Many gardeners can supply a significant amount of their own food during the plentiful summer harvest. But the key to substantial savings on your food bill is putting fresh, homegrown produce on your table every month of the year. And in the mild, forgiving climate of the maritime Pacific Northwest, it can be easier than you might think. In Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest, Binda Colebrook provides a complete guide to cool-season crops and how to raise them. Gardeners from Southeastern Alaska to southern Oregon will benefit from her clear, practical advice on: Selecting and preparing the ideal winter gardening site Maximizing production and minimizing pests with cloches, cold frames, mulches and companion planting Choosing the best strains and hardiest varieties for a year-round growing season. An excellent companion volume to The Winter Harvest Cookbook, this revised and updated edition of the classic text will have you serving up fabulous alternatives to bland, expensive and tasteless imported supermarket vegetables in no time. Whether your favorite meals include hearty roots or succulent greens, Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest will help you maximize your food production year-round.

Written especially for the Pacific Northwest gardener, this new gardening guide shows how to transform a single-season garden into one that provides year-round bloom. In addition to flowers, other plant life such as berries, barks and leaves can provide brilliant colour on dark winter days. Included in this practical manual are detailed sections on shrubs, vines, trees, perennials, and bulbs that have special winter interest, as well as complete information on cultural requirements, pests and diseases, and companions plants.

Grow more food with less work in any yard

CLICK HERE to download the chapter with "Steps to Extend Your Growing Season" from Cool Season Gardener (Provide us with a little information and we'll send your download directly to your inbox) "Along comes Bill Thorness, beautifully encouraging gardeners to take their edibles to the next level." —Edible Seattle * The first wholly new, focused, and comprehensive guide to growing winter crops in the Pacific Northwest and other maritime climates * Promotes year-round outdoor activity, food and garden sustainability, and a smaller carbon footprint How would you like to serve your own carrots for Thanksgiving next year, or fresh-from-the-garden salad at the winter solstice? Or how about collards for Christmas, leeks on New Year's, and lovely red beets for Valentine's Day, all right from your own garden? You can, without much trouble, by practicing winter, or "cool-season," gardening. Cool Season Gardener is longtime gardening writer Bill Thorness's friendly guide to maintaining your garden year-round even in dark, damp, maritime climates. He shows you how to keep the garden in production in cold months, practice succession planning for sowing and transplanting, plant cover crops, utilize homemade garden structures, and more. Even the most avid gardeners might be surprised to learn all the benefits of cool season gardening—the fact that it is often less work than summer gardening due to slower growth and less maintenance, or the seasonal bonus of having fewer pests. Not to mention that year-round gardening will create substantial savings on your food bill, while at the same time yielding fresh, homegrown produce on your table every month of the year. And Thorness wants you to know it's easier than you think!

The ultimate bible for organic vegetable gardening in the Pacific Northwest, featuring extensive updates and new material on soil health, natural pest control, and more Now in its seventh edition, this complete guide to organic vegetable, herb, and flower gardening addresses issues of soil, seeds, compost, and watering. Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades has evolved from a self-published pamphlet into the master guide to organic gardening over the past thirty-five years. Steve Solomon, who founded the Territorial Seed Company, was one of the early proponents of organic gardening, and the first to codify and refine the best practices of small-plot vegetable gardening in the Pacific Northwest. The approaches to understanding and preparing soils, composting, chemical-free fertilizers, efficient uses of water, and garden planning are universal to any climate or region. Solomon gets specific in his extensive advice on growing specific crops—from tomatoes and beans to kale and turnips—in the gentle maritime Northwest climate. This new and updated edition includes: • A new formula for complete organic fertilizer and how to tweak it for different soil conditions • How-to sections for herbs and ornamental plants • New organization for better usability • Updated sources for appropriate seed suppliers • Information about natural pest controls