The decline of cheap oil is inspiring increasing numbers of North Americans to achieve some measure of backyard food self-sufficiency. In hard times, the family can be greatly helped by growing a highly productive food garden, requiring little cash outlay or watering.
Currently popular intensive vegetable gardening methods are largely inappropriate to this new circumstance. Crowded raised beds require high inputs of water, fertility and organic matter, and demand large amounts of human time and effort. But, except for labor, these inputs depend on the price of oil. Prior to the 1970s, North American home food growing used more land with less labor, with wider plant spacing, with less or no irrigation, and all done with sharp hand tools. But these sustainable systems have been largely forgotten. Gardening When It Counts helps readers rediscover traditional low-input gardening methods to produce healthy food.
Designed for readers with no experience and applicable to most areas in the English-speaking world except the tropics and hot deserts, this book shows that any family with access to 3-5,000 sq. ft. of garden land can halve their food costs using a growing system requiring just the odd bucketful of household waste water, perhaps two hundred dollars worth of hand tools, and about the same amount spent on supplies - working an average of two hours a day during the growing season.
Steve Solomon is a well-known west coast gardener and author of five previous books, including Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades which has appeared in five editions.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Review: 4.5 / 5.0
"Detailed, Valuable Advice"
"Fascinating crankiness"
"Self obsessed author who talks down to his readers"
"The only gardening book you need"
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Detailed, Valuable Advice:
Gardening When It Counts is truly a book for our times. There's already a well-deserved buzz about this book among home gardeners I know. For one thing, it firmly refutes the supposed advantages of mulch gardening. In the burgeoning nationwide return to growing our own vegetables, it's important to produce the most food for the least amount of effort and expense, and this book offers the very advice we need. The author is a Master Gardener from whom beginners and experienced gardeners alike can learn much.... more info
Fascinating crankiness:
This is a serious manual for subsistence gardeners. Steve Solomon differentiates himself from "everybody else" and the result is a no nonsense guide delineating the right way to get maximum yield from a piece of land using organic methods. He has no time for hobbyists, so this book is meant for those who are really trying to feed themselves from their gardens. I really appreciate the advice here, but for a light read, I would stick with Barbara Damrosch, who provides good advice in a more light-hearted way.
Self obsessed author who talks down to his readers:
I would give this book zero stars if I could. I am so surprised this book has such high ratings. First, the author can not stop himself from talking down to his readers, and making himself appear as he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Half the book is about how great he is and how "Everybody Else" is stupid and worthless. This is the most negative book on gardening I have ever read. I do not recommend this book at all.
The only gardening book you need:
I've read so many gardening books, but this is the only one you really need. It is full of useful information you'll never see anywhere else. However, much of the important information is buried in the narrative and is not easy to find again, so mark those pages as you read.
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