Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Vegetable Gardens, or, Where Cabbage is King!

Like a general planning the next sortie, this time of the year, gardeners are planning their vegetable gardens. Nursery catalogs are spread out and studied, time is spent pacing around the yard with paper and pencil, and chairs are even drawn to the windows so the eager gardener can further study the landscape. Some of the most interesting and amusing gardens that I’ve visited have include a border of spinach, a run of beets or even a flurry of lettuce – right along the sidewalk by the front door. Savvy gardeners have discovered ways to meld and incorporate the traditional vegetable garden with the home’s landscaping. Recent news about the White House vegetable garden will hopefully encourage people to plant a row of peas, a strip of squash or even a ribbon of radishes. Short on space or time? Consider creating several compact container vegetable gardens. These are some of the resources in the Sterling Morton Library that will help the home vegetable gardener:

  • The American Horticultural Society encyclopedia of gardening, 1993.
  • Bartholomew, Mel. Square foot gardening, c1981.
  • Bartley, Jennifer R. Designing the new kitchen garden : an American potager handbook, 2006.
  • Bradley,Fern Marshall. Vegetable gardening : from planting to picking : the complete guide to creating a bountiful garden, c2006.
  • Bubel, Nancy. The new seed-starters handbook, c1988.
  • Chambers, David. Vegetable gardening, 1994.
  • Coleman, Eliot. The new organic grower : a master's manual of tools and techniques for the home and market gardener, 1995.
  • Creasy, Rosalind. The complete book of edible landscaping, c1982.
  • Crockett, James Underwood. Crockett's victory garden, c1977.
  • Harris, Linda D. Growing seeds! : starting from scratch, c1999.
  • Heffernan, Maureen. Burpee seed starter : a guide to growing flower, vegetable, and herb seeds indoors and outdoors, c1997.
  • Kitchen gardens : beyond the vegetable patch, c1998.
  • Kite, L. Patricia. Gardening wizardry for kids, c1995.
  • Lerner, Carol. My backyard garden, 1997.
  • Nardozzi, Charlie. Vegetable gardening for dummies, c1999.
  • Ogden, Samuel R. Step-by-step to organic vegetable growing,1971.
  • Pavord, Anna. The new kitchen garden, 1996.
  • Salad gardens : gourmet greens and beyond, c1995.
  • Taylor's guide to vegetables & herbs, 1987.
  • Weaver, William Woys. Heirloom vegetable gardening : a master gardener's guide to planting, growing, seed saving, and cultural history, 1997.

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