Gardening Reference

I have to give THE KITCHEN GARDEN GROWERS’ GUIDE by Stephen Albert a 5-star rating! I was delighted to get my copy of this thorough and knowledgeable vegetable and herb gardening guide (400 jam-packed pages, but not so big I can’t actually take it into the garden with me). I have to admit there are a few gardening questions I can’t answer. But when it comes to the vegetable garden, this book has brought all of the answers together in one place. Here’s what I’ve found in this book:
* Planting, growing, harvesting, storing, and preparation details for 80 different vegetables and herbs. There are more plants listed here than any other vegetable gardening book I own. Seriously, it’s all in this book. Things like each plant’s form, height, breadth, root depth, bloom time, season and climate requirements, and soil requirements. Details on seed and transplant planting depth, germination and growing soil temperatures, days to germination and maturity, sowing time, transplanting time, plant spacing, water and light requirements, how to feed and fertilize, crop rotation, propagation, greenhouse growing, and container growing. All of that before you even get to harvest, storage, and kitchen preparation suggestions.
* Each plant is listed alphabetically by common name, but there is a second table of contents which lists each plant alphabetically by its botanical names. (Not to mention, the name of each plant is also listed in Spanish, French, German and several other languages.) In the index, I could find plants cross-referenced by common and scientific names. Now, I can finally understand exactly what I’m getting from the seed catalogs and talk to that lady at the garden center who always uses horticultural names.
* There’s a beautiful identifying photograph and description to go with each plant. You could frame these photographs. Now I can finally identify salsify and sorrel at the market.
* Harvest and storage details and suggestions for using each plant in the kitchen.
* All of the measurements in this book are given in both standard and metric conversion. I can actually send this book as a gift to friends living outside of the United States.
* An appendix with a chart of first and last frost dates and the number of days in the growing season for 228 cities in the United States and Canada, and growing charts for the rest of the world.
* A glossary of plant and gardening terms, an index, and a bibliography of other helpful books. The glossary is one of the most complete I’ve ever seen: very useful!
This isn’t a big coffee table book; it’s a book I can actually carry with me into the garden.
The author is Stephen Albert and he has gardened all around the country, in Massachusetts, Florida, Iowa, and now in California. He’s actually grown all of these plants in real gardens. At the end of the book he even gives his email address so I can ask questions about my first attempt at salsify. I give THE KITCHEN GARDEN GROWERS’ GUIDE 5-stars and a golden garden trowel salute.

I’m a city vegetable gardener and have just a small garden along with several containers on a porch. I grow all the vegetables I can for eating fresh–what this book calls a kitchen garden. This book surveys so many plants and gives so much detail. It’s easy to find your way around–very organized. Beyond the information and suggestions, this book is pretty–the photos are very interesting and not what I expected. I am preparing my porch containers for planting soon and am having fun using this book to decide on some new vegetables and herbs. I would recommend this as an excellent reference source for beginners and also experienced gardeners.

I just received this book as a gift and I absolutely love it. I live in Mexico where I have a small warm-weather vegetable garden year round. This book is filled with great information that I can use right away. The book has dozens and dozens of entries for vegetables, herbs, and small fruits. The information is presented simply and methodically so that you can find the answer to any vegetable gardening question in seconds. Each vegetable has a section on basic gardening requirements, where to plant, sowing and planting directions, varieties to choose from, growing directions, seasonal care including watering and pests and diseases, harvest and storage information, and brief kitchen suggestions. Very useful is a section which gives the name of each plant in several languages, including Spanish–which you don’t find very often. I don’t have a big collection of garden books, but this is one I will be usingI just received this book as a gift and I absolutely love it.