Read an Excerpt

Preface
All around us, a movement is taking place. People are rigging up window boxes for growing herbs, making room on the fire escape for a pot of tomatoes, renovating neglected flowerbeds to make way for raspberries and rhubarb, and convincing landlords to turn over a few square feet of lawn for food production. Families are joining waitlists for community garden plots, signing up for canning workshops, and getting to know their local growers at the farmers’ market.

The economy, self-sufficiency, sustainability, taste, health—whatever your reasons, it is always a good time to grow your own organic food. And you can do it, no matter how small your gardening space.

I grow food for all these reasons, but most of all I do it because it feels great. I love working outside and getting my hands dirty. I love connecting with other gardeners and sharing seeds and ideas. And I love harvesting something I have grown and eating it fresh that night for dinner. Yes, it is local food—really local food. But mainly it’s just good food.

For me, gardening has been a lifelong obsession and an experiment in trial and error. Lots of error. And, believe it or not, that is something I love about growing food—it keeps me on my toes. Just when I think I’ve finally mastered this urban farming thing, nature proves me wrong. The key, I think, is to pay attention—to celebrate each perfect potato, learn from mistakes, and, above all, enjoy the process.

This book walks you through the basics—and then some—of planning, creating, and tending an organic food garden in a small space. This is the book I wish I’d had when I was a new gardener, and I hope it will be a helpful resource and an inspiration to you. Most of all, I hope you get hooked on gardening and growing your own good food.