Dreams of the Garden: Recommendations From an Urbanite with Dreams of Dirt on Her Hands

I Garden: Urban Style

You can grow delicious, healthy vegetables and beautiful flowers in your urban setting. No yard? No problem, you have more options available than you think from containers and window boxes to raised beds and community plots. No time? No worries, there are plants and containers that accommodate even the busiest schedule.

Inside you'll find:

--Ideas for growing plants in any available space, no matter how small or soil deficient
--Step-by-step instructions on growing plants from seed
--Suggestions for plants and containers that fit various styles and schedules, including: no-fuss hardy producers; stunning plantscapes; and plants that attract birds and butterflies
--Advice on composting, pest control, watering and fertilizing
--Strategies for maintaining your garden while you are away
--More than 20 recipes featuring fresh ingredients you can grow
--Resources to help you build a gardening community in your neighborhood or on the Internet

Reggie Solomon and Michael Nolan of the popular website UrbanGardenCasual.com show you everything you need to know to grow a garden that fits your tight urban space and busy schedule. Shed your work clothes, grab your iPod and start enjoying your urban garden today.

The Urban Garden Casual Philosophy is about reclaiming the peace, relaxation and satisfaction that comes from growing something yourself.

Apartment Gardening

Grow squash on your patio, flowers in your window box, and pick blackberries from your parking strip. Apartment Gardening details how to start a garden in the heart of the city. From building your own planter box to sprouting seeds in jars on the counter, every small space is plantable. Beginning and experienced gardeners will discover how to save money on produce and impress friends with their newly-tenacious green thumbs. This book reveals that the DIY future is now by providing hands-on accessible advice to start using space sustainably, efficiently, and inexpensively. Apartment Gardening includes instructions on how to build your own planter box, grow lettuce in recycled containers, keep bees on your patio, and infuse spirits with herbs grown right in your kitchen. Eating locally starts at home — every surface holds an opportunity for something planted, pickled, or preserved. Amy Pennington's friendly voice paired with Kate Bingaman-Burt's crafty illustrations make greener living an accessible reality, even if readers have only a few hundred square feet and two windowsills. Save money by planting the same things available at the grocery store, and create an eccentric garden right in the heart of any living space.

Your Farm in the City

The most complete book on urban farming, covering everything from growing organic produce and raising chickens, to running a small farm on a city lot or in a suburban backyard.

Eating locally and growing one's own food is a rapidly evolving movement in urban settings — Hantz Farms in Detroit has transformed 70 acres of abandoned properties into energy-efficient gardens, and Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, a 6,000-foot vegetable farm in Brooklyn, New York, yields 30 different kinds of produce, while private square-foot farms are cropping up in cities all over the country.

Created by Lisa Taylor and the gardeners of Seattle Tilth, Your Farm in the City covers all of the essential information specific to gardening and farming in a city or town. Clear, easy-to-follow instructions guide and inspire even the most inexperienced urbanite in how to grow and harvest all types of produce, flowers, herbs, and trees, as well as how to raise livestock like chickens, ducks, rabbits, goats, and honeybees. Important information particular to gardening in a city or town is included, such as planning and maximizing limited space, building healthy soil, managing irrigation, understanding zoning laws, outwitting urban pests, and being a considerate farming neighbor.

With 100 two-color instructional illustrations throughout and dozens of vital resources, Your Farm in the City is the most practical, comprehensive, and easy-to-follow guide to the burgeoning trend of urban farming.

Grow Great Grub

Your patio, balcony, rooftop, front stoop, boulevard, windowsill, planter box, or fire escape is a potential fresh food garden waiting to happen. In Grow Great Grub, Gayla Trail, the founder of the leading online gardening community (YouGrowGirl.com), shows you how to grow your own delicious, affordable, organic edibles virtually anywhere.

Grow Great Grub packs in tips and essential information about:

- Choosing a location and making the most of your soil (even if it’s less than perfect)
- Building a raised bed, compost bin, and self-watering container using recycled materials
- Keeping pests and diseases away from your plants—the toxin-free way
- Growing bountiful crops in pots and selecting the best heirloom varieties
- Cultivating hundreds of plants, from blueberries to Thai basil, to the best tomatoes you’ll ever taste
- Canning, and preserving to make the most of your garden’s generosity
- Green-friendly, cost-saving, growing, and building projects that are smart and stylish
- And much more!

Whether you’re looking to eat on a budget or simply experience the pleasure of picking tonight’s meal from right outside your door, this is the must-have book for small-space gardeners—no backyard required.