“Empowers readers with a toolkit of traditional and sustainable practices for an emerging artisanal crafts movement, and a brighter future.” —Alice Waters, chef and owner, Chez Panisse; founder, The Edible Schoolyard Project Modern life is a cornucopia of technological wonders. But is something precious being lost? A tangible bond with our natural world—the deep satisfaction of connecting to the earth that was enjoyed by previous generations? In The Heirloom Gardener, John Forti celebrates gardening as a craft and shares the lore and traditional practices that link us with our environment and with each other. Charmingly illustrated and brimming with wisdom, this guide will inspire you to slow down, recharge, and reconnect.

Jordan begins with the heirloom tomato, inquiring into its botanical origins in South America and its culinary beginnings in Aztec cooking to show how the homely and homegrown tomato has since grown to be an object of wealth and taste, as well as a popular symbol of the farm-to-table and heritage foods movements. She shows how a shift in the 1940s away from open pollination resulted in a narrow range of hybrid tomato crops. But memory and the pursuit of flavor led to intense seed-saving efforts increasing in the 1970s, as local produce and seeds began to be recognized as living windows to the past.

One of the best books for beginning and experienced vegetable gardeners, this clear, straightforward, easy-to-read gardening bestseller (over 500,000 copies sold) uses organic, biodynamic methods to produce large amounts of vegetables in very small spaces. To accommodate today's lifestyles, a garden needs to fit easily into a very small plot, take as little time as possible to maintain, require a minimum amount of water, and still produce prolifically. That's exactly what a postage stamp garden does. Postage stamp gardens are as little as 4 by 4 feet, and, after the initial soil preparation, they require very little extra work to produce a tremendous amount of vegetables--for instance, a 5-by-5-foot bed will produce a minimum of 200 pounds of vegetables. When first published 40 years ago, the postage stamp techniques, including closely planted beds rather than rows, vines and trailing plants grown vertically to free up space, and intercropping, were groundbreaking. Revised for an all new generation of gardeners, this edition includes brand new information on the variety of heirloom vegetables available today and how to grow them the postage stamp way. Now, in an ever busier world, the postage stamp intensive gardening method continues to be invaluable for gardeners who wish to weed, water, and work a whole lot less yet produce so much more.

"A guide to designing and planting gardens comprising vegetables, fruits, edible flowers, and ornamentals. Illustrated with color photography"--Provided by publisher.

Discover more than 50 out-of-the-ordinary edibles, from cucamelons to strawberry popcorn, in this seed-to-plate guide that inspires you to cultivate amazing new fruit and vegetable crops. Whether you're a beginner and determined to make the most of limited space with a truly unique and heirloom harvest, or a seasoned grower looking to spice up your cooking with gourmet flavors, the step-by-step instructions give you the confidence to grow some unusually tasty crops. Choose from fruiting vegetables such as orange eggplants and hyacinth beans, salad greens such as fiddlehead ferns and sushi hostas, grains such as quinoa and chia, and luscious fruits such as honeyberries and white strawberries. All plants can be started indoors and transplanted, grown outdoors in the garden, or kept as houseplants. With versatile gardening advice for growing in a variety of spaces and situations, plus cooking suggestions and preserving options, a weird and wonderful harvest is guaranteed.

Growing your own vegetables has never looked, or tasted, so good. Are heirloom vegetables more difficult to grow than conventional hybrids? The Beginner's Guide to Growing Heirloom Vegetables debunks this myth by highlighting the 100 heirloom vegetables that are the easiest to grow and the tastiest to eat. Marie Iannotti makes it simple for beginning gardeners to jump on the heirloom trend by presenting an edited list based on years of gardening trial and error. Her plant criteria is threefold: The 100 plants must be amazing to eat, bring something unique to the table, and—most importantly—they have to be unfussy and easy to grow. Her list includes garden favorites like the meaty and mellow 'Lacinato' Kale, the underused and earthy 'Turkish Orange' Eggplant, and the unexpected sweetness of 'Apollo' Arugula.

This comprehensive, feature-packed book shows how you can create more beauty around your home, grow delicious healthful produce, and save money and natural resources all at the same time - by landscaping with edible plants. It includes a 160-page "Encyclopedia of Edibles" with detailed horticultural information, landscaping and culinary uses, seed sources, and recipes, as well as an abundance of how-to illustrations and landscape diagrams.Of special interest to all gardeners, this unique guide incorporates energy-, water-, and soil-saving techniques with specific designs for all geographic/climatic regions of the country.