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 ...
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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.
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Add this copy of Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times to cart. $9.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Diamond rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by New Society Publishers.
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New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 360 p. Mother Earth News Wiser Living, 5. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Fine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 360 p. Mother Earth News Wiser Living, 5. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
This is by far the most helpful and informative book in my collection. It addresses the nuts and bolts of gardening and the success and failures we all face as gardeners.
I would highly recommend this book for not only the novice but also the seasoned gardener.
Kim G
May 22, 2013
Blew me away!
I picked up this book from the library, and was glued to the pages. It answered questions that I had NEVER found an answer to in any other gardening book. For example - did you know there is such a things as too much compost? I didn't . Turns out, adding too much compost to your soil reduces your vegetables' nutrient content, and also, here in the Pacific NW, will create the perfect environment for symphylans. I had seen symphylans before, but didn't know what to do about them, nor what they were actually harming. It also turns out that all the plants that I thought were "easy to grow" in my garden are ones that symphylans don't like, and many of the "hard to grow" ones are favorite symphylan snacks. All this time, I thought I just didn't know how to grow those other plants very well. thankfully, the author explains what to do about them.
Another "lightbulb" moment for me was when the author explained the finer points to seed saving and keeping seed genetic purity. This is way more complicated than I realized, and gave me a great appreciation for seed breeders.
I've bought this book for several friends now, and will continue to give it as a gift to other gardeners. Before reading it, I never realized how many times I'd been gardening much harder and less efficiently than I could. The author really cares about thriftiness and affordability, and it's clear that he takes his "splurges" very seriously. I really appreciated his writing style, as well as all the stumpers he answered for me. Now I know why my hoeing didn't work as efficiently as it should have been. :-)
