Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs: A Bountiful, Healthful Garden for Lean Times

191 pp. Start and maintain a small garden—whether you live in the city, suburbs, or out in the country! Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs is your complete guide to a vegetable gardening system for busy people who want to save money and grow fresh, healthy produce. Like the Victory gardens of World War II, food gardens planted in sunny back or side yards provide families with nourishing, delicious food at a fraction of the cost of buying it at a grocery store. Throughout this book, you will learn how to grow wholesome, cost-effective food by practicing responsible gardening. Explore photographs and detailed descriptions for planting, maintaining, and harvesting the most common vegetables, fruits, and herbs for maximum yield and enjoyment. Over 70 plant profiles provide essential statistics, growing instructions, continuing care facts, and harvesting tips. This book's 192 pages will help any aspiring gardener avoid the disappointment of failure with your first food garden or expand your existing garden and grow even more! Today, many families are looking for ways to reduce costs and to eat healthier, fresher, better-tasting food. Take pride in providing food for your family, friends, and community that's free of contaminants and tastes worlds better than shipped in produce. Inside this beginner-friendly gardening guide, you'll find tips on preparing your soil, the ideal times to plant in your area, fertilizing, weeding, mulching, nonhazardous pest and disease control, and much more. Learn how to recognize soil types, how organisms in the soil aid plant growth, and how to treat your particular type of soil to up peak productivity. Discover the ease and efficiency that sturdy, sharp tools like hoes, spading forks, shovels, spades, pitchforks, and rakes can add to your gardening routine. With over 70 plant profiles, you'll find ideal planting dates, conditions, methods, harvesting tips, and more for a variety of vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Featured crops include bok choy, asparagus, beans, beets, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, chayote, collard greens, mustard greens, sweet corn, kale, endive, kohlrabi, leeks, various lettuce types, melons, okra, onions, peas, sweet bell peppers, hot chili peppers, potatoes, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb, soybeans, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips, apples, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, currants, figs, grapes, kiwi, peaches, pears, pawpaws, raspberries, strawberries, arugula, basil, chives, cilantro (aka coriander), dill, fennel, garlic, lavender, lemon balm, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, summer savory, tarragon, thyme, and more! Reduce your grocery costs and eat healthier, fresher, better-tasting food, with Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs!