Best-selling gardening author Barbara Pleasant makes organic vegetable gardening easy, fun, and rewarding with detailed planting and care designs for 24 beginner-friendly gardens to fit any site, whether it's a tiny side yard, a border, a trellis alongside the house, or a front yard. From exactly what plants (and how many) to buy, where and when to plant them, and how to care for each vegetable throughout the season, Pleasant encourages readers to start small, grow the food they love, and expand their plant selection as their skills develop. Specially tailored plans offer choices to fit a wide range of sites and food preferences, from the Front-Yard Food Supply to the Marinara Medley, Sweet Corn & Company, and High-Value Verticals.There's a plan and plant selection to fit every gardener's passion. Detailed plot plans show progressive stages for how each garden can be expanded gradually over the course of three years, ensuring that beginning gardeners will experience success and satisfaction without being overwhelmed by an over-ambitious plan at the start. 

Barbara Pleasant has written about organic gardening and self-sufficient living for more than 30 years. Her books include Starter Vegetable Gardens, The Complete Compost Gardening Guide, The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual, The Gardener’s Bug Book, The Gardener’s Weed Book, and The Gardener’s Guide to Plant Diseases. 

Digging In

• How to Use This Book

 Part 1: Developing Your Garden Plan

• Starting Small and Growing Year by Year
• Sizing Up Your Site and Soil

Chapter 1: The Easy-Care Bag Garden

• Year One
• Year Two
• Year Three

Chapter 2: A Bountiful Border

• Year One
• Year Two
• Year Three

Chapter 3: The Front-Yard Food Supply

• Year One
• Year Two
• Year Three

Chapter 4: Family Food Factory Gardens

• Short, Cool Summers
• Full-Season Summers
• Long, Hot Summers
• Angel Wings Herb Garden

 Part 2: Essential Techniques and More Planting Plans

• Purposeful Planting Plans

Chapter 5: Deciding What to Grow

• It’s All in the Timing
• Vegetables and Climate

Chapter 6: Designing Beautiful, Big-Flavor Gardens

• From Flowers to Food

Chapter 7: Working with Seeds and Seedlings

• Garden Plan: Overnight Success
• Direct-Seeding in Your Garden
• Garden Plan: Strictly from Seed
• Starting Seeds Indoors
• Starting Seeds Step-by-Step
• Garden Plan: Paintbrush Beds

Chapter 8: Supporting Your Plants

• Types of Support
• How to Pound a Post
• How to Cage a Tomato
• Garden Plan: High-Value Verticals

Chapter 9: Water: Make Every Drop Count

• Garden Plan: Marinara Medley
• Knowing When to Water

Chapter 10: The Magic of Mulch

• When Looks Count
• Garden Plan: Managed Mulch Garden

Chapter 11: Fertilizing Your Garden

• Weighing Your Options
• Garden Plan: Sweet Corn & Company
• Can You Use Too Much?

Chapter 12: Your Insect Friends and Foes

• Organic Remedies That Really Work
• Garden Plan: Beneficial Border

Chapter 13: Preventing Dastardly Diseases

• Super-Strong Varieties
• Garden Plan: Cajun Spice
• Fighting with Fungi

Chapter 14: Smart Harvesting

• Chill Out!
• Preserving Your Favorite Herbs
• Garden Plan: Good-for-You Garden

Chapter 15: Stretching the Seasons

• Three Ways to Bring On Spring
• Garden Plan: Six-Weeks-Sooner 15 CHAPTER

Part 3: Pick-Of-the-Crop Veggie Varieties

• Making Good Choices
• What Is a Variety?

Top Varieties for Your Garden, Crop by Crop
 
Appendix

• Gardener’s Basic Lingo
• Which Planting Plans Are Right for You?
• Sources for Seeds and Plants
• Metric Conversions

Index