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This book is for you if:
1) You are planning a trip to Mars and need a self-contained food-producing system.
2) You are prepping for the zombie apocalypse and need to grow every scrap of your own food and compost to maintain soil fertility.
3) You are a nerd who had read too many gardening books that reference Grow Biointensive, and want to know what it actually is (that's me!)
This book isn't for you if:
1) You want to grow more vegetables. Most of the book is about growing grain -- both for eating and because it produces a bunch of stuff you can compost to maintain soil fertility without external inputs.
2) You don't live on a ton of space. The book estimates you need 4000 square feet per person to sustainably grow their food. They suggested devoting only 10% of that to vegetables, or 400 square feet per person. There are six people in my family. We don't have anything like 24,000 square feet of growing space. We'd be doing amazing to hit their 10% estimate (2,400 square feet) and grow all our own veggies.
3) And on the heels of that last one, this book isn't for people with children. None of the charts estimate how much space you need to feed a child. And the claim that you can grow all your own food part-time is nice (IIRC, 14 hours/week), but when I multiply that out (84 hours/week) it's laughable for my family. Given that this is supposed to be a book for feeding generation after generation of people on limited space, it's still weird to me that there's no mention of kids, or how the higher-calorie demands of say, nursing or pregnancy fit into this scheme, either.
4) Following up on the time concerns, the authors talk a good deal about how easy it is to integrate growing all your own food into your daily life, but they don't actually do it: "We still take a neighborly ribbing for racing down to the farmers' markets to buy sweet corn, carrots, and other vegetables and fruits to feed an extended family of staff, apprentices, interns, and friends at our research site. Research priorities often interfere with growing all our vegetables and fruits. It is difficult to research, write, publish, teach, do outreach around the world -- and farm -- all at the same time!"
It seems that growing grains is significantly more time-consuming than the authors claim, especially, I'd think, if you follow their advice to start in flats and transplant the wheat.
5)You don't live in complete isolation. It's kind of a pity that the book talks so much about growing your own compost, but never talks about the free, local resources many people have that could be put to the same end and diverted from landfills (like neighbor's autumn leaves).
6) You like animals. This book is very against livestock of all kinds, citing that cows take up lots of acreage, and then ignores critters like chickens, who take up very little space and eat/compost kitchen scraps and garden pests.
7) You like simple. This...isn't simple. Remember that bit about transplanting wheat?
8) You like history. They mention the Maya a few times, with no citations -- largely to prove that Grow Biointensive is rooted in the past:
"The Mayan culture [sic] in Guatemala survived when other civilizations around them faded. They did this, in part, through neighborhood biologically intensive food-raising. No one knows why this very skilled and intelligent culture eventually disappeared. There are many possibilities, including disease, but one is that the food-raising practices may not have been used with full sustainability."
"Biologically intensive farming dates back to four thousand years ago in China, two thousand years in Greece, and one thousand years ago in Latin America. In fact, the Mayan culture [sic, again] grew food this way at their homes on a neighborhood basis. This is one of the reasons their culture survived when others around them were collapsing."
So...the Maya still exist. I hate that they're here, claiming they "disappeared" when there are still millions of Maya, speaking dozens of Mayan languages. And I have no idea where their claims of how they farmed comes from. Kitchen vegetable gardens are common in many civilizations around the world, but archaeologists are still trying to figure out how the Classic Maya fed their civilizations and even which crops predominated (corn or cassava). I'm not sure what neighboring, contemporary civilizations they're talking about collapsing, either. Given that there aren't any citations, I'm 95% sure they haven't researched it, but tossed in "The Maya used something like this" to try to boost their own credibility.
Okay. That made it sound like I hated the book. I did disagree with a lot of it, and I really don't like their off-handed, no-citations history. Despite that, this was still an interesting read for me because of other books I've read. I can now understand how other authors modified this method, or parts of it, to develop gardening techniques much better suited to their situations. I suppose I now know why everyone references this book, but so few authors advocate actually using it.
1) You are planning a trip to Mars and need a self-contained food-producing system.
2) You are prepping for the zombie apocalypse and need to grow every scrap of your own food and compost to maintain soil fertility.
3) You are a nerd who had read too many gardening books that reference Grow Biointensive, and want to know what it actually is (that's me!)
This book isn't for you if:
1) You want to grow more vegetables. Most of the book is about growing grain -- both for eating and because it produces a bunch of stuff you can compost to maintain soil fertility without external inputs.
2) You don't live on a ton of space. The book estimates you need 4000 square feet per person to sustainably grow their food. They suggested devoting only 10% of that to vegetables, or 400 square feet per person. There are six people in my family. We don't have anything like 24,000 square feet of growing space. We'd be doing amazing to hit their 10% estimate (2,400 square feet) and grow all our own veggies.
3) And on the heels of that last one, this book isn't for people with children. None of the charts estimate how much space you need to feed a child. And the claim that you can grow all your own food part-time is nice (IIRC, 14 hours/week), but when I multiply that out (84 hours/week) it's laughable for my family. Given that this is supposed to be a book for feeding generation after generation of people on limited space, it's still weird to me that there's no mention of kids, or how the higher-calorie demands of say, nursing or pregnancy fit into this scheme, either.
4) Following up on the time concerns, the authors talk a good deal about how easy it is to integrate growing all your own food into your daily life, but they don't actually do it: "We still take a neighborly ribbing for racing down to the farmers' markets to buy sweet corn, carrots, and other vegetables and fruits to feed an extended family of staff, apprentices, interns, and friends at our research site. Research priorities often interfere with growing all our vegetables and fruits. It is difficult to research, write, publish, teach, do outreach around the world -- and farm -- all at the same time!"
It seems that growing grains is significantly more time-consuming than the authors claim, especially, I'd think, if you follow their advice to start in flats and transplant the wheat.
5)You don't live in complete isolation. It's kind of a pity that the book talks so much about growing your own compost, but never talks about the free, local resources many people have that could be put to the same end and diverted from landfills (like neighbor's autumn leaves).
6) You like animals. This book is very against livestock of all kinds, citing that cows take up lots of acreage, and then ignores critters like chickens, who take up very little space and eat/compost kitchen scraps and garden pests.
7) You like simple. This...isn't simple. Remember that bit about transplanting wheat?
8) You like history. They mention the Maya a few times, with no citations -- largely to prove that Grow Biointensive is rooted in the past:
"The Mayan culture [sic] in Guatemala survived when other civilizations around them faded. They did this, in part, through neighborhood biologically intensive food-raising. No one knows why this very skilled and intelligent culture eventually disappeared. There are many possibilities, including disease, but one is that the food-raising practices may not have been used with full sustainability."
"Biologically intensive farming dates back to four thousand years ago in China, two thousand years in Greece, and one thousand years ago in Latin America. In fact, the Mayan culture [sic, again] grew food this way at their homes on a neighborhood basis. This is one of the reasons their culture survived when others around them were collapsing."
So...the Maya still exist. I hate that they're here, claiming they "disappeared" when there are still millions of Maya, speaking dozens of Mayan languages. And I have no idea where their claims of how they farmed comes from. Kitchen vegetable gardens are common in many civilizations around the world, but archaeologists are still trying to figure out how the Classic Maya fed their civilizations and even which crops predominated (corn or cassava). I'm not sure what neighboring, contemporary civilizations they're talking about collapsing, either. Given that there aren't any citations, I'm 95% sure they haven't researched it, but tossed in "The Maya used something like this" to try to boost their own credibility.
Okay. That made it sound like I hated the book. I did disagree with a lot of it, and I really don't like their off-handed, no-citations history. Despite that, this was still an interesting read for me because of other books I've read. I can now understand how other authors modified this method, or parts of it, to develop gardening techniques much better suited to their situations. I suppose I now know why everyone references this book, but so few authors advocate actually using it.
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The fact that I feel empowered to start a garden and feel like I stand chance on that journey makes me feel like this is a great book. Looking forward to buying a house with a small yard and becoming a cool vegetable guy.
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"How to Grow” is a useful addition to the home gardener’s library. It details the science and practice of sustainable organic vegetable gardening for the dedicated amateur. I particularly found the master charts and sample plans useful, despite the limitations of my small garden.
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The militant vegans guide to growing plants completely separate from unclean animal contamination.
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Completely out of scope for what I want to do, but something I aspire to do one day. This felt like a book for someone who already has some good experience, and not newbie appropriate.
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I've owned 3 editions of this book, and I finally read the new edition on the Kindle. Great information about double digging as a way to prepare garden beds. I learned this technique from a friend who attended one of the workshops that Jeavons and co. offer, and we grew wonderful produce. There are some things in the book that could use updating/translation, like how he calls what's now commonly called a broadfork a "U-bar." What really bothered me here is his tendency to guess at future statistics about carbon increases in the soil, for instance, and then to make charts about these statistics as if they were true facts. More research and actual data are needed. There are some useful charts based on his experience growing vegetables, grains, etc.
The amount of physical labor required, from double-digging to removing all cover crop residue for composting, is daunting and, I'd argue, unrealistic for Americans who are not used to or able to do such heavy labor (I know that I personally was barely able to do it in my twenties but won't even attempt it in my 40's due to arthritis, injuries, etc). Oh, and starting cover crops from seed sounds appealing and effective, except for the labor in transplanting.
The amount of physical labor required, from double-digging to removing all cover crop residue for composting, is daunting and, I'd argue, unrealistic for Americans who are not used to or able to do such heavy labor (I know that I personally was barely able to do it in my twenties but won't even attempt it in my 40's due to arthritis, injuries, etc). Oh, and starting cover crops from seed sounds appealing and effective, except for the labor in transplanting.
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I'm not even a gardener (though I have ambitions), and this book was really just completely fascinating to read. I have no idea if everybody would find it so interesting, but wow, I'd think if you have any impulse toward gardening at all, you want to read this one.
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The book was introduced to me while a Plant and Soil Science undergrad.
The basic premises consist of reestablishing healthy soil through several organic methods. These mostly consist of using various, preferably native, plants followed by an intense version of the raised bed approach.
It is called intense for its use of double digging. Each raised bed is created by digging one spade depth rows in the shape desired. That first layer of soil is placed in as intact a condition as possible. This first layer is held aside awaiting completion of the next stage.
A spading fork is used to loosen the bottom layer. This done to one spading fork depth. Afterwards a 3"-6" layer of finished compost is forked in.
Once this is complete the first layer of removed soil goes back into the completed trench. Again keeping the soil layers as intact as possible.
If feasible a season or more of cover crops are applied. They range from dandelion and other herbs to clover certain grasses or legumes.
Most of these crops are soil builders, providing organic matter for composting. But a number can be considered for soil remediation.
As you can probably ascertain this is an extremely labor intensive process.
The book goes on to cover irrigation, crop rotation, plant selection, maintenance of beds, etc. Along with these methods layout plans for a garden suited to your needs plus charts for tracking it all.
Perhaps it sounds a bit overwhelming. It's a lot of info for a book this small. It's because they take their claim to productiveness in a small space seriously.
It's a must have book on raising your own food on an acre or a suburban backyard.
The basic premises consist of reestablishing healthy soil through several organic methods. These mostly consist of using various, preferably native, plants followed by an intense version of the raised bed approach.
It is called intense for its use of double digging. Each raised bed is created by digging one spade depth rows in the shape desired. That first layer of soil is placed in as intact a condition as possible. This first layer is held aside awaiting completion of the next stage.
A spading fork is used to loosen the bottom layer. This done to one spading fork depth. Afterwards a 3"-6" layer of finished compost is forked in.
Once this is complete the first layer of removed soil goes back into the completed trench. Again keeping the soil layers as intact as possible.
If feasible a season or more of cover crops are applied. They range from dandelion and other herbs to clover certain grasses or legumes.
Most of these crops are soil builders, providing organic matter for composting. But a number can be considered for soil remediation.
As you can probably ascertain this is an extremely labor intensive process.
The book goes on to cover irrigation, crop rotation, plant selection, maintenance of beds, etc. Along with these methods layout plans for a garden suited to your needs plus charts for tracking it all.
Perhaps it sounds a bit overwhelming. It's a lot of info for a book this small. It's because they take their claim to productiveness in a small space seriously.
It's a must have book on raising your own food on an acre or a suburban backyard.
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An extremely useful resource for how to get more plants out of your garden, all without chemicals.
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This book has a lot of very useful information, particularly for those wishing to grow intensively on whatever plot of land they own. The double-dig method is key to this methodology, as well as focusing on crop rotation, utilising companion planting and generating your own organic material to reduce dependence on outside inputs.
If you're interested in these elements I highly recommend the book. It is very readable with excellent graphs and insight from years of honing intensive, organic gardening. While my own goal is not to achieve the sorts of high-yields this book is geared toward, I nonetheless will consult its wisdom about the above.
If you're interested in these elements I highly recommend the book. It is very readable with excellent graphs and insight from years of honing intensive, organic gardening. While my own goal is not to achieve the sorts of high-yields this book is geared toward, I nonetheless will consult its wisdom about the above.
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Title: How to Grow More Vegetables, and Fruits, Nuts Berries, Grains and Crops - 9th Editions
Author: John Jeavons
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Published: 7-25-2017
Pages: 264
Genre: Home & Gardening
Sub-Genre: Garden Beds
ISBN: 978-0-997123-93-7
ASIN: B01M5I294G
Reviewed For: Net Galley & the Publisher
Reviewer: DelAnne
Rating: 5 Stars
Small or big. How to make the most of the space you have. Choosing between rows and raised beds. How to prepare the soil and maintain it Whether you are a novice or expert gardener, you will want a copy of How to Grow More Vegetables in your Gardening Library. Abundant information and guides for the gardener to learn from.
My rating is 5 out of 5 stars.
Amazon Links: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M5I294G/...
B&N Link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-...
GoodReads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
The Reading Room Link: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/DelAnne531/status...
Author: John Jeavons
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Published: 7-25-2017
Pages: 264
Genre: Home & Gardening
Sub-Genre: Garden Beds
ISBN: 978-0-997123-93-7
ASIN: B01M5I294G
Reviewed For: Net Galley & the Publisher
Reviewer: DelAnne
Rating: 5 Stars
Small or big. How to make the most of the space you have. Choosing between rows and raised beds. How to prepare the soil and maintain it Whether you are a novice or expert gardener, you will want a copy of How to Grow More Vegetables in your Gardening Library. Abundant information and guides for the gardener to learn from.
My rating is 5 out of 5 stars.
Amazon Links: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M5I294G/...
B&N Link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-...
GoodReads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
The Reading Room Link: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/DelAnne531/status...
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