How to Grow More Vegetables, Eighth Edition: (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine
I am an urban farmer and a Master Gardener. I use this book as a reference more than any of the more than 25 other books I have on the subject of growing fruit & vegetables. The sheer volume of practical information in this book is amazing. It includes not only how to prepare the soil, but at what temperature specific seeds are able to germinate. This means you don't have to plant things several times to get a crop, because you just check the soil temperature and you know whether the seeds will germinate or not. It gives you charts that tell you how close together you can plant each vegetable, how much harvest you can get from a 100 sq. ft. bed, how long it takes a particular vegetable to grow to harvest size, how long the harvest period is for a particular crop, and on and on. It makes suggestions on crop rotation, so that you maintain the fertility of your soil and continue to maximize your harvest. It also gives you suggestions about how much of each crop one person would likely eat in a year, so you know how much to plant. The companion planting suggestions are great. I used to have trouble with tomato worms. Now I plant tomatoes with Calendula, Basil & Borage and no more tomato worms. My tomatoes grow 7-8 feet tall and I have gotten 35 lbs of tomatoes off one tomato plant.
Eloise Martindale
