Grow Great Grub – Organic Food from Small Spaces is a 208 page high color paperback book written by Gayla Trail and published in 2010 by Clarkson Pottter Publishers (part of Random House Inc).
What to Love
This book is so delicious I could eat it. Beware, the photos actually make your mouth water! Besides that, it’s is chock full of fabulous information to teach you to plan and tend a home vegetable garden and grow your own food, whether you have a windowsill, balcony, deck, rooftop, or garden.
Growing Great Grub is my #1 veggie gardening book pick. While it’s great for any gardener, I think women will especially love this book.
What’s Inside
Section 1, Good Growing, will teach you how, where, and what to grow. The wonderful photos and all the helpful lists, charts, and diagrams will get you fired up. The information is easy to refer back to as you begin and continue your journey.
Section 2, The Plants, has all the helpful details you need to learn to grow your favorite foods (veggies, fruits, and herbs), and some new ones beside. Essential little facts, such as how much soil depth and how much light different kinds of beans and greens require, are made accessible in very readable boxes. There are even some recipes included.
Section 3, How to Harvest, teaches you to look, listen, smell and touch for ripeness. There’s a chart which you would fill in to predict your harvest dates and step by step instructions on drying, freezing, and canning.
Gardening Tricks
Fabulous information in Grow Great Grub which I’ve not seen in other veggie gardening books includes:
- How to check plastic recycling codes and choose safe containers.
- Step by step instructions on building self-watering containers.
- Edible flowers organized by flavor profile.
- Edible weeds.
- How to grow melons in pots.
- Keeping critters out of containers.
- How to grow Jerusalem Artichokes (a native shade-tolerant perennial with attractive flowers and edible roots).
- Food to grow in problem places – depleted soil, soggy soil, shady spots, hotter than Hades.
- Make your own upside-down tomato pots.
- Herb infused salt or sugar recipe.
- How to make your own refrigerator bags to keep veggies fresh.
Get a Copy
I have no reservations in recommending Grow Great Grub as the one home vegetable gardening book you must buy this year. I’d like to thank Random House Inc for providing me with a copy.
The list price is an affordable $19.99 and it’s currently available from Amazon.com for significantly less – Grow Great Grub at Amazon.com. Read more about Grow Great Grub and see some inside views at the author’s dedicated website.
What do you say? Have you seen this book?
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Hi Alison. I don’t recall seeing this book before, but it sounds like it’s packed with great information. I have yet to eat a flower. I don’t know why I have such a hang up about that, but I do
Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..Confessions of a Backsliding Blogger
Jean, flowers are delicious – there are several kinds I like to munch on. One of my best childhood memories is of the time my mom made candied flowers to decorate a birthday cake. I have never got over my fascination with the transformation and the fact that some flowers can be eaten!
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Am going to check out this book. Sounds like a lot of good information we could use in our “Recession Garden.” Always looking to improve.
Hey Roger, thanks for the comment. Yes, I’m sure this book has information you can use. I particularly like how it teaches me to select containers to reuse based on the recycle codes. I’d never seen that information before.
You know, I think you are ever so gradually converting me into a gardener, Alison. This book sounds great. It’s all your great posts on gardening that I can’t seem to get out of my head. The practicality of it, the freshness, the tastes. What am I waiting for? Time. Do you deliver gardens, freshly weeded and tended?
Katie´s last blog ..Pushing Yourself Forward: Week 5 of the 7-Week Life Cleanse
Wow, Katie, great news! I can’t wait to help you get even MORE excited about gardening.
Sadly, I can’t provide time. But tips for starting out with gardening would be almost as good. Don’t you think? My 5 gallon container gardens I’m trialing this year are super-easy. I’ll be sharing on those at some point.
Keep coming back
This looks like a great resource. I am going to check it out soon.
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a flower either. So this should be a new experience for me.
Thanks for the info Alison.
Manal´s last blog ..5 Reasons to Let Go of Your Story
Manal, eating flowers does seem a little counter-intuitive at first, but it’s just a case of knowing which ones are good/safe. They look beautiful in a salad.
Do check out the links for Grow Great Grub, and, if you’re not yet convinced that it’s a keeper, check it out from your library before you purchase. That’s what I do, otherwise my home would be even more full of books than it is!
Also take a look at The Edible Flower Garden (there’s a link to my review above). That one is specifically about edible flowers and it contains a lot more details.
Thanks Alison. The more I read on your site the more excited I get about gardening. I feel it would be very empowering and satisfying to grow your own food (or at least part of it).
From the message I got from you, the books are available in my public library so I’m going to check them out and only buy the one that will be most useful. I’m trying to cut down on the amount of books I have and keep only the useful reference ones.
Manal´s last blog ..5 Reasons to Let Go of Your Story