From soils to seeds to soups, most everything you need to know for gardening success.

This highly practical book contains all the information you need to successfully grow more than 50 common vegetables. There are specific step-by-step instructions for each crop: soil requirements, variety selection, raising transplants, direct sowing, protection, harvesting, seed saving, and storage. After telling you what to do (and when), the Handbook also tells you why, by explaining in detail how crops grow. A book with imagination, it also discusses many unusual crops, culinary herbs, and more. It then goes on to unusual growing ideas, edible flowers, enhanced nutrition foods, additional uses for common crops, and even how to use common edible wild plants and garden weeds. There is also a small selection of outstanding vegetarian recipes.