Bio-activated charcoal — called biochar — is the new darling of organic gardeners, embraced for its outstanding abilities to enrich the soil and improve plant growth. Gardening with Biochar is the first comprehensive guide to understanding, making, and using it effectively in the home garden. In this highly accessible handbook, long-time garden writer Jeff Cox explains what biochar is and provides detailed instructions for how it can be made from wood or other kinds of plant material, along with specific guidelines for using it to enrich soil, prevent erosion, and enhance plant growth. Now widely available at garden centers, biochar is also being lauded for its ability to sequester carbon in the soil, making it good for the health of the planet, as well as the plants.
Showcases one hundred fifty perennials of proven performance sure to live up to their catalog descriptions and offers advice on selection and cultivation
The country’s leading expert on organic food delivers the ultimate guide to the new culinary health movement—feasting on fermented probiotics, from artisanal cheese to kimchi. In his extensive career as a bestselling cookbook author and TV garden-show host, Jeff Cox has always been keenly aware of the microbiology that helps his garden flourish. He has long known that microbes keep our bodies healthy as they ferment food, releasing their nutritional power and creating essential vitamins and enzymes. In The Essential Book of Fermentation, Cox shares a bounty of recipes for nourishing the internal “garden.” Simplifying the art and science of fermentation, Cox offers a primer on the body’s microbial ecosystem, complemented by scrumptious recipes, and easy-to-follow pickling and canning techniques. Basics such as bread and yogurt help readers progress to wine, cheese, and a host of international delicacies, including kim chi and chow chow. Inspiring and innovative, The Essential Book of Fermentation serves up great taste along with great health on every page.
This affordably priced shopper's guide, derived from The Organic Cook's Bible (Wiley, 4/2006), gives consumers essential, easy-to-follow guidance on what makes organic food preferable and worth the extra money. The book is organized by food item (over 100 foods total in chapters on Vegetables; Fruits, Beans and Grains; Nuts and Seeds; Meat, Fish, Dairy and Eggs; and Kitchen Staples) in clear, easy-to-use entries, with at-a-glance_information on Season, Good Varieties, Nutritional Highlights, What to Look For, Storage and Preparation Tips, and Goes Well With (suggesting complementary flavors), followed by larger sections on a food's Organic Advantage (i.e., why to buy organic) and Uses, plus other informational tidbits. Accompanying the entries are 100 recipes showcasing the flavor and freshness of organic food. Further enhancing the book is a front section giving a detailed overview of organics, and an extensive Sources section in the back.
From your garden to your table, and every step in between, this lovely ebook will guide you through planting, growing, harvesting, and cooking herbs. There's a visual index of 120 culinary herbs and more than 30 delicious recipes to make with them. You'll be able to prepare your own salad dressing, marinades, flavored butter, pesto, herbal teas, and cordials, and add seasoning to your favorite meals. Whether you have a vegetable garden or want to fill some plant pots or window boxes, this book provides all the advice you need to start growing herbs. It gives you beneficial information on which herbs do well in different environments and situations. Learn the groups of herbs that like to grow together and create different selections like Mediterranean, everyday essentials, and salad herbs. Become an expert gardener with this compendium of herb cultivation. You'll find out when to plant the seeds and how to nurture them as they grow. There's helpful advice on how to keep pests away. Once you have harvested your herbs, learn the different ways you can store them for future meals, like freezing or drying them. Try your hand at the recipes to experience and enjoy the wonderful herbs you've grown. This library of herbs includes notes on their flavor and partner charts, which tell you which herbs go well with different dishes and drinks. You will know the best places to use your herbs and how to make exciting things with them. Master Gardener to Master Chef This is an essential ebook for anyone who wants to spice up their dinners with more flavor, make refreshing drinks, or learn how to partner with different flavors. Enjoy this special kind of recipe ebook that will help you create your own herb garden, so that every herb you use in the kitchen, you have the pleasure of growing it yourself. An especially thoughtful gift for the gardener or chef in your life. - 120 different culinary herbs, with stunning photos and clear descriptions. - Four sections with advice on how to plant, nurture, harvest, store, and cook with these herbs. - More than 30 recipes for hot and cold drinks, condiments, dressings, and many sensational meals.
Winner of the American Horticultural Society Award for Excellence In Garden Book Publishing Winner of the Silver Medal for Best Reference from the Garden Writer’s Association Filled with advice for the home gardener and the more seasoned horticulturist alike, The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Seed Saving provides straightforward instruction on collecting seed that is true-to-type and ready for sowing in next year’s garden. In this comprehensive book, Seed Savers Exchange, one of the foremost American authorities on the subject, and the Organic Seed Alliance bring together decades of knowledge to demystify the time-honored tradition of saving the seed of more than seventy-five coveted vegetable and herb crops—from heirloom tomatoes and long-favored varieties of beans, lettuces, and cabbages to centuries-old varieties of peppers and grains. With clear instructions, lush photographs, and easy-to-comprehend profiles on individual vegetable crops, this book not only teaches us how to go about conserving these important varieties for future generations and for planting out in next year’s garden, it also provides a deeper understanding of the importance of saving these genetically valuable varieties of vegetables that have evolved over the centuries through careful selection by farmers and home gardeners. Through simple lessons and master classes on crop selection, pollination, roguing, and the processes of harvesting and storing seeds, this book ensures that these time-honored traditions can continue. Many of these vegetable varieties are treasured for traits that are singular to their strain, whether that is a resistance to disease, an ability to grow well in a region for which that crop is not typically well suited, resistance to early bolting, or simply because it is a great-tasting variety. In an age of genetically modified crops and hybrid seed, a growing appreciation for saving seeds of these time-tested, open-pollinated cultivars has found a new audience from home vegetable gardeners and cooks to restaurant chefs and local farmers. Whether interested in simply saving seeds for home use or working to conserve rare varieties of beloved squashes and tomatoes, this book provides a deeper understanding of the art, the science, and the joy of saving seeds.
Conscious foodies will love this easy-to-follow guide on creating garden-to-table meals—with tips on growing and storing your own harvest, plus delicious recipes From sinking a seed into the soil through to sitting down to enjoy a meal made with vegetables and fruits harvested right outside your back door, this gorgeous kitchen gardening book is filled with practical, useful information for both novices and seasoned gardeners alike. Grow Cook Eat will inspire people who already buy fresh, seasonal, local, organic food to grow the food they love to eat. For those who already have experience getting their hands dirty in the garden, this handbook will help them refine their gardening skills and cultivate gourmet quality food. The book also fills in the blanks that exist between growing food in the garden and using it in the kitchen with guides to 50 of the best-loved, tastiest vegetables, herbs, and small fruits. The guides give readers easy-to-follow planting and growing information, specific instructions for harvesting all the edible parts of the plant, advice on storing food in a way that maximizes flavor, basic preparation techniques, and recipes. The recipes at the end of each guide help readers explore the foods they grow and demonstrate how to use unusual foods, like radish greens, garlic scapes, and green coriander seeds.
Offers the elements of garden design necessary for an organic program, as well as companion plant ideas, cultivation and troubleshooting, fun extras such as rose recipes, and a timely organic perspective.