This 2nd edition of the classic gardening guide features more than 40 small garden designs for everything from stir-fry vegetables to anti-cancer foods. For decades, Lolo Houbein has cultivated her own organic fruits, vegetables and herbs from small gardens of no more than 3 feet square. Now she shows readers how to reap an abundant harvest from a tiny plot of land. One Magic Square features plot designs geared toward specific themes, like soups, salads, and starchy staples, as well as plots of edible flowers, and antioxidant-rich foods—with encyclopedic information about every crop in every plot. With wisdom and humor, Lolo shares sustainable, cost-effective techniques for using compost, saving water, troubleshooting weeds and pests and more. She also offers tips on drying, freezing, pickling, and other ways to get more value and enjoyment from your homegrown produce. Ever encouraging, often charming, and always practical, this expanded second edition of One Magic Square Vegetable Gardening will help first-time gardeners get started—and help veteran gardeners get results—on a small, easy-to-maintain plot.

ONE MAGIC SQUARE shows how, with a ten-minute effort, you can start your own productive food garden on a single square metre. By following these plot designs you can keep your labour pleasurable as your self-sufficiency increases. Take control of your own fresh food supply! Food gardening is the most intelligent adult endeavour on earth - Lolo Houbein shows you how to do it, and why you should.

Fully revised for UK and Northern European climates. The best and cheapest food is the food you grow in your own garden. One Magic Square shows how you can start your own productive food garden in ten minutes a day on a single square metre. With simple plot designs starting with salads and gradually expanding to include beans, tomatoes, corn, roots and much more; you can take the first steps in growing your own food organically. These bite-sized designs allow you to extend by one square metre each season, or pick your favourites to add a bit of excitement to your cooking. The magic of square-metre gardening is in allowing you to keep your garden manageable even as your self-sufficiency increases. The book covers: How to grow food one square metre at a time Plot designs from basic to complex, with Ideas for specific diets and tastes Ideas for moving towards food self-sufficiency Tips and tricks Descriptions of food plants The benefits of companion planting For beginners and more experienced gardeners, this book has a wealth of information and guidance.

A new edition of the classic gardening handbook details a simple yet highly effective gardening system, based on a grid of one-foot by one-foot squares, that produces big yields with less space and with less work than with conventional row gardens. Reissue. 30,000 first printing.

Even in winter’s coldest months you can harvest fresh, delicious produce. Drawing on insights gained from years of growing vegetables in Nova Scotia, Niki Jabbour shares her simple techniques for gardening throughout the year. Learn how to select the best varieties for each season, the art of succession planting, and how to build inexpensive structures to protect your crops from the elements. No matter where you live, you’ll soon enjoy a thriving vegetable garden year-round.

Outside the Magic Square considers issues of food security and offers solutions at the street, neighbourhood and global levels. Mixing gardening advice and food plot design with discussion of issues like global warming, dwindling oil supplies, the future for farmers and GM foods, Lolo Houbein challenges us to mobilise for food security.

A Hands-On Guide to Growing Organic Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs—Starting with Just One Square Yard! Lolo Houbein has been growing food for more than 30 years—and now, drawing on her wide learning and hard-earned experience, she offers a wealth of information on how to turn small plots of land into sources of nourishing, inexpensive, organic food. Amateur gardeners wondering how to get started and veteran gardeners looking for new ideas will be inspired by Houbein’s practical, often charming, and always optimistic advice. One Magic Square includes: Earth-friendly tips, tricks, and solutions for establishing and maintaining an organic garden Illustrated, annotated plans for 30 plots with different themes—including perennials and “pick-and-come-again” plants, anti-cancer and anti-oxidant-rich vegetables, and salad, pizza, pasta, and stir-fry ingredients Comprehensive information about every plant in every plot Color photographs of the author’s own garden—plus helpful illustrations Houbein family recipes for making the most of your bounty—including salad dressings, fruit and vegetable juices, stir-fries, and more.