The Truth About Organic Gardening

The Truth About Organic Gardening PDF

Author: Jeff Gillman

Publisher: Timber Press

Published: 2008-02-01

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1604690054

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Gardeners tend to assume that any organic product is automatically safe for humans and beneficial to the environment—and in most cases this is true. The problem, as Jeff Gillman points out in this fascinating, well-researched book, is that it is not always true, and the exceptions to the rule can pose a significant threat to human health. To cite just one example, animal manures in compost can be a source of harmful E. coli contamination if imporperly treated. Gillman's contention is that all gardening products and practices—organic and synthetic—need to be examined on a case-by-case basis to determine both whether they are safe and whether they accomplish the task for which they are intended. Ultimately, Gillman concludes, organic methods are preferable in most situations that gardeners are likely to encounter. After reading this eye-opening book, you will understand why, and why knowledge is the gardener's most important tool.

Organic Manifesto

Organic Manifesto PDF

Author: Maria Rodale

Publisher: Rodale Books

Published: 2010-03-16

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1605291587

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Rodale was founded on the belief that organic gardening is the key to better health both for us and for the planet, and never has this message been more urgent. Now, with Organic Manifesto, Maria Rodale, chairman of Rodale, sheds new light on the state of 21st century farming. She examines the unholy alliances that have formed between the chemical companies that produce fertilizer and genetically altered seeds, the agricultural educational system that is virtually subsidized by those same companies, and the government agencies in thrall to powerful lobbyists, all of which perpetuate dangerous farming practices and deliberate misconceptions about organic farming and foods. Interviews with government officials, doctors, scientists, and farmers from coast to coast bolster her position that chemical-free farming may be the single most effective tool we have to protect our environment and, even more important, our health.

Your Organic Garden with Jeff Cox

Your Organic Garden with Jeff Cox PDF

Author: Jeff Cox

Publisher: Rodale Books

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780875966243

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Offers advice on how to grow a chemical free garden with information on choosing the right plants, seed starting, and maintenance techniques.

The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables

The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables PDF

Author: Ben Hartman

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1603586997

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At Clay Bottom Farm, author Ben Hartman and staff practice kaizen, or continuous improvement, cutting out more waste--of time, labor, space, money, and more--every year and aligning their organic production more tightly with customer demand. Applied alongside other lean principles originally developed by the Japanese auto industry, the end result has been increased profits and less work. In this field-guide companion to his award-winning first book, The Lean Farm, Hartman shows market vegetable growers in even more detail how Clay Bottom Farm implements lean thinking in every area of their work, including using kanbans, or replacement signals, to maximize land use; germination chambers to reduce defect waste; and right-sized machinery to save money and labor and increase efficiency. From finding land and assessing infrastructure needs to selling perfect produce at the farmers market, The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables digs deeper into specific, tested methods for waste-free farming that not only help farmers become more successful but make the work more enjoyable. These methods include: Using Japanese paper pot transplanters Building your own germinating chambers Leaning up your greenhouse Making and applying simple composts Using lean techniques for pest and weed control Creating Heijunka, or load-leveling calendars for efficient planning Farming is not static, and improvement requires constant change. The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables offers strategies for farmers to stay flexible and profitable even in the face of changing weather and markets. Much more than a simple exercise in cost-cutting, lean farming is about growing better, not cheaper, food--the food your customers want.

Four-Season Harvest

Four-Season Harvest PDF

Author: Eliot Coleman

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2012-02-28

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 160358207X

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"Eliot is the reason I’m cooking. . . . I’ve followed that path because Eliot made it possible, and exciting, to farm in the four seasons."—Dan Barber, chef "There is hardly a more well-known or well-respected name among organic farmers than Eliot Coleman."—Civil Eats Learn season-extending techniques and eat the best food—garden fresh and chemical free—all year long, with little effort or expense. If you love the joys of eating home-garden vegetables but always thought those joys had to stop at the end of summer, this book is for you. Eliot Coleman introduces the surprising fact that most of the United States has more winter sunshine than the south of France. He shows how North American gardeners can successfully use that sun to raise a wide variety of traditional winter vegetables in backyard cold frames and plastic covered tunnel greenhouses without supplementary heat. Inside, you’ll also learn: Composting techniques Simple Mineral Amendments Planning and preparing your garden site Seeds for four seasons How to build cold frames, high tunnels, and mobile greenhouses How to cope with snow How to create a root cellar and other storage techniques And much, much more! Coleman expands upon his own experiences with new ideas learned on a winter-vegetable pilgrimage across the ocean to the acknowledged kingdom of vegetable cuisine, the southern part of France, which lies on the 44th parallel, the same latitude as his farm in Maine. This story of sunshine, weather patterns, old limitations and expectations, and new realities is delightfully innovative in the best gardening tradition. Four-Season Harvest will have you feasting on fresh produce from your garden all through the winter. "The man, the farmer, the legend, is Eliot Coleman."—The Atlantic To learn more about the possibility of a four-season farm, please visit Coleman's website www.fourseasonfarm.com.

The Truth About Garden Remedies

The Truth About Garden Remedies PDF

Author: Jeff Gillman

Publisher: Timber Press

Published: 2008-02-01

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1604690070

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Can beer make plants grow? How about buttermilk? Or music—classical or rock? Are you sure about planting trees in deep holes? And how about chasing insects with hot sauce and stopping slugs with eggshells? Whether in ancient books, on television, or in gardening publications, remedies for all your garden woes are here for the taking: the challenge is to know what will work and what won't. Fearlessly conducting original experiments and harvesting wisdom from the scientific literature, horticulturalist Jeff Gillman assesses new and historic advice and reveals the how and why‚ and sometimes the why not‚ for more than 100 common and uncommon gardening practices. The results will surprise even experienced gardeners.

The Winter Harvest Handbook

The Winter Harvest Handbook PDF

Author: Eliot Coleman

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1603580816

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Celebrated farming expert Coleman continues to lead the way in organic gardening, pushing the limits of the harvest season while working his world-renowned organic farm in Harborside, Maine.

The Backyard Parables

The Backyard Parables PDF

Author: Margaret Roach

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Published: 2013-01-15

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1455518239

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Margaret Roach has been harvesting thirty years of backyard parables-deceptively simple, instructive stories from a life spent digging ever deeper-and has distilled them in this memoir along with her best tips for garden making, discouraging all manner of animal and insect opponents, at-home pickling, and more. After ruminating on the bigger picture in her memoir And I Shall Have Some Peace There, Margaret Roach has returned to the garden, insisting as ever that we must garden with both our head and heart, or as she expresses it, with "horticultural how-to and woo-woo." In The Backyard Parables, Roach uses her fundamental understanding of the natural world, philosophy, and life to explore the ways that gardening saved and instructed her, and meditates on the science and spirituality of nature, reminding her readers and herself to keep on digging.

Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening

Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening PDF

Author: Fern Marshall Bradley

Publisher: Rodale Books

Published: 2018-01-30

Total Pages: 720

ISBN-13: 1635650992

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Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening has been the go-to resource for gardeners for more than 50 years, and the best tool novices can buy to start applying organic methods to their fruit and vegetable crops, herbs, trees and shrubs, perennials, annuals, and lawns. This thoroughly revised and updated version highlights new organic pest controls, new fertilizer products, improved gardening techniques, the latest organic soil practices, and new trends in garden design. In this indispensable work you will find: • Comprehensive coverage for the entire garden and landscape along with related entries such as Community Gardening, Edible Landscaping, Horticultural Therapy, Stonescaping, and more • The most in-depth information from the trusted Rodale Organic Gardening brand • A completely new section on earth-friendly techniques for gardening in a changing climate, covering wise water management, creating backyard habitats, managing invasive plants and insects, reducing energy use and recycling, and understanding biotechnology • Entries all written by American gardeners for American gardeners, with answers for all the challenges presented by various conditions, from the humid Deep South and the mild maritime coasts to the cold far North and the dry Southwest Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening has everything you need to create gorgeous, non-toxic gardens in any part of the country.

The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control

The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control PDF

Author: Fern Marshall Bradley

Publisher: Rodale Books

Published: 2010-02-02

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 1605296775

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With growing consumer awareness about the dangers of garden chemicals, turn to The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control (by Fern Bradley) as the most reliable and comprehensive guide on the garden shelf. Rodale has been the category leader in organic methods for decades, and this thoroughly updated edition features the latest science-based recommendations for battling garden problems. With all-new photos of common and recently introduced pests and plant diseases, you can quickly identify whether you've discovered garden friend or foe and what action, if any, you should take. No other reference includes a wider range of methods for growing and maintaining an organic garden. The plant-by-plant guide features symptoms and solutions for 200 popular plants, including flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs, and fruits. The insect-and-disease encyclopedia includes a photo identification guide and detailed descriptions of damage readers may see. The extensive coverage of the most up-to-date organic control techniques and products, presented in order of lowest impact to most intensive intervention, makes it easy to choose the best control.