In common with other titles in this series, this volume describes the scientific principles that are the bases of crop production practices. This volume focuses on the leafy salad vegetables: lettuce, endive and chicory. It opens with a review of world production data, crop uses, botany, taxonomy and evolution. It then describes the genetics and breeding of the crop, including cultivar development and germplasm resources. Physiological aspects, such as germination, growth and development, are then discussed. Production methods worldwide, including growing under cover in protected environments, are reviewed, before consideration of harvesting and seeds, pests and diseases, and economics and marketing. The book is written by one of the world 's leading authorities on the subject and will be indispensable for advanced students and growers in horticulture.

There is a fantastic array of vegetables you can grow in your garden, and not all of them are annuals. In "Perennial Vegetables" the adventurous gardener will find information, tips, and sound advice on less common edibles that will make any garden a perpetual, low-maintenance source of food.
Imagine growing vegetables that require just about the same amount of care as the flowers in your perennial beds and borders--no annual tilling and potting and planting. They thrive and produce abundant and nutritious crops throughout the season. It sounds too good to be true, but in "Perennial Vegetables" author and plant specialist Eric Toensmeier ("Edible Forest Gardens") introduces gardeners to a world of little-known and wholly underappreciated plants. Ranging beyond the usual suspects (asparagus, rhubarb, and artichoke) to include such "minor" crops as ground cherry and ramps (both of which have found their way onto exclusive restaurant menus) and the much sought after, anti-oxidant-rich wolfberry (also known as goji berries), Toensmeier explains how to raise, tend, harvest, and cook with plants that yield great crops and satisfaction.
Perennial vegetables are perfect as part of an edible landscape plan or permaculture garden. Profiling more than 100 species, illustrated with dozens of color photographs and illustrations, and filled with valuable growing tips, recipes, and resources, "Perennial Vegetables" is a groundbreaking and ground-healing book that will open the eyes of gardeners everywhere to the exciting world of edible perennials.

This comprehensive new textbook takes a scientific approach to explaining the principles of modern conventional and sustainable commercial vegetable production. The book describes the basic botany of vegetables, environmental requirements for successful growth and development, mineral nutrition, field establishment, harvesting methods and post-harvest handling practices. Professor Gregory E. Welbaum is a former commercial vegetable grower whose family farm has been involved in crop production for several generations. He has taught both classroom and online vegetable crop classes at Virginia Tech for over two decades. Vegetable Production and Practices has been specifically designed to accompany courses in vegetable crop production, so is ideally suited to inspire students in crop and horticultural sciences, as well as provide a useful reference for experienced practitioners.

Let Paul and Robin, aka Two Dirty Boys, take you through the process of reusing items to grow plants from kitchen cuttings otherwise bound for the waste bin. Vegetables have the extraordinary ability to regenerate themselves without fertilization - even your everyday kitchen scraps. With step-by-step illustrations, this guide shows you how to grow twenty vegetables that are every bit as delicious as their first incarnations. Ranging from fruits and herbs that will sprout in a matter of days, to vegetables that will delight in later seasons, Regrown is an easy-to-follow guide to growing new plants, with a focus on repurposing produce found in any supermarket. The projects include everything from carrot tops and mushroom stalks to ginger, avocado and even pineapple, with tips on how to use them in the kitchen, too. Grow new plants from your cooking scraps - all you need is a jar and a tapful of water... then just let nature do its thing.

While the act of pruning is simple enough, knowing where and when to prune can confound even experienced gardeners. For more than half a century, Robert Sanford Martin's "How to Prune Fruit Trees" has been the go-to guide for pruners of all levels of expertise. As one reviewer noted, "This book simplifies what other books complicate. It has a small amount of text paired with line drawings that help break pruning tasks down into something you can easily understand." Martin has judiciously pruned his words to make his advice as clear and simple as possible. His guidance in the art of cutting back and thinning out has been responsible for the preservation of countless healthy trees and orchards. Maximize your fruit production-whether you are growing apples, almonds, plums, pomegranates, or any of over 40 varieties of fruit trees discussed in this book-by making the right cut every time.

In this enhanced edition, additional information from H. H. Thomas's "Pruning Made Easy" explores the treatment of roots, side shoots, sub-laterals, standards, cordon trees, and other aspects of plant care. Well illustrated and clear, this book will become your indispensable guide for year-round pruning success and should have a place in the library of both seasoned and amateur gardeners.

Through telling the story of the White House Kitchen Garden, Obama explores how increased access to healthful, affordable food can improve health for families across America with ideas on how to create community and urban gardens.

Exotic Fruits Reference Guide is the ultimate, most complete reference work on exotic fruits from around the world. The book focuses on exotic fruit origin, botanical aspects, cultivation and harvest, physiology and biochemistry, chemical composition and nutritional value, including phenolics and antioxidant compounds. This guide is in four-color and contains images of the fruits, in addition to their regional names and geographical locations. Harvest and post-harvest conservation, as well as the potential for industrialization, are also presented as a way of stimulating interest in consumption and large scale production.

Although urban allotment gardening dates back to the nineteenth century, it has recently undergone a renaissance of interest and popularity. This is the result of greater concern over urban greenspace, food security and quality of life. This book presents a comprehensive, research-based overview of the various features, benefits and values associated with urban allotment gardening in Europe. The book is based on a European COST Action project, which brings together researchers and practitioners from all over Europe for the first detailed exploration of the subject on a continent-wide scale. It assesses the policy, planning and design aspects, as well as the social and ecological benefits of urban allotment gardening. Through an examination of the wide range of different traditions and practices across Europe, it brings together the most recent research to discuss the latest evolutions of urban allotment gardening and to help raise awareness and fill knowledge gaps. The book provides a multidisciplinary perspective, including insights from horticulture and soil science, ecology, sociology, urban geography, landscape, planning and design. The themes are underpinned by case studies from a number of European countries which supply a wide range of examples to illustrate different key issues.

Whether you're looking to farm a balcony, backyard, an allotment or an acre, My Tiny Home Farm is bursting with ingenious ideas and savvy solutions to help you transform any plot or planter into a super smallholding. Visit a rooftop in Brooklyn, explore a Swedish koloni plot, and enjoy the harvest at an organic vineyard in England. The featured smallholders share their expertise, from growing fruit and veg and raising livestock to advice on establishing creative community spaces. Practical project ideas for potato buckets, hen baths, bee hotels and more will ensure your plot reaches peak productivity. Get inspired, let your imagination grow and enjoy your tiny home farm. Francine Raymond is an author and an expert on keeping chickens. She writes about her experiences for The Sunday Telegraph and Gardens Illustrated and blogs at www.kitchen-garden-hens.co.uk After a lifetime on an acre in Suffolk populated with hens and ducks, she now gardens a small town plot by the sea in Whitstable with the help of her grandsons and a few bantams.

Want to get into gardening? Wondering how to get started? Anxious that you won't know what to do? Have given up before, want to get started again? Want to improve your growing, yields and practices? This is the book for you. It takes you through all the most commonly grown vegetables and fruits in the context of Irish conditions. Learn from a gardener who has worked a garden since the 1940s as a child on his father's market garden, then as an adult home gardener and horticulturist, currently as an allotment advisor. This book combines the old and most recent knowledge in one easy-to-follow text. It's a book you'll consult over and over, through the wayward Irish seasons. Gardening for all situations

The invaluable resource for home food gardeners
Ed Smith's W-O-R-D system has helped countless gardeners grow an abundance of vegetables and herbs. And those tomatoes and zucchini and basil and cucumbers have nourished countless families, neighbors, and friends with delicious, fresh produce. "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible" is essential reading for locavores in every corner of North America

EVERYTHING YOU LOVED about the first edition of "The Vegetable Gardener s Bible" is still here: friendly, accessible language; full-color photography; comprehensive vegetable specific information in the A-to-Z section; ahead-of-its-time commitment to organic methods; and much more.
Now, Ed Smith is back with a 10th Anniversary Edition for the next generation of vegetable gardeners. New to this edition is coverage of 15 additional vegetables, including an expanded section on salad greens and more European and Asian vegetables. Readers will also find growing information on more fruits and herbs, new cultivar photographs in many vegetable entries, and a much-requested section on extending the season into the winter months. No matter how cold the climate, growers can bring herbs indoors and keep hardy greens alive in cold frames or hoop houses.
The impulse to grow vegetables is even stronger in 2009 than it was in 2000, when Storey published "The Vegetable Gardener s Bible." The financial and environmental costs of fossil fuels raise urgent questions: How far should we be shipping food? What are the health costs of petroleum-based pesticides and herbicides? Do we have to rely on megafarms that use gasoline-powered machinery to grow and harvest crops? With every difficult question, more people think, Maybe I should grow a few vegetables of my own. This book will continue to answer all their vegetable gardening questions.

Praise for the First Edition:
"In every small town, there is a vegetable garden that people go out of the way to walk past. Smith is the guy who grew that garden." Verlyn Klinkenborg, "The New York Times Book Review
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"An abundance of photographs . . . visually bolster the techniques described, while frequent subheads, sidebars, and information-packed photo captions make the layout user-friendly . . . Smith s] book is thorough and infused with practical wisdom and a dry Vermont humor that should endear him to readers." "Publisher's Weekly
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"Smith . . . clearly explains everything novice and experienced gardeners need to know to grow vegetables and herbs. . . . " "Library Journal
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"this book will answer all your questions as well as put you on the path to an abundant harvest. As a bonus, anecdotes and stories make this informative book fun to read." - "New York Newsday""

Start growing your own food at home! Whether you're an urban gardener, a first-time vegetable grower, or have your own allotment, this illustrated guide takes the uncertainty out of your harvest with clear, reliable gardening advice for every month of the year. This gardening reference guide is filled with gardening tips on growing everything from herbs and kale to strawberries and rhubarb. Inside, you'll find: - Month-by-month chapters that break down what to do through the year, with instructions on what to sow and plant and the gardening tasks to focus on - Visual galleries accompany every chapter that showcases the products that can be harvested during that month - Crop planners that provide a catalogue of more than 60 fruits, vegetables, and herbs that can be grown in an allotment or kitchen garden - "Allotment know-how" chapter that offers detailed, accessible advice on preparing your allotment, choosing the correct tools and equipment, and making the most of your plot with crop rotation - "Troubleshooter" chapter that breaks down the warning signs of pests, diseases, and disorders, with detailed advice on preventing and/or treating these issues Wondering how to grow your own fruits and vegetables or how to make the most out of your existing allotment? Allotment Month by Month has everything you need to know about how to grow your own fruit and vegetables: when to sow, how to cultivate, advice on pesticide use - and step-by-step garden projects like making a compost bin. With more than 60 fruit and vegetable crop planners, this gardening book is your go-to guide to growing fresh, seasonal produce in your kitchen garden, on your plot or in smaller city spaces. Month-by-month alerts help you guard against the season's garden pests and diseases to ensure a top-quality harvest. This new edition has updated recommendations for the best varieties to grow and all the latest expert gardening advice.

'A beautifully photographed guide for gardeners' - Daily Telegraph 'Nick offers solutions for every season' - Country Living 'A thought-provoking and beautifully written book' - Fergus Garrett, Head Gardener, Great Dixter In 365 Days of Colour in Your Garden BBC Gardeners' World presenter Nick Bailey shows you how to plant and manage your garden, whatever its size, to ensure year-round colour and interest. Initially explaining simple colour theory principles and how to apply them to your garden, the book goes on to highlight beautiful plants and planting combinations for every season no matter what type of garden you have. With chapters covering the longest flowering plants, pot recipes and gorgeous plants for difficult sites, along with a comprehensive seasonal directory, this book will inspire and delight both experienced gardeners and beginners alike.

Live sustainably with style - grow fruits and vegetables, cook them, create natural dyes, then make your own clothes with five full-size pattern sheets. Focused around five crops (blackberry, nettle, onion, red cabbage, and rhubarb) that can be foraged or grown in an allotment, planter, or container, Bella Gonshorovitz - fashion designer, dressmaker, and writer - shows you how to embrace a holistic garden-to-garment lifestyle. - Learn how to forage, sow, and harvest with straightforward grow guides - Enjoy your produce with advice on the best vegan pantry ingredients and recipes - Create natural dyes from your food waste to upcycle fabrics in beautiful seasonal shades - Transform your fabrics into five exclusively designed, essential pieces of clothing, including a shirt dress and duster coat Swap food waste and fast fashion for homegrown produce, delicious vegan dishes, and a contemporary capsule wardrobe with the help of Bella's friendly, accessible approach to sustainable living.

Like the idea of growing your own fruit, veg and herbs but don't have the room or energy? "Crops in Pots" is a user-friendly guide to getting a taste of self-sufficiency, growing wherever you can grab the space - whether it be your patio, balcony or window sill. Apart from the many joys of growing your own food, the benefits of container gardening are manifold: accessibility, portability, soil choice, easier pest and disease control...Find out how to get started and choose your pots, how to grow and harvest - including the most appropriate crops for small spaces, how to deal with problems and lots of great tips on how to be successful on a shoestring.

Did you know Avocados contain around 20 minerals and vitamins which are essential to good health? But a medium avocado contains more calories than a Mars bar? Who cares? They're delicious and can be used in everything from salad to soup. And make a fabulous face mask! Super Food: Avocado contains Feature spreads - covering the history of avocados, plus health benefits, how to use avocado to dye fabric and grow your own. Delicious food and drink recipes - from snacks, starters, mains and desserts. Enjoy a bacon and egg baked avocado with a mango, avocado and spinach smoothie for breakfast! Health and beauty recipes - make your hands beautiful with an avocado, olive oil and lemon treatment, or brighten dull skin with an avocado exfoliant. Food is super! There's all sorts of things you can do with fruit and veg - and not always what you'd expect. Whether it's cooking delicious dishes, looking after your teeth or making facepacks, there's all kinds of interesting, healthy uses for fruit and veg. Each book in the Super Foods series takes a look at one ingredient and shows a host of uses - both practical and delicious. The first books in the series are: Avocado, Cucumber, Pomegranate, Lemon, Beetroot and Coconut.

A colourful illustrated story about Elliot and his dad growing their own vegetables to make a delicious soup - and finding that a gardening adventure involves more than welly boots and sowing seeds. Digging for treasure, pirates, a friendly neighbour and hordes of wildlife intent on eating the crops. All for a small pot of broth... Dad suggests that Elliot can help in the garden to grow what they need to make a big pot of broth. Elliot, (aided by his mum, big sister and brother), sets out enthusiastically to give his dad assistance - clad, of course, in his welly boots, just like a proper gardener. But Elliot's good intentions begin to go astray as his imagination takes over from garden duties. Digging in the back garden leads to finding all sort of 'treasure', and he is soon picturing himself as a Victorian Gent complete with watch chain, a Roman Centurion, and a Pictish warrior. Helping Dad build the raised beds, Elliot becomes a pirate walking the plank. Weeds? These are dinosaur food. As the shoots begin to grow, they have hopes and dreams for a bumper harvest. And when the beans begin to sprout, Elliot pictures himself climbing a giant beanstalk. Elliot discovers the nest of a field-mouse, and when Robert Burns is duly quoted, we realise that the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley. As the garden flourishes, we discover that a variety of wildlife is just as interested in eating what is growing all around, as Elliot is. Perhaps this gardening project will not quite go according to plan ... To protect his crops from being is being eaten by the local birds, mice and rabbits, Elliot bravely volunteers to stand guard overnight in his homemade tent. Armed with his torch and a flask of cocoa, he soon finds the spooky noises of the evening send his imagination soaring again. The distant hooting owl, the cry of the fox, the cat rustling in the undergrowth - even the fluttering bats - quickly see him run for safety indoors. However with the garden protected by nets and windmills to scare off crows, the crops recover a little. The family harvest what is left to make the soup, including tiny beetroot, some thin-looking leeks and some wonky-shaped carrots. "They'll be fine once they're chopped up and in the broth!" declares Dad. Instead of the huge pot of broth that Elliot had imagined, there is just enough to fill their smallest pot. Dad remains upbeat: "Well, it's enough to give everyone a taste." However the day is saved by their next-door green-thumbed neighbour, who comes to rescue with an armful of carrots and leeks from her own garden. The family then gets busy cleaning the vegetables, chopping and stirring. The big pot is needed after all ... and Elliot sits down at last to enjoy his home-grown broth.

Permaculture is an ecological movement popular among farmers, homesteaders, and a growing number of home gardeners. It is a systematic and holistic approach to living that includes everything from beekeeping and raising chickens, to foraging and fermentation, and leads to a life rich in healthy food, comfortable and safe housing, and renewable energy and resources.

Practical Permaculture for Home Landscapes, Your Community, and the Whole Earth provides home gardeners with the skills they need to start their first permaculture garden or to further their current involvement in the practice. Jessi Bloom, the bestselling author of Free-Range Chicken Gardens and an ecological landscape designer, and permaculture expert Dave Boehnlein explain the basic principles and ethics of permaculture, show the entire design process from land assessment to the completed master plan, and offer detailed information on the plants, water, waste, energy, shelter, food, animals, and structures that make up the garden.

Illustrations and color photographs provide instruction, inspiration, and glimpses into working permaculture gardens throughout the world. This comprehensive and accessible guide is the ultimate reference for anyone interested in learning more about permaculture.