Spring Has Sprung! Distro Top Ten — April 2010
For this month’s Distro Top 10, I’m going to do something very unconventional. Stay seated, and hold onto your hats. This month there’s a theme! I was inspired by a few great new gardening books we got in this month, and decided to also revisit the best of the oldies-but-goodies related to growing plants, gardening, or farming—since it’s about that time of year, eh? So here are some picks you’ll want to check out as you are digging the gardening tools out of the basement and making your tasty vegetable-related plans for the summer.
Growing Stuff: An Alternative Guide to Gardening
This is the prettiest gardening book we’ve ever had, but also very practical! Packed with easy step-by-step instructions illustrating the basics of growing flowers, herbs, veggies, and more—plus lots of full-color photos to inspire you. Learn about gardening in small spaces and unusual containers, guerrilla gardening, and even worms. Good for beginner gardeners and people who appreciate well-designed books!
All You Can Eat Gardening Handbook: Easy Organic Vegetables and More Money in Your Pocket
Another one that’s appropriate for a range of skill levels. Growing your own vegetables makes sense for your health and your budget! This book pats you on the back for making the right choice, while showing you how to do it. The author also examines the health benefits of each vegetable—and goes over strategies for harvesting rainwater, watering with drip irrigation, and dealing with those pesky gardening challenges.
From Container To Kitchen: Growing Fruits and Vegetables in Pots
Live in the city, or in an apartment with no backyard to call your own? Don’t let that stop you from growing and eating your own fresh organic veggies! This easy-to-follow guide will show you all you need to know to successfully grow fruits and vegetables in pots—including selecting and placing containers, choosing the best fruits and veggies for container gardening, natural pest and disease control, and more!
How To Make And Use Compost: The Ultimate Guide
Whether you live in an apartment by yourself or have a family and garden that generate large amounts of food and yard waste, this book tells you how and why to compost everything that can be composted. Features an A–Z guide that includes a comprehensive list of what you can and can’t compost, concepts and techniques, compost systems, and common problems and solutions.
New Organic Grower: A Master’s Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener
If you’re looking for something a little more thorough or advanced than your average beginner’s how-to guide, this is the book for you. In this expanded edition of a modern classic, master grower Eliot Coleman continues to present the simplest and most sustainable ways of growing top-quality organic vegetables. This edition includes new information on soil fertility, winter gardening, growing naturally pest-resistant plants, and resources for further study.
Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide to Community Supported Agriculture
Not gardening yourself? Well, don’t let that stop you from eating seasonal local produce. The CSA (community supported agriculture) is another fine answer to the globalization of our food supply. The premise is simple: a partnership between local farmers and nearby consumers, who become members or subscribers in support of the farm and get the freshest, healthiest produce throughout the growing season. This book explains how and why it works.
Food Not Lawns: How To Turn Your Yard Into a Garden and Your Neighborhood Into a Community
In her “permaculture lifestyle manual” that is both practical and inspirational, activist and urban gardener Heather Flores shares her nine-step permaculture design to help farmsteaders and city dwellers alike build fertile soil, promote biodiversity, and increase natural habitat. Plant “guerilla gardens” in barren intersections and medians; organize community meals; free your kitchen from refrigeration and enjoy fresh, nourishing foods from your own plot of land; work with children to create garden play spaces. Reclaim the earth one garden at a time!
Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto
Guerrilla gardeners perform random acts of gardening, often without the property owner’s prior knowledge or permission. Typical targets are vacant lots, railway land, underused public squares, and back alleys. This book tells you why—and offers advice on finding a target, getting ahold of seeds, what you need to know about soil, planting to bring back birds, and more.
Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation
So you’ve got your garden or your CSA—great, you’re eating locally. But what happens during the winter freeze? What do you do when you’ve got an overabundance of something? This book tackles both the nuts and bolts of food storage and preservation from canning to dehydrating, focusing on the most useful techniques for low-cost healthy, sustainable eating year-round.
Radical Mycology: An SLF Primer
This new zine from the Spore Liberation Front not only teaches you how to identify and prepare edible mushrooms from the wild; it also explores the numerous other uses for mushrooms, from medicine to paper and dyes to the amazing new field of mycoremediation (the use of mushrooms to clean up oil spills and restore damaged habitats). Who knew? Now you will!
All right then. Hopefully that’s enough to get you started. Unfortunately our website doesn’t have a gardening section as such at the moment (we’re working on improvements!)—but you can see some other titles about gardening and sustainable food in our eco/green category. And if you’re looking for inspiration on how to prepare your harvest, check out our selection of cookbooks—we’ve even got a handful of them that are specifically geared toward cooking fresh seasonal produce.