Growing Great Vegetables in the Heartland is a vegetable gardening book by Andrea Ray Chandler. Decide whether this is the book you need.
I’ve been on a search for a great vegetable growing book which covers everything I need to know for growing in Kansas, and which I would be happy to recommend to you.
How to Grow Vegetables in Kansas
Growing Great Vegetables in the Heartland is now my first choice book for vegetable gardeners in Kansas and the Midwest. The list price is just $18.95 and it is available for a lot less (currently around $2) through the Amazon.com marketplace.
Things to Like About Growing Great Vegetables…
When it comes to gardening, much of the knowledge you need is regional. It’s worth finding resources customized for your area. This book covers USDA zones 4, 5, and 6 and the following states: South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, most of Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio and parts of Minnesota and Oklahoma.
What You Will Not Find
There is no claim to be using new and amazing methods in this book.
What is in Growing Great Vegetables…
Beyond being a regional book, Andrea Ray Chandler has a no-nonsense, readable, writing style. She covers such things as: composting; mulching; labor saving; organic pest management; indoor seed starting; container gardening; and seed saving in the vegetable garden.
Sections are as follows:
- Introduction – what makes the Heartland special for gardening.
- Your Garden Ground – soil, composting, digging, raised beds, siting your garden, rainfall and watering needs.
- Understanding Catalogs – seed terms, packet sizes and costs, proven winners, narrowing down choices.
- Seed Starting and Garden Planning – equipment, containers, indoor starting, transplanting, garden layouts, spacing, maximizing harvest.
- Moving Out of Doors – frost dates, plant protection methods, mulch, trellising, tomato cages, supplies.
- Spring and Autumn crops – cool season vegetables.
- Warm Season Vegetables – squashes, corn, beans, tomatoes etc.
- Growing and Cooking with Herbs
- Bugs, Slugs and Four-legged Thugs – pests and methods of organic control.
- Tool Selection
- How to Get Brilliant (no extra charge for this part)!
Who Should Buy Growing Great Vegetables…
Growing Great Vegetables in the Heartland is for anyone living in the Midwest states listed above. Whether you are new to vegetable gardening, or already have some experience, this book has lots of information without being overwhelming. I hesitate to state that it has all the information you need, but it must be close to it.
Shop for this book at Amazon.com (new, or for around $2 from the marketplace) or online from your local independent bookstore.
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