Veggie gardening book

[schmism]

looking for a good veggie gardening book.

Perhaps to include various methods of putting veggies up for long term... canning, freezeing etc.

a breakdown of various gardenging styles.....

what veggies go well with others, dont plant your xyz next to your abc....

standard rural garden size 2000-5000 sq feet.

 

[Bird]

Your local county extension agent should have a lot of good literature. And as long as I lived in the country and was growing a garden, I bought a new copy of The Old Farmer's Almanac every year. There's a lot of interesting information in it.

 

[AndyMA]

You may want to check here:

Amazon.com: vegetable gardening


Andy

 

[archerynut]

I have this book:
Amazon.com: The Vegetable Gardener's Bible: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Regions: Books: Edward C. Smith

I would recommend it. It gives some good standard info. The author has his own ideas on the right way to do things. I don't necessarily agree with all of them but it helps fine tune some idea that you have. There is another book that I have that is an encyclopedia of vegetables, fruits, bugs, and diseases that is really good. Can't find it right now, I will have to get back toyou with that one.

 

[Harvster]

For storing and canning I'd highly recommend the book entitled [Putting Food By]. It's a great resource, simple and to the point.

 

[schmism]

You may want to check here:

Ya i can google "vegi book" just like anyone else, picking something "good" out of the thousands of hits is the hard part.

So anyone else with some personal experience with a book they liked?

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I like the book Carrots Love Tomatoes it is a book on beneficial/detrimental relationships between plant species.

 

[schmism]

I like the book Carrots Love Tomatoes it is a book on beneficial/detrimental relationships between plant species.

ya i had heard about that one before... its on my list....

i think im about to put my order in from amazon for Easter

 

[PhilNH5]

Schism,
I have a bunch of gardening books. The Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening is hands down the best.

It covers all aspects of gardening - companion planting, timing, harvesting, compost, soil, pest control. Even if you are not organic this book will be useful. You can get it at Product: Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening
My copy is dog earred from referring to it so much.

For preserving your harvest I would recommend Ball's Blue Book. I have always considered it to be the bible of canning. You can see this at Homecanning.com

For all around useful information I love Amazon.com: The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book: Books: Carla Emery

It is my "go to" book for many gardening questions. It is really about homesteading but is useful for the home gardener.

I would give up all of my other gardening books if I could keep these three.
Phil

 

[HRS]

schmism, I've gardened for going on 10 years now. One of the best I've found, I've actually read it twice now, is the same recommended by Archerynut. The Vegtable Gardener's Bible is very good. I applied some of his suggestions for raised beds last year and was amazed by the results. My results were so good that I was invited to speak with some of our local Master Gardeners. I do not hold this title myself, but using this book will help you achieve master results. As for which veggies go together, etc. It is all in there. Buy it. It's worth the cost.

 

[archerynut]

Now I remember the other book that may be of interest to you. It's called Carrots love tomatoes. Heres the link to Gurneys website that always ahs it for sale, you can find it cheaper oter places though.
CARROTS Love TOMATOES - Gurney's Seed & Nursery

It is a guide of how to plant companion plants. For instance if you put plant A next to plant B you will have better results for XYZ reason. Some solid facts in this book, I tried some of it last year and it really did work. I had less pests on some plants and other plants flourished. It is a good way to diagram how you garden will grow.

 

[thingy]

I got my book in my head,,wife does the canning,,she used one of those kerr canning books before she got it all down,,,whata wanta know,,,how to plant corn,,beans,onions tators,cucs?,,how to make pickles,sour kraut,,?,,how to can beans or freeze corn on the cob? It would be alot funner argureing about all those things than reading an old book!
I'm getting ready anytime now,to plant tators,red and white,,,,onions,lettuce,carrots,radishes,spinich,,,,thats about all you can plant here now,,it was 82 degrees yesterday and today,,so,,very warm for this time of year here. thingy

 

[HappyCPE]

Carrots love tomatoes is a good book, add my vote.

My favorite, not exactly about veggies, is here:
Amazon.com: You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise: Books: Joel F. Salatin
maybe not exactly what you're looking for but an excellent book, and often quoted in the farm seminars put on by Rutgers and NOFA.

 

[dmccarty]

When I read the subject my first thought was go to your state extension office for info. The NC state website has some very good information and its what we are using to base our garden size.

Then I read the posts and checked out the books as well as reviews. Very interesting.

The one thing that caught my eye was Companion Planting. So I googled. I'll be busy reading for awhile. Its free and in my "hands" now.

Sunday spread another 30 yards of composted "soil". The garden is a raised bed 45x25. We started with roughly 12x36 last year. Next year I'll put in retaining wall blocks to finish the raised bed off and likely add another 20 yards of soi. One end is kinda "shallow". The NC extension article said that a 42x25 garden should keep a family of 2 in veggies for a year. Course that assumes we can grow anything.

Later,
Dan