the big book of farming/gardening!!

Any suggestions?

I'm looking for a book with A LOT of information about growing veggies/spices and general home agriculture.

Basically, I'm turning my backyard into a mini fard.

Thanks in advance!!

http://www.motherearthnews.com/

My favorite used to be, "The Sunset Western Garden Handbook". I'm not sure how they are doing now.

I see this link to Barns and Noble (if they are still around) to purchase it.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...rn+garden+book

I also see they have a website that may be a more modern replacement for a hard copy;

http://www.sunset.com/garden/

One of the things that made it so valuable was the information they had on Climate Zones. Then you picked plants suitable for your zone. Local nurseries can be really helpful in that department.

http://www.sunset.com/garden/climate-zones/

Websites are great and all (thank you), but I'm actually looking for a book (or collection of books) that I can buy and have a HARD COPY of.

Also, I'm looking for EDIBLES. Unless a flower has pest reducing utility - I don't care about flowers.

Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seraphim

Websites are great and all (thank you), but I'm actually looking for a book (or collection of books) that I can buy and have a HARD COPY of.

Also, I'm looking for EDIBLES. Unless a flower has pest reducing utility - I don't care about flowers.

Thanks.

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Then the "The Sunset Western Garden Handbook" is the place to start. I'm pretty sure it is more than flowers like the cover this year. I'm thinking it was the fundamentals. I did go on to collect other books similar to this one:

Western Garden Book of Edibles: The Complete A-Z Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruits by Editors of Sunset

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Garden..._bxgy_b_text_b

Sunset Western Garden Book [Hardcover]

http://www.amazon.com/Sunset-Western.../dp/0376039175

The main book is pretty expensive. You may want to check it out first. Here is some Google information but it still doesn't crack it open for us;

http://books.google.com/books?id=B9h...ed=0CFUQ6AEwBA

P.S. I dug up my copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book and I'm not to sure if it is what you want. The bulk of the book is like a dictionary of garden plants. Under tomato it gives you the basics for about a page and a half. Like I mentioned before, part of the book is to defining the zone you live in to pick the correct varieties for your area. It also has quite a bit of information on different gardening topics in dictionary or encyclopedia like format. For me it is the foundation though.

You may want to go with the Western-Garden-Book-Edibles-Vegetables or something else someone here suggest.

Everything you need to know.

http://thepiratebay.se/search/gardening%20/0/99/600

my suggestion:
http://www.amazon.com/Gaias-Garden-S.../dp/1603580298
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...SH20_OU01_.jpg

plant perennial bearing food plants,
surround them with insect attractors, N fixers and plants that can be cut and laid down to create mulch (comfrey is a great one)

eventually you will have a food forest that sustains itself, all you have to do is mulch, harvest and enjoy.
start to think about farming soil, not growing plants, and you will be a head of the game.

I have found older books to be very informative and often contain simple remedies for problems you may run into while gardening. I love to browse second hand book stores looking for books on a variety of subjects. Just a few weeks ago I found a 100 year old book on Midwifery. It covered the topic from A to Z. Although outdated it still contains a ton of useful information. I am having a friend read through it to see if there is any information which has proven to be false and will highlight questionable sections. Building REAL libraries are a great idea because the internet may not always be available.