Description

---

Fresh is simply best. To get the tastiest, most nutritious produce, you have to grow your own, and in a cold climate this presents unique challenges. Fresh from the Garden will help you extend the growing season to produce the best vegetables, berries, and herbs, right in your own backyard. The guide includes more than 150 edible plants and helps you decide which varieties to choose; where and how to plant, tend, and harvest them; and what to do with your bounty. Fresh from the Garden is a clear, concise guide, with nutrition information tables and hundreds of helpful color photographs.

Drawing on more than fifty years of gardening—and nearly as many years writing on the subject—John Whitman describes various methods of planting to make the most of different sites, whether in containers, raised beds, or on level ground, and takes into consideration the abbreviated growing season and longer summer days. He discusses the merits of starting from seed indoors or outdoors, the making and uses of compost, and measures for keeping a garden healthy, from mulching and fertilizing to crop rotation and winter protection. 

Included in his wealth of knowledge is a generous listing of more than 1,700 varieties of vegetables, berries, and herbs, from the best known to the highly unusual, including hybrid and heirloom varieties. He covers the specifics of cultivation, nutritional values, storage techniques, and culinary usage. Dedicated to organic practices, for the health of gardener and garden alike, the information and advice in Fresh from the Garden will enrich the experience of cold climate gardeners.  

About the Author

---

All of John Whitman's gardening knowledge comes from hands-on experience acquired as a professional grower and an avid backyard vegetable gardener for more than fifty years. His book Starting from Scratch: A Guide to Indoor Gardening was a main selection of the Organic Gardening Book Club. He wrote the vegetable section of the Better Homes and Gardens New Garden Book and was the sole author of the Better Homes and Gardens New Houseplants Book. Whitman is the creator and coauthor of the other three volumes in the cold climate gardening series: Growing Perennials in Cold Climates, Growing Shrubs and Small Trees in Cold Climates, and Growing Roses in Cold Climates.

Praise For…

---

"In Fresh from the Garden, John Whitman folds together the joy of gardening and a love of cooking with wit and wisdom. Addressing the challenges and rewards of our cold climate, he shares his vast experience, deep knowledge, and passion for nature’s bounty. This is a monumental work—inspiring, instructive, timeless."—Beth Dooley, author of In Winter’s Kitchen: Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland

"The extensive individual plant profiles...are in-depth and extremely helpful."—Library Journal

"An excellent resource for home gardeners at any level, especially beginners, offering a thorough introduction to the basics of organic gardening."—Booklist

"This book is an invaluable resource not just for gardeners who live in the North, but for any gardener who wants to extend both ends of the growing season."—Country Gardens

"A marvelous book. While Fresh From the Garden is invaluable for gardeners in cold areas, the basic information is relevant anywhere."—Rhobin’s Garden

"Whitman’s almost encyclopedic seed-to-table approach in “Fresh from the Garden” covers every aspect of the growing enterprise."—Maine Organic Farmer Gardener

"Whitman is full of such practical advice, offered in straightforward prose. This handy book is much like having a master gardener at your elbow, whispering words of wisdom."—Midwest Home

"Will provide you with a single, encyclopedic source of detailed, time-tested, organic gardening advice that will help you raise your best produce yet."—The American Gardener

"After decades of gardening, Whitman is still discovering new horticultural frontiers."—Columbus Dispatch 

"It really is quite an achievement, with a refreshing candor that you don’t often find in reference books."—Cold Climate Gardening

"It’s the perfect gift for the fanatical vegetable grower in your life."—Portland Press Herald