What are your best gardening resources?

MidwesternMom · Tar Sands Joined: May 26, 2008 Posts: 32

I am completely new at gardening, right now we have a plot that is 144 square feet from the previous owners. I am looking to learning more about gardening and specifically high calorie gardening. Where can i find resources to calculate how many calories foods have and how much people need to sustain life? I know i am a ways off of having anything great to contribute but this is what we have in our yard now:

1 dwarf peach tree, it has a quite a bit of fruit on it
1 crabapple tree that is a bit smaller with less fruit
2 blueberry bushes we just bought yesterday and plan to transplant
I've started herbs in the house, chickpeas and i am germinating some cantalope
I'm thinking it's too late to plant sunflower seeds this year,but i will definitely do some next year.
I am thinking of starting more indoor plants i've read about online such as mango and pineapple i know this will take some years for fruit to grow, but i would like some of my plants to be portable in case we move in the next 5-10 years.

TIA

WisJim

First, it is hard to give gardening advice without knowing where you are located. There has been discussion of size of garden, amount of calories produced, etc., in one of the gardening threads. PeakOiler was doing a spreadsheet of garden output and calories--Spreadsheet
I see that Bountiful Gardens offers some of John Jeavons books, and similar books on growing as much of your diet as possible in small spaces . Books Checking some of these books from the library might give you some good ideas, and then you could buy the ones you liked.

Ludi

My favorite book specifically for growing your own diet is "One Circle"

One Circle

Also "Grow More Vegetables"

How to Grow More Vegetables
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oowolf

"One Circle" is the best reference concerning gardening for complete nutrition. Don't be discouraged if your yields aren't anywhere as high as those in the book. You'll soon find out that growing enough food to actually live on is serious work. Tree crops are the most food for the least effort, but trees take years to mature.
Good site for food nutrition values:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/

uNkNowN ElEmEnt

I haven't seen anything in one circle that has provisions for omega 3's. Has anyone else seen that mentioned?

My fave has to be square foot gardening by Mel BAtholomew. If it weren't for him I'd have never made it.

SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 925

I would have to say your best resource is this PFTF forum! In a few posts you've been pointed to the best books on the subject.

Ludi

RedStateGreen

Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman are the two books I use the most.
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It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change. -- Charles Darwin