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ebonypearl) wrote2009-03-28 09:18 am
Square Inch Gardening
OK, Fresh Food From Small Spaces isn't really about a square inch gardening method. In fact, while it's full of nice anecdotal information and some really useful instructions (how to build a self-watering pot similar to an Earth Box, sprouting boxes, and making kefir for example), it lacks an actual system like Mel's Square Foot Gardening.
There are many reasons to recommend this book to people living in apartments, places with minimal sunshine, and tiny sub/urban plots.
Crop rotation, staggered planting,companion planting, and types of edible pants suited for container farming are all covered well enough even a novice gardener can benefit.
Instructions for building your own self-watering plant containers is detailed enough for practically anyone who's ever wielded a hammer to follow.
The information on raising chickens in dense urban areas (I mean really dense,like balcony and rooftop coops dense) is very good.
His information for container growing fruit trees and berries is outstanding. I don't think I've seen anyone address this in quite such detail,only as a quick one line "also suitable for containers".
He really shines when he discusses sprouting, making yogurt and kefir and fermented foods, cultivating mushrooms, and worm composting.
And he knows about fruit cheese! I don't think I've ever encountered anyone else who's ever written about fruit cheeses. This isn't real dairy cheese, just as fruit butters are real dairy butter. When you make fruit butters,if you continue to thicken the fruit until it forms a dense, slightly moist "cake", you've made fruit cheese that is sliced rather than spooned onto your breads, hot grains, and even onto soups, meats, or vegetables. Cranberry jelly is actually a fruit cheese rather than a jelly, so you're familiar with at least one instance of fruit cheese.
Probably the most important reason for potential urban farmers to read this book is its passionate positive advice and inspiration for even the smallest,darkest apartment dweller to be able to grow some of their own food.
The down side is that he tries to give information about urban beekeeping and his lack of personal experience in this endeavor shows - although his enthusiasm remains undiminished.
I do recommend this book for anyone interested in growing at least some of their own foods.
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Another experiment I just started is growing carrots in a small bin (used to hold Legos). I have total control of the soil quality this way; I hope to get a better yield than I usually do in the hard pack in my back yard.
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