Book: Gardening When It Counts

We really enjoy books on sustainable living, and for several years have worked to enlarge our library. Some books you need to read once and then give away to others, or perhaps not even purchase, but just read from your local library.

Other books are excellent resource materials, that you will use time and time again. These books I think every homesteader needs to own. The first such title, is: Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Solomon.

This book is well written, and the author meets his goal of reducing gardening down to what you need to know to be able to be self-sufficient in growing food for your family. The read was a bit like talking with a grandpa and hearing him say "Son, this is what you really need to pay attention to". The tone is not condescending, but neither is the author uncertain of what he is presenting.


Following are the book contents:

1. Introduction
2. Basics
3. Tools and Tasks
4. Garden Centers
5. Seeds
6. Watering... or not
7. Compost
8. Insects and disease
9. What to grow... and how to grow it.
10. Bibliography

Highlights that I enjoyed:

1. A table of vegetables ordered in columns of how hard they are to grow. p. 16
2. How to create your own Complete Organic Fertilizer. p. 20
3. Sharpening garden tools. p. 44
4. Obtaining quality seed. p. 97
5. Chitting seeds. p. 124
6. Plant spacing tables based on watering goals. p. 148
7. Analysis of various composts. p. 192
8. A sawdust collar protecting brassicas from root maggots. p. 232
9. Plant variety needs and root diagrams. p. 239