Small-Plot, High-Yield Gardening: How to Grow Like a Pro, Save Money, and Eat Well by Turning Your Back (or Front or Side) Yard Into An Organic Produce Garden » (Revised)

Sal Gilbertie is the third-generation proprietor of Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens in Westport, Connecticut. Established in 1922 by Sal’s grandfather, Gilbertie’s is the largest herb grower in the United States today, shipping hundreds of varieties to more than 800 garden centers, plant nurseries, and farms.
 
Coauthor Larry Sheehan has a long list of writing credits that includes newspapers, magazines, television documentaries, and dozens of books including the best-selling Living with Dogs and The Sporting Life.

Are you tired of throwing away time, energy, and money on a perfectly manicured, water-guzzling, weed-producing lawn? Are you longing to feed your family in more healthful and eco-friendly ways but shocked by organic produce prices at the grocery store? Do you fantasize about growing your own food but hesitate to take on more than you can manage?
 
If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time for you to get down and dirty—and take the plunge that will please your taste buds and your pocket-book! In Small-Plot, High-Yield Gardening, Sal Gilbertie and Larry Sheehan will help you turn your sprawling suburban acreage or postage stamp–sized plot into a low-impact, all-organic, totally sustainable produce garden.
 
You’ll learn about the most effective natural fertilizers, drought-resistant cultivation methods, pest-repellent companion plantings, trends in heirloom herb and vegetable varieties, and raised-bed techniques for achieving maximum productivity in a limited space. You can even add a cutting garden so you’ll always have fresh flowers on a kitchen table that’s groaning under the weight of incomparably fresh vegetables seasoned with a variety of home-grown herbs.
 
Whether you’re filling a 10’ x 10’ sandbox or digging up your 3,000-square-foot tennis court, any yard has the potential to produce a multi-crop bonanza. And anyone with a little soil and a lot of heart can do it!

Contents
 
I. Gardening at a Glance
You Don’t Have to Be Italian to Grow Good Peppers  [1]
Why Bother?  [3]
Productivity Is Growing $7,486 Worth of Fresh, Organic Produce  [9]
Rabbits and Raised Beds   [13]
More on Garden Architecture  [18]
Grow into Gardening  [21]
Breaking Even in the First Year  [23]
How to Read Seed Catalogs  [30]
Other Sources of Gardening Savvy  [40]
Ask Uncle Sam  [48]
 
II. How Vegetables Grow
Big Is Not Bountiful  [57]
Chaos in the Vegetable Kingdom?  [60]
Practical Vegetable Groupings  [66]
“Build Soil”  [71]
The ABCs of N, P, and K  [77]
Feeding Your Garden for 12¢ a Day  [82]
Triggering the Nutrients in Soil  [84]
Production-Plus Planting Procedures  [85]
Water  [91]
Much Ado about Mulch  [96]
Weather  [98]
Bugs & Co.  [102]
Herbs for the Kitchen, Flowers for the Table  [108]
 
III. Maximum-Production Techniques
Plant Your Personality  [119]
Shopping for Seeds and Seedlings  [121]
Gardening in Small Spaces  [125]
Maximum-Production Techniques for Over Fifty Popular Vegetables  [130]
 
IV. For Next Year . . .
Make Compost as You Make Good Lasagna  [189]
Garden Plants That Keep On Giving  [193]
Uses of a Cold Frame  [195]
Starting from Seed  [199]
“Did I Plant That?”  [212]

Appendix  [214]
 
Garden Plans  [221]
32-Square-Foot Elevated Herb Garden [223]   3,000-Square-Foot Garden [224]  
1,500-Square-Foot Garden [226]   750-Square-Foot Garden [228]  
280-Square-Foot Cutting Garden [229]   400-Square-Foot Salad Garden [230]  
400-Square-Foot Soup Garden [231]   400-Square-Foot Winter Garden [232]  
100-Square-Foot Sandbox Garden [233]   400-Square-Foot Raised-Bed Garden—Horizontal View [234]   400-Square-Foot Raised-Bed Garden—Overhead View [235]   Cold Frame [236]  
Supply Garden [238]

Index  [239]