There is no way this small book could provide all the information you need if you want to make vegetable gardening a serious business for your family’s well-being and economic survival. I hope you will go on to read all the books listed below, many of the books listed in the bibliographies of those books, and so on.
Books
Albrecht, William A. The Albrecht Papers. Acres, U.S.A., 1976. Four volumes. The first two volumes are the most valuable. In print. The Soil and Health Library (see under “Online Resources” below) also provides a large collection ofWilliam Albrecht’s writings that is just about as useful as the Acres collection.
Bubel, Mike and Nancy. Root Cellaring: The Simple No-Processing Way to Store Fruits and Vegetables. Rodale Press, 1979. In print.
Coleman, Eliot. The Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long. Chelsea Green, 1992. In print. Coleman lives in Maine, where winter is wintery and then some, and grows winter salads and other items in the snow.Need I say more?
Dufour, Rex.“Farmscaping to Enhance Biological Control” [online]. A pest management systems guide from ATTRA, December 2000. <www.attra.org/attra-pub/PDF/farmscaping.pdf>
Faulkner, Edward H. Plowman’s Folly. Grosset & Dunlap, 1943. May be read online at the Soil and Health Library.
Henderson, Peter. Gardening for Profit: A Guide to the Successful Cultivation of the Market and Family Garden. Orange Judd Company, 1882. May be read online at the Soil and Health Library.
Hills, Lawrence. Russian Comfrey: A Hundred Tons an Acre of Stock Feed or Compost for Farm, Garden or Small-holding. Faber & Faber, 1953. May be read online at the Soil and Health Library.
Howard, Sir Albert, and Yeshwant D.Wad. The Waste Products of Agriculture: Their Utilisation as Humus. Oxford University Press, 1931.The best book ever done on composting.May be read online at the Soil and Health Library.
Howell, Dr. Edward. Enzyme Nutrition: The Food Enzyme Concept. Avery, 1985. Understand why to become a vegetableatarian. An earlier version, now out of print, may be read online at the Soil and Health Library.
Jeavons, John. How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine. Ten Speed Press, numerous editions between 1974 and 2002. Half a million copies have been sold; I consider this book misleading. In print.
Jenkins, Joseph. The Humanure Handbook. Jenkins Publishing, 1999. Available in print through the usual sources of retail trade. Because Jenkins wrote this book primarily as an act of service, it is also available for free download from many websites.
Krasil’nikov, N.S. Soil Microorganisms and Higher Plants. Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Moscow), 1958. Translated in Israel by Dr. Y. Halperin. There is no better introduction to the complexities going on under your feet. Quite readable.May be read online at the Soil and Health Library.
Koepf, H.H., B.D. Petterson, and W. Schumann. Bio-Dynamic Agriculture: An Introduction. Anthrosophic Press, 1976. The second-best book ever written on composting.May be read online at the Soil and Health Library.
Magdoff, Fred, and Harold van Es. Building Soils for Better Crops. 2nd ed., Sustainable Agriculture Network, 2002. As of 2005, available for free download at <www.sare.org/publications/index.htm/>.
Managing Cover Crops Profitably. A cooperative writing effort organized by the Sustainable Agriculture Network, USDA Agricultural Library, 1998. As of 2005, available for free download at <www.sare.org/publications/index.htm/>.
Oliver, George Sheffield. Friend Earthworm: Practical Application of a Lifetime Study of Habits of the Most Important Animal in the World.Oliver’s Earthworm Farm School, 1941.May be read online at the Soil and Health Library.
Pfeiffer, Ehrenfried. Soil Fertility, Renewal and Preservation. Faber & Faber, 1947. May be read online at the Soil and Health Library.
Poisson, Leandre and Gretchen. Solar Gardening: Growing Vegetables Year-Round the American Intensive Way. Chelsea Green, 1994. I do not agree with their ill-considered intensive spacing recommendations or their derogation of extensive systems as “non-productive,” but this book does introduce many interesting structure-based season extenders that are useful where the snow flies in winter.
Solomon, Steve.Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades. 5th ed., Sasquatch, 2000. In print. The fourth edition (1988) is also quite good. I do not recommend my first three editions.
“Vegetables Without Vitamins” [online]. Life Extension Magazine;March 2001. <www.lef.org/magazine/mag2001/mar2001_report_vegetables.html>.
Weaver, John E., and William Bruner. Root Development of Vegetable Crops. McGraw Hill, 1927.May be read online at the Soil and Health Library.
ATTRA. Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas is the national sustainable agriculture research service funded by the USDA.Good folks here. <www.attra.ncat.org/>Cooperative Extension Services. Those from the states of North Carolina <www.ces.ncsu.edu/>, Louisiana <www.lsuagcenter.com/>, and New York <www.cce.cornell.edu/> provide the largest range of the most carefully considered online materials as of 2005.
Soil and Health Library. A free online public library offering a collection of classic holistic farming and gardening books and articles, most issued prior to 1960.The serious student of holistic farming or gardening would be wise to read every title in this online resource. <www.soilandhealth.org/>
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education.Offers a substantial collection of topical books for free download. <www.sare.org/>