingo discourage you! If you encounter unfamiliar words or phrases in the instructions for planting a garden, turn to Basic Gardeners Lingo starting on page 169 to learn whats what.

Finally, this is meant to be an idea book, so should not be missed. There youll find lists of the garden plans in this book keyed to your wants, needs, and whims. If food gardening doesnt feel like fun, these lists may lead you to think in new directions as you look at all the uncharted territory you have yet to explore. In gardening as in life, there is always something new to learn.