Drawn from and expanded on the bestselling Encyclopedia of Country Living, this is a complete manual for setting up a vegetable garden—whether it's just a few rows of lettuce or a year-round field that produces enough for a whole family to eat. This book is informed by years of hands-on experience and the wisdom gathered from a generation of homesteaders and small farmers. Starting with planning the garden (plot size, seasonal considerations, getting the most from a small plot) and laying it out (rows, beds, plowing), this book addresses the planning and growing issues for all North American climate zones. Gardeners need to understand (and love) their soil, and the Growing Your Own Vegetables explains it in simple terms, with advice on composting and testing for contamination (so important since this is going to be your food source!). Carla Emery was a very early advocate of gardening without chemical fertilizers, so the approach here is organic all the way. The large part of the book is the crop-by-crop guide to planting, cultivating, and harvesting the delicious vegetables we love to ear: onions, leafy greens, stems and flowers (rhubarb, artichoke, broccoli), roots (spuds, radishes, jicama), grasses & grains (just imagine: your own wheat field!), legumes, gourds, and the nightshade family (that would be tomatoes, peppers, eggplant).