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55th out of 126 books
—
133 voters
Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times
The decline of cheap oil is inspiring increasing numbers of North Americans to achieve some measure of backyard food self-sufficiency. In hard times, the family can be greatly helped by growing a highly productive food garden, requiring little cash outlay or watering.
Currently popular intensive vegetable gardening methods are largely inappropriate to this new circumstance....more
Currently popular intensive vegetable gardening methods are largely inappropriate to this new circumstance....more
Paperback, 360 pages
Published
April 1st 2006
by New Society Publishers
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Whew - this book kinda blew much of what I thought I knew out of the water. For example, Mr. Solomon really does not believe in sheet mulching (where you prepare your beds by creating a lasagna-like situation out of layers of straw, manure, etc.) He debunks lots of popular ideas - about watering, how much space to give your plants, how to plant seed, how to fertilize, etc.
One criticism - his ways do demand a lot of land. And some sections were intimidating to me (measuring water flow rates and c...more
One criticism - his ways do demand a lot of land. And some sections were intimidating to me (measuring water flow rates and c...more
Pretty good. Steve presents himself as that straight from the hip, grandpa farmer you never had with a helping of crotechy old man who delights in telling you not to do what everyone is selling you on. His ideas about spacing bears up in my limited experience. My second year of gardening I spaced things way closer and had horrible yields compared to my first year when I had only planted a couple of things.
His explanation on composting was the best ever. I've read tons of books and articles on c...more
His explanation on composting was the best ever. I've read tons of books and articles on c...more
Well really I rated this three stars, because I don't have much positive or negative feedback on this book.
He disagrees with a lot of gardening advice especially sheet mulching and intensive gardening. I don't know, that seems to work well for many. He did have a good point about cross-pollination in intensive gardening, but I think the gardener should decide whether or not that bothers them, and/or how to deal with it.
Anyways, I'm a really lazy gardener. I like sheet mulching, or my version o...more
He disagrees with a lot of gardening advice especially sheet mulching and intensive gardening. I don't know, that seems to work well for many. He did have a good point about cross-pollination in intensive gardening, but I think the gardener should decide whether or not that bothers them, and/or how to deal with it.
Anyways, I'm a really lazy gardener. I like sheet mulching, or my version o...more
Mar 10, 2009
Sarah Keliher
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
back to the landers, northwest gardeners
An extremely useful book, full of information on how to get maximum nutrition at minimum cost from your vegetable garden. Detailed without being confusing or overly technical. He's got great advice on tools, water-saving techniques, and seed varieties.
I suppose this book gave a little bit of helpful advice that I haven't read in other places. His technique involves working mostly organically, which I liked and he had some good ideas on how to maintain plants with a minimal amount of watering, which is useful in Texas where it doesn't rain that often. What didn't help was that this was for exponentially larger areas of growing than I will ever have access to.
The author is an older man that has been growing plants and selling seeds for a very l...more
The author is an older man that has been growing plants and selling seeds for a very l...more
This is a deliberately contrarian book from an experienced gardener, businessman, and author. It was recommended to me as an opposition to Jeavons' and others' theories of intensive gardening. I was fascinated by the points Solomon made about the effect of climate and rainfall on the planning and the importance of buying commercial seed instead of saving it, where at all possible. He also gives specific recommendations for seed suppliers he trusts in the various climate zones, and helps the read...more
I loved this book! I know nothing of gardening and Solomon clearly explains traditional gardening strategies for those of us whose only gardening experience is seeing our grandparents do it.
After reading the book I feel confident in my 'book knowledge' that I am willing to try out gardening myself.
Particularly, I enjoyed his opinions on organic versus fertilizer methods. Solomon is critical of both methods and address his critiques clearly. He provides solutions for the short comings of both.
In...more
After reading the book I feel confident in my 'book knowledge' that I am willing to try out gardening myself.
Particularly, I enjoyed his opinions on organic versus fertilizer methods. Solomon is critical of both methods and address his critiques clearly. He provides solutions for the short comings of both.
In...more
I don't know why I'm suddenly so into reading gardening books, but this was one that I couldn't put down. The author is quite opinionated, which made for livelier reading than it might have been if he'd stuck to presenting his information in a more neutral tone.
I don't actually have a garden yet, but I plan to start one in the coming year, and I'll be interested to see how all this advice pans out. The final section, which ranks vegetables by difficulty-to-grow, might prove to be the most usefu...more
I don't actually have a garden yet, but I plan to start one in the coming year, and I'll be interested to see how all this advice pans out. The final section, which ranks vegetables by difficulty-to-grow, might prove to be the most usefu...more
I just finished the book Gardening When It Counts by Steve Soloman. Soloman takes a slightly different approach to gardening that other books I have read. His focus is more on how to get the most out of your garden with less work. He takes inspiration from the early Native Americans and how they grew their gardens without the use of extensive irrigation that we have available to us today. He also goes into great detail about how to give your plants lots of room to grow and how to create your own...more
If you have room for a large garden, this book is for you. Plenty of room between plants provide for more productivity and less water demand contends the author, who backs up this assertion with illustrations of various vegetables roots structure which prove his point. Many other interesting and useful advice including "chiting" and how to save seed. I will be following his advice in my garden next year. Be warned, a lot of the information in this book will go against the trend of intensive plan...more
As a newbie gardener, I liked this book because it has such a scientific bent. It's not a textbook, but it's clearly written by someone who is both experienced in the field, and has a deep understanding of the chemistry & biology of gardening. So many books tell you what to do; it's nice when someone explains why.
I made my own Complete Organic Fertilizer, following the book's instruction. It was an adventure, but I finally stumbled across the Hugo Feed Mill, which sells the bulk agricultural...more
I made my own Complete Organic Fertilizer, following the book's instruction. It was an adventure, but I finally stumbled across the Hugo Feed Mill, which sells the bulk agricultural...more
Steve Solomon, author of the NW staple "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades," has written a book emphasizing gardening with minimal inputs (including water) and maximum nutrition. While he asserts his methods will not reduce yield per acre significantly, Solomon's methods are definitely designed for a large garden space, say, half an acre or more. Even gardeners of small backyards should read this book, however. His discussion of soil fertility and his "Complete Organic Fertilizer" recipe ar...more
Brilliant book, full of deeply useful gardening advice. Very, very well-written. A couple major flaws: his bias towards water-rich bioregions is a real problem for a reader living in the desert southwest, which is a bioregion this author appears to have never even heard of, from the way he talks. (He mentions the "low desert states" once, but apparently nobody ever mentioned to him that ENORMOUS chunks of NM, and AZ, and some portions of NV and CA, are above 5000 ft elevation.) Consequently, he...more
Wow, this guy has a chip on his shoulder. From the dedication:
"Since the time I was sent to elementary school, my feet have marched to the beat of a different drummer than Everybody Else's.... This book is for Mr. and Ms. Everybody Else, who are well known and highly respected authorities on most everything.... It has long been my experience that Everybody Else is often wrong and needs the information in this book."
hmm He may be right about lots of things, but reading the rest of his book will b...more
"Since the time I was sent to elementary school, my feet have marched to the beat of a different drummer than Everybody Else's.... This book is for Mr. and Ms. Everybody Else, who are well known and highly respected authorities on most everything.... It has long been my experience that Everybody Else is often wrong and needs the information in this book."
hmm He may be right about lots of things, but reading the rest of his book will b...more
This book is the perfect counterpoint to John Jeavons' How to Grow More Vegetables. Solomon debunks the Grow Biointensive method as requiring too much investment of time, labor, water, and amendments for too little gain. A former seed man with experience in biointensive gardening, Solomon takes us to the gardens of our great-grandparents and shows us *why* they planted the way they did. His method requires more land per plant than Jeavons' method, but it's because the plants themselves require i...more
So far, this book is equal parts inspiring and frustrating. Since one of his main goals is to get gardeners to space things out more, allowing them to water less, and I'm an urban gardener with no choice to add another half-acre of lawn to my garden we're off to an awkward start. And he's a little harsh about his fallen mentors in intensive gardening and a little egotistical about his own fertilizer recipe.
Nonetheless, he clearly knows his stuff, and his explanations of everything from selectin...more
Nonetheless, he clearly knows his stuff, and his explanations of everything from selectin...more
A complete fount of knowledge. It takes the reader from ground level explaining every step involved in growing your own food. Easy for the novice to understand but not boring or condescending to the expert. The recipe for mixing your own soil conditioning fertilizer alone is worth the price of the book. A timely book that everyone should read in an era where seeds and bullets are the safest investments.
I love Steve Solomon's gardening books, this one especially. It is timely and accessible and a good read to boot. I do not currently have a garden (besides window boxes and other containers), but keep this on my shelf as a reminder of what is to come. Solomon makes it EASY with basic tools and tried-and-true techniques that I remember my Grandfather using. Self-sufficiency has never seemed so simple.
If you're serious about gardening--if you want to grow a significant portion of your own vegetables--then this book is exactly what you need.
The title makes it sound like some sort of survivalist book, but it's not. It's just a book on how to garden, and how to do it well. Steve Solomon is the most experienced, educated gardener I've ever come across. Steve hosts the free online agricultural library, www.soilandhealth.org. He also founded the Territorial Seed Company in 1979 (just his chapter on...more
The title makes it sound like some sort of survivalist book, but it's not. It's just a book on how to garden, and how to do it well. Steve Solomon is the most experienced, educated gardener I've ever come across. Steve hosts the free online agricultural library, www.soilandhealth.org. He also founded the Territorial Seed Company in 1979 (just his chapter on...more
Perhaps other goodreads gardeners will sympathize with me in that I often do more reading about gardening than actual gardening. Thus I am usually trying some new technique each year in my vegetable garden. Many have been a waste of time and resources. This book helped me to think about all the quips and tips I hear about gardening and accept as truth. I like the idea of vegetable gardening because there is a need for the food rather than as a pastime or hobby. This book also got me thinking abo...more
With the price of everything from gas to food constantly increasing, saving a few dollars can make a big difference. More and more people are finding that they can grow food themselves and Gardening When It Counts gives you the information to produce food in everything from a roof garden to a 5,000 square foot plot of land. –Michael S.-
This book goes against much of the conventional gardening wisdom I've learned over the years, but has good information and simple explanations to back up his claims. I did learn a lot from reading this book, especially about plant spacing, seed suppliers, seed starting, root growth, and cultural information of certain plant families.
The book isn't sugar-coated. Solomon talks harshly of garden centers (to which I partly agree), calls conventional wisdom "Everybody Else," and has a somewhat negati...more
The book isn't sugar-coated. Solomon talks harshly of garden centers (to which I partly agree), calls conventional wisdom "Everybody Else," and has a somewhat negati...more
I liked this book alot, and it has alot of good information in it. They try to bill it as a disaster survival book, but it is really a guide to organic vegetable growing. I think the quality of information is at least enough to get someone started on an effort of self sufficiency.
i love a book about food growing and sustainability that blows most of what i know and have been taught completely out of the water. i feel like solomon is actually putting food growing/urban gardening in the context of rapidly declining fertility and imminent lack of access to water. he goes back to what our grandparents and greatparents did when they grew food and put it in context. super important. super relevant. and super smart, albeit a little sassy at times.
a bit complicated also in the r...more
a bit complicated also in the r...more
if you are an experienced gardener or a complete beginner this is the one book you need. i bought it for my husband a couple years ago and we have both read it through numberous times and reference it over and over during the garden season
Jan 02, 2010
Christine
is currently reading it
picked this up last night...ryan was trying to cheer me up by taking me to the book store...he sure knows me pretty well :)
can't wait to finish this one. definitely different from what i've read recently about the best gardening practices.
can't wait to finish this one. definitely different from what i've read recently about the best gardening practices.
This is a serious book for serious gardeners. Solomon used tried and true methods that get results and covers a variety of very important topics that are often overlooked by hobbyist books.
As a gardener, Solomon lives off of what he grows all year round. This is a great book for anyone looking into Market Growing, growing gardens in dry climates (as he touches on dry farming), if you've every wondered what really goes into successful farming or for the novice looking to expand their knowledge b...more
As a gardener, Solomon lives off of what he grows all year round. This is a great book for anyone looking into Market Growing, growing gardens in dry climates (as he touches on dry farming), if you've every wondered what really goes into successful farming or for the novice looking to expand their knowledge b...more
I'm about half way through and it is making me excited to garden and eat healthy.
The author is a bit proud of himself, but that makes him detailed, which is perfect for a noob gardener like me.
The author is a bit proud of himself, but that makes him detailed, which is perfect for a noob gardener like me.
Solomon's a high-Pitta guy, and it comes out in his writing. There's a lot of great information in here, and he's clear about what he's trying to teach his readers to do. I find this one goes better in context with other gardening books to suit my needs, but there's no doubt this guy knows what he's talking about.
I can recommend this one to gardening nerds and folks who really want to grow most of their own food.
I can recommend this one to gardening nerds and folks who really want to grow most of their own food.
There was a lot of good information in this book, but the thing it really drove home for me was the fact that you can't make something out of nothing. That is, compost made from nutritionally deficient materials will still be nutritionally deficient. It's interesting that many of the agriculture books I've read lately have really hammered on the need to add minerals to deficient soil.
The other extremely useful section of this book was the section on choosing, maintaining, and using the basic han...more
The other extremely useful section of this book was the section on choosing, maintaining, and using the basic han...more
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andrea
Apr 16, 2008 02:30pm