California Fruit Vegetable Gardening

This easy-to-follow guide features planting, care, and harvesting information for more than 60 edibles; popular vegetable selections from artichokes to turnips; a variety of common and unusual fruits, nuts, and herbs; and advice on garden planning, creating the perfect soil, watering, and more.

In this updated 2nd edition of California Fruit & Vegetable Gardening, the critical elements of climate, soil, sun, and water are addressed to ensure your success, no matter which part of The Golden State you call home. California's diverse and unique growing conditions offer special challenges to food gardeners. Whether you garden in the southern, central, or northern part of the state, you'll find the answers you're looking for. From soil preparation and starting seeds to safely managing California's most troublesome vegetable garden pests, author Claire Splan guides you to your most productive garden ever. Inside, you'll find detailed profiles of over 60 edible plants that thrive in California's distinctive growing conditions, including favorites like avocados, tomatoes, passion fruits, eggplants, beets and pomegranates. In addition to vegetables and fruits, also featured are popular herbs. Helpful charts and planting graphs keep you on track, while the garden maintenance tips found throughout ensure a lush, productive, and high-yielding garden. Whether you grow in containers, raised beds, an extensive kitchen garden, a community garden, or a backyard veggie patch, California Fruit & Vegetable Gardening serves as an invaluable resource to West Coast gardeners, regardless of whether you're a first-time grower or an experienced Master Gardener. California Fruit & Vegetable Gardening is part of the regional Fruit & Vegetable Gardening series from Cool Springs Press. Other books in the series include Texas Fruit & Vegetable Gardening, Mid-Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Gardening, Carolinas Fruit & Vegetable Gardening, and many others.

California abounds with edible selections to grow in the diverse conditions of the state. California Fruit & Vegetable Gardening addresses the critical elements of climate, soil, sun, and water that affects growing success. More than sixty fruits, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers are highlighted, and helpful charts and graphs for planning and planting the garden are included.

Grow your own food in the Golden State! There is nothing more regionally specific than vegetable gardening—what to plant, when to plant it, and when to harvest are decisions based on climate, weather, and first frost. The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in Southern California, by regional expert Geri Miller, focuses on the unique eccentricities of California’s gardening calendar, which include extreme temperatures and low rainfall. The month-by-month format makes it perfect for beginners and accessible to everyone—gardeners can start gardening the month they pick it up.

A delightful guide--packed with games, activities, and extras--that will satisfy the garden-curious and get families excited about growing their own fruits and vegetables. Have you ever wondered how plants work? Or why we eat the fruit of one plant, but the leaves of another? What’s the big deal about growing things—and how do we decide what we need to grow in the space we have? Discover the whole life cycle of food, from sowing and saving to planning and planting, and—most exciting of all—harvesting the food you’ve grown. In Grow, you’ll get all the inspiration and knowledge you need to get out there and start planting. Included inside: · A visual guide to the world of plants—what they need to grow, how to care for them, and more · Grow your own pizza! How to plant for a recipe, with fruits and vegetables in pots or a whole vegetable garden · Pull-out activities, including a runner-bean growth chart, a Fruit Pairs game, Rainbow Taste Wheel (turn the dial to find out which vitamins are found in each fruit and vegetable), and four sheets of stickers

Food plants have their own ornamental value, adding harmony to existing landscapes without creating a separate vegetable garden. They also provide a fresh, healthy alternative to the tasteless and woody fruits and vegetables bred for long-distance transportation and shipped to our grocery stores from all over the world. In this book, we show how, with just a little effort, you can augment your landscape with edibles of every description in an environmentally sustainable manner: * Veggie favorites: tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, beans and onions * Berries: blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries * The superhealthy: flax, broccoli, kale and garlic * The oddly beautiful: Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, asparagus and artichokes * The ancient and exotic: quinoa, amaranth and fennel * Plus starting, maintaining and harvesting an edible garden, propagation and winter care, and solutions to common garden problems.