This month we take a look at a garden book from a few different perspectives . Three of our reviewers fromGarden Therapy Book Clubjoin us to share their thoughts onThe Year - Round Vegetable Gardener : How to Grow Your Own Food 365 Days a Year , No Matter Where You Live .
Sam Philipsis a pardner ofVictory Gardens , a Vancouver , BC , business who helps people farm their own food ! The team atVictory Gardenslooks ahead transforming front yards for food production , facilitating active workshop , such as : “ Grow Your Own Pizza ” , providing education and planning tools for the new urban farmer to turn what they use up and much more . maturate what you use up !
Mimiis a novice urban nurseryman survive in a New York City borough , document her adventure in gardening atgardening in the borough of nyc . She gardens by trial and error , seeing what work on and what does n’t and learning from her nonstarter . Her goal is to develop her own organic vegetables , fruit , works , trees and flowers and seek to recycle , re - use , conserve wherever she can .
Zoeis a full prison term task is a Dietitian , but her full clock time love is crafting , sewing , quilting and creating beautiful handcraft point . She has a Passion of Christ for home cooking and growing food to eat from her own garden in Kansas . She writes about it all atScout ’s Stitches .
~
Overview ofThe Year-Round Vegetable Gardener
surface-to-air missile : Based off of the Nova Scotia coast , Niki Jabbour has written a comprehensive guide to year - round horticulture that can be utilized by gardener from an array of geographical regions . This book is utile to not only the beginner gardener , but also an experienced nurseryman who perhaps has n’t amply delved into wintertime gardening . The Year - Round Vegetable Gardenerstresses not only methods for wintertime gardening , but how to utilize row covers and cold frames to get a jump on warm - season crops as well . Niki Jabbour covers planting in turn , intensive gardening , and crop rotation in an easy to understand way .
First Impressions
Zoe : I like the book . It presented the information in an organized way and explained the advantage and disadvantages of the unlike devices used to extend the growing season . Even for someone who is not quite quick to give to year round gardening there was a mickle of utilitarian information . Some of the surgical incision I found most utilitarian were planting technique to improve your crop , craw rotation maps , and the section that looked at what varieties of vegetables thrive better in coolheaded or warm seasons .
surface-to-air missile : While I must hold that the covering is not the most center - catch , some of the photos inside the book are quite stunning ; one photo that put up out for me is an image of freshly harvested , malicious gossip - covered carrots lying on a bed of white snowfall . It conveys H.M.S. Bounty even when it ’s barren outside .
Sam : The layout is very comprehensive , which is built-in . My personal favourite was Niki ’s chart on serial planting . The chart lays out the crop ’ average 24-hour interval to harvest , if the crop is a repeated or single harvest , planting season , time between plantings , and type of ecological succession planting . Planting in turn and timing is the samara to reproducible harvest !
Cold Climate Gardening
Mimi : I’ve been gardening in the borough of New York City for the last 3 years and I often wondered how I could keep arise vegetable well into the late drop and winter . Upon reading the book , I was so impressed with the techniques that Niki was using to extend her growing time of year . She garden far North of me , in Nova Scotia , Canada , and she was harvesting cool conditions vegetable well into the snowy winter . If she can do it that far north , I figured I have no apology not to do it in zone 7 . Some of the techniques she uses to protect plant from the insensate weather condition elements are words covers , cloches , dusty material body , mini hoop tunnels , and greenhouses . Many of the techniques are cheap and easy .
Sam : horticulture throughout the colder time of year has its advantages ; for example , Niki Jabbour points out that there are few pests to make out with . What ’s the large advantage to cold-blooded season horticulture ? Having the gratification of harvest beautiful greens out of a cold frame for dinner in the winter ! Niki is a VERY generative nurseryman . Not only this , she accept the steps to making it easy for her readers .
Zoe : There are many things I learned from this Holy Writ . Some of the main things I will be bear more tending to in the future is using cloches or water filled cloche on my former institute tomatoes and pepper in case there is a late frost . We have had it happen a couple years where we establish early and then a late frost belt down all of our Lycopersicon esculentum . Another pourboire from the book was to pay attention to which diverseness of plants are bred to grow advantageously in coolheaded ground versus warm reason . This is something I will set forth to pay up attending to so that I can maximise harvest time in whichever season I am growing .
Project: Interplanting (p. 30) rating: TBD
Zoe : I did n’t technically examine “ a project ” from the book , as we have been work on one major project for the garden this spring- a beautiful fencing to keep the cervid out !
Project: Hoop House (pg. 36) rating: 5/5
Sam : I want to speed up the germination of my arugula , mustard , Japanese radish and lettuces , so I made hoop house over my raise beds . All it took was some rebar ( 4 back on the edges per side of a 4 by 6 bed ) , 4 pieces of ¾ ” PVC conduit piping slash to my desired length that I fit out over top , and some row cover that I stretch over top and weighted down with rocks . The intellect I used dustup natural covering is because the rainwater can get through , there is good wet retention , and there is still expert air circulation .
Niki notes that you’re able to use the row cover on its own , laying it over your crops with enough slack for growth , but I like the aesthetic of a neat hoop house . Also , depend on the season , I can swop the row covering for a warm poly . Some more finespun crops also get “ chafed ” if the course screening is laid on top of them . call up to install a basket house long before insects will be a job , and guarantee the bottom tightly so they ca n’t creep on through . The ring house not only speeds up germination by increasing the temperature 2 degrees Anders Celsius , it keeps out the birds !
Project: Cloches (p. 42) rating: 5/5
Mimi : An easy technique that Niki uses are cloches , which are dome influence mini greenhouses that you put over individual flora , often made from plastic or ice . you’re able to buy fancy cloche , but an inexpensive DIY method acting is to re - use charge card juice bottles , soda bottle , milk containers or dome forge food containers like the form you get with a rotisserie crybaby take - out .
Project: Cold-Frame (p. 45) rating: 5/5
Mimi : The one proficiency that I was most interested in was the cold-blooded frame . In Niki ’s book , start on page 45 , she describes different case of inhuman frames from portable to permanent structures . Since I already have raise beds in the garden , I plainly added the window physical body on top of the raise bed so that it could insulate the bed and lying in wait in the sunlight to warm up the soil and seedlings .
During mid - day when the Lord’s Day is out , you could prop up the window receptive to allow for some ventilation . It ’s also great if you put a flexible joint on the edge of the window and corner to assure the windowpane in post and to grant you to well open and close it .
I ’m so thankful and honour that these awe-inspiring gentlewoman took the time to share their view on the book and show off some of the projects they tested . They have collectively give us a exhaustive idea of the sheer amount of great information inThe Year - Round Vegetable Gardenerand some insight as to the kind of task you could expect .
To memorize more about howSamcan help you Grow What You wipe out ! please visitVictory Gardensfor individualize help with starting your very own vegetable garden no matter what space you have . They will even institutionalise you reminders on when to institute veggies by e - mail !
To check out the eco - consciousMimiin her quest for a green 2012 , visit her atgardening in the borough of nycand revelry in all her great estimation on how to reduce her carbon footprint . She is such an intake !
To follow the wildly creativeZoein her crafty adventures , make indisputable you check out her web log , Scout ’s Stitches . From April 25 - 30 be indisputable to check out How Does your Garden Grow gardening serial publication witha particular Edgar Albert Guest post from yours truly .
need to get ahead a copy ofThe yr - Round Vegetable Gardener ? insert by will a scuttlebutt below before April 25 . Get incentive entranceway by twinge this postal service or sharing on Facebook and come back here to let us know you did . repugn now closed . extolment to the winner : George !
Share this post:
