Under the Choko Tree By Nevin Sweeney

Urban and Suburban Vegetable Production Books

Lawns into Lunch: Growing Food in the City – Jill Finnane – New Holland Publishers (AUS) 2005 ISBN 1 74110 209 X – This is a collection of stories about people growing their own in the cities, with an undercurrent of Permaculture and sprinkled with hints and recipes. Inspirational as well as practical, this is a good one.

Fresh food From Small Spaces – R. J. Ruppenthal – Chelsea Green Publishing Company (US) 2008 ISBN 978 1 60358 028 1 – Even taking into account this is from the US it has lots of good info about growing food in the city/suburban environment. Some unusual things like mushrooms and fermented foods like kefir are covered as well as bees, chooks and worms. Well worth having.

Urban Eden – Adam and James Caplin – Kyle Cathie Ltd (UK) 2004 ISBN 1 85626 501 3 – Not vast amounts of “How To” but a very inspirational book that has some great ideas for small spaces.

Fabulous Food From every Small Garden – Mary Horsfall – CSIRO Publishing (AUS) 2009 ISBN 978 0 643 09597 7 – A great book that really covers everything you need to know to get the best out of your urban/suburban space. Mary is the co-editor of Grass Roots magazine, how can it get better than that?

The Apartment Farmer (The Hassle Free Way to Grow Vegetables Indoors, on Balconies, Patios, Roofs and in Small Yards) – Duane Newcombe – J.P. Archer Inc. (US) 1976 ISBN 0 87477 047 5 – If you can get hold of, this is a good one. Lots of info about growing under lights and in containers and good detail on individual vegetables.

The Edible Container Garden (Fresh Food From Tiny Spaces) – Michael Guerra – Gaia Books Ltd (UK) 2000 ISBN 1 85675 089 2 – Good general book on container gardening, how to make and use containers as well as details on individual vegetables, it even makes reference to Permaculture.

Grow Your Own Fruit and Veg in Pots, Plots or Growbags – Steve Ott, Emma Rawlings & Roxanne Warwick – Foulsham Books (UK) 2008 ISBN 978 0 572 03494 8 – This is set out as an A to Z guide to growing vegetables, fruit and herbs with 1 or 2 pages per plant including varieties, growing tips and recipes. Good for what it is bearing in mind it is written for the UK experience.

Successful Small Food Gardens – Louise Riotte – Garden Way Publishing (US) 1993 ISBN 0 88266 818 8 – Good for those with some land around them in the suburbs although it does contain a section on mini gardening for mobile homes. There is also a section on edible flowers and one on edible landscaping.

Grow Your Own Groceries (How to feed your family from your own back garden) – Linda Gray – Spring Hill (UK) 2009 ISBN 978 1 905862 31 3 – Good detail on growing and using veg, herbs, berries and edible flowers. Also covers egg production and use and some information on preserving the harvest.

Harvesting the Suburbs – Jeff Hodges – Nature & Health Books (AUS) 1986 ISBN 0 949099 02 3 – While not a lot of data on individual vegetables this book is inspirational and gives lots of good information on planning your productive backyard based around Permaculture principles.

The Complete Urban Farmer – David Wickers – Fontana/Collins (UK) 1977 ISBN 0 00 635096 8 – This book has good sections on planning you layout and improving your soil as well as raising vegetables from seed, ideas for containers to grow in and storing, preserving and cooking the harvest.

Raise Bed Vegetable Gardening Made Simple – Raymond Nones – The Countryman Press (US) 2010 ISBN 978 0 88150 896 3 – everything you wanted to know about raising backyard vegetables based around a system consisting of three, four foot by eight foot raised bed modules. 

Patio Produce – Paul Peacock – Spring Hill (UK) 2009 ISBN 978 1 905862 28 3 – Lots of good stuff about growing individual vegetables, fruit and herbs on your patio or small outdoor space as well as how to plan and get the best out of you patio farm. Obviously the section on the patio gardeners year needs to be adjusted to fit in with the seasons here in Aus.

A Little Piece of Earth – Maria Finn – Universe Publishing (US) 2010 ISBN 978 0 7893 2027 8 – A great little book covering growing fruit and veggies indoors, in window boxes, on terraces and balconies in borders, patios and pergolas. The book is unusual in that it includes section on rooftop gardening, foraging and community gardening. You gotta love it!

The City Peoples Book of Raising Food – Helga and William Olkowski – Rodale Press (US) 1975 ISBN 0 87857 095 0 – This is a great little book that covers the usual stuff like planning your garden, raising plants from seed and keeping up the fertility but then goes into some more unusual stuff like integrated pest management, roof gardening and community gardening. Another one to grab if you can find it.

The After Dinner Gardening Book – Richard W. Langer – Collier Books (US) 1971 ISBN 0 89815 450 2 – This is a quirky little paperback about how a bloke in an apartment in New York grew his own productive jungle from planting material he got from his local green grocer, Fascinating!

Don’t Throw it, Grow it! – Deborah Peterson and Millicent Selsam – Storey Publishing (US) ISBN 978 1 60342 064 8 – Similar in thrust to the After Dinner Gardening Book above, the by-line says it all – 68 windowsill plants from kitchen scraps.

Square Foot Gardening – Mel Bartholomew – Rodale Press (US) 1981 ISBN 0 87857 341 0 – Ground breaking at the time of its release, this book covers a system of backyard vegetable raising based on squares rather than row cropping. It is a comprehensive and detailed manual on how to make the system work for you. There is a companion volume by the same author called “Cash from the Square Foot Gardening”.

How to Grow More Vegetables* (*than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine) – John Jeavons – Ten Speed Press (US) 1979 ISBN 0 913668 98 2 – This is a manual on how to implement the Biodynamic/French Intensive method of growing vegetables in your back yard. It goes through planning and preparing your beds, fertilisation and composting, seed propagation, companion planting and how to develop a natural backyard ecosystem. I had some difficulties with the process but maybe my understanding was faulty. This has recently been updated and republished. There is also a simplified edition by the same author called “Lazy-Bed Gardening”.

Escarole in the Bedroom (Growing Food Plants Indoors) – Jack Kramer – Little, Brown and Co (US) 1977 ISBN 0 316 50314 2 – As well as some good detail on how to grow individual food crops, this book provides some interesting information on areas to grow the plants indoors, using artificial light and what sort of containers to use.

One Magic Square (grow your own food on one metre square) – Lolo Houbein – Wakefield Press (AUS) 2008 ISBN 978 1 86254 764 3 – This is a wonderful book for the backyard food grower. Written for Australian conditions the author sets out a process of growing compatible plants in one metre square combinations, with lots of detail on each combination and individual crops. She also covers the why’s and wherefore’s of food self sufficiency and a whole stack of tips to make the process easier.

Incredible Vegetables from Self Watering Containers – Edward C. Smith – Storey Publishing (US) 2006 ISBN 978 1 58017 556 2 – This book covers how to make and use self-watering pots, what potting soil to use and which vegetables to plant in them to get the best yield. Although the emphasis seems to be on using commercial self watering pots, the data is good just team it up with the information on self watering pots on this site and you’re away!

More food from Your Garden – J.R. Mittleider – Woodbridge Pres (US) 1975 ISBN 0 912800 15 1 – Although the subtitle is “the world-famed Mittleider Method of grow-box greenhouse gardening” I’d never heard of it before I bought the book! It basically is a system using raised beds in greenhouses. Not so applicable to our warmer climate, but an interesting concept nevertheless.

The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping – Rosalind Creasy – Sierra Club Books (US) 1982 ISBN 0 87156 278 2 – This is THE book on edible landscaping, if you want your suburban place to look nice but be productive as well this is the book for you, it is designed for those which have some land to play with. It is an exhaustive manual for landscaping with productive species. The author has also realeased a series of smaller books on different aspects of edible landscaping, including “The Edible Flower Garden”; “The Edible Asian Garden”; “The Edible Heirloom Garden”; “The Edible Italian Garden” and “The Edible Salad Garden”.

Vasili’s Garden: from the garden to the kitchen Mediterranean style – Vasili Kanidiadis – Wilkinson Publishing (AUS) 2008 ISBN 9781921332340 – This is a fun book, good to browse through, set out in a section for each season, it gives tips, hints and recipes for growing and using backyard veggies. It is very easy to read and was put together to support the TV series of the same name.

Vegetables for Small Gardens and Containers – Peter De Vaus – Hyland House Publishing (AUS) 1991 ISBN 0 947062 37 8 – This book covers location and planning of veggies, tools, crop rotation, preparation and planting, pest and disease control and harvesting and storage of your veggies. A good book for small scale growers and one of the first to cover container growing veggies seriously.

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