Anybody who knows both Austin and I, knows that Austin is the real gardener. He's the one who plants things, and it just works. I plant things and... well, it's getting better. :)
My friend Halvey wants to know what a good gardening book is, so I did the natural thing, and asked Austin. Here are his recommendations:
*Four Season Harvest by Elliot Coleman
*Ruth Stout's No-Work Gardening Book
*Weedless Gardening by Lee Reich (according to Austin, this one is the best)
As soon as Austin suggested these two books, I realized he's trying to make converts into our way of gardening. Of course, these books are good how-to manuals, but they also have a lot to say about the philosophy behind a certain way to do gardening (no tilling, few inputs other than compost/mulch, etc.). I'm not sure there IS an unbiased gardening book, because at some point one book is going to say "now you go and dig up a bed": and our book is going to say "now you're NOT going to dig up the bed."
What is our gardening system? Last year we established a dozen fixed, permanent, semi-raised beds, with paths in between. From now on, no human foot is going to step on those beds and compact them. From now on, we're not going to unnecessarily mess with the soil structure in those beds (apart from the specific act of planting/harvesting) and adding lots of good compost on top. We won't till our garden every season. We plant in beds, not rows, so we don't follow all the spacing requirements on little seed packages. And we suppress weeds by thick mulch/compost layer, not by chemicals.
Regardless of what you decide a good system is, the above books are good reads. It is pretty amazing what Elliot Coleman does for eating fresh out of his garden throughout the four seasons, even in Maine.
Oh, and good luck, Halvey!
