Essential Guide to Organic Vegetable Gardening - Techniques and Know-How for Planning, Planting, and Tending a Home Vegetable Garden Organically -

Description

From the foremost authority in American gardening comes a must-have handbook for home gardeners who want a productive organic vegetable garden. In their first new book in over two decades, the American Horticultural Society offers indispensable insight into growing a modern edible garden at home, regardless of whether home is in the desert Southwest, the Midwestern plains, or on the shores of New England. Starting with a unique look at the history of vegetable gardening in North America, from indigenous cultures to Victory Gardeners to today’s biodiversity-nurturing growers, AHS Essential Guide to Organic Vegetable Gardening then digs into everything you need to know to cultivate a successful and productive vegetable garden without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers . Includes advice on: - Choosing the best design and planting style for your site, from raised beds and row gardens to matrix plantings and food forests - Deciding which varieties to plant, from heirlooms and ancestral selections to modern hybrids - Fostering resiliency in the face of weather extremes, invasive pests, and other challenges - Nurturing the garden as an ecosystem to preserve and protect soil life, pollinators, and other wildlife - Conducting at-home soil assessments for compaction, biological activity, texture, and drainage - Caring for the garden using natural techniques and products, including pinching, pruning, staking, fertilizing, and pest and disease control The new American vegetable garden is a place of beauty and productivity with a diverse selection of edible crops and flowers that create a haven for plants, pollinators, and people as they fill your kitchen with flavor and nutrition . Whether you’re a new garden lover or a long-time veggie grower, AHS Essential Guide to Organic Vegetable Gardening has the science-based information you need to overcome today’s gardening challenges and cultivate success . Also included in this series is AHS Essential Guide to Perennial Gardening and AHS Essential Guide to Ecological Gardening.