Growing, Gardening & Farming
 City Goats
Jennie P. Grant
From the Goat Justice League's Guide to Backyard Goat Keeping, this is an informative book for wannabe backyard farmers. It answers many questions from going about legalizing raising livestock within city boundaries to chooosing the breed, housing, breeding, kidding, and much more. Black and white photos. Softcover, 189 pp. $19.95.
 A Pocket Guide to Plants & Gardening
Elizabeth McCorquodale
A beautifully illustrated, informative mini encyclopedia, designed to provide simple answers to all the basic questions about plants. With bright illustrations, clear instructions and diagrams, as well as maps, timelines, portraits, keys and much more - this is the perfect guide to plants for gardeners of all ages and experience! Softcover, 125 pp. $14.95.
The Boreal Herbal
Beverley Gray
This book is an indispensable guide to identifying and using northern plants for food and medicine. This easy-to-use handbook will help you reccognize and use 55 commom wild plants that have extraordinary healing properties. Also included are dozens of healthy and delicious recipes. Softcover, 440 pp. $44.95.
 Jekka's Herb Cookbook
Jekka McVicar
Jamie Oliver heralds her as "The Queen of Herbs", and Jekka McVicar makes good on her title with a book chock full of information about almost any herb imaginable. Artful illustrations are included with each herb that further enhances the aesthetic appeal of this clean, well-executed volume. A great addition to any cookbook shelf. Hardcover, 351 pp. $29.95.
 The Complete Book of Potatoes
Hielke De Jong
The average person's understanding of the potato usually extends to whether they are waxy or starchy, and that's about it. They also know usually of the Russet or Yukon and little else. Perhaps it's a bit ambitious to write an entire book about potatoes, but does it hurt to improve upon the little knowledge that is out there right now? Why doesn't the La Ratte potato garner as much affection as the Idaho Russet? What's the best potato for frying? Expand your knowledge about this oft neglected ingredient. Hardcover, 258 pp. $41.95.
 Sugar Snaps and Strawberries
Andrea Bellamy
Who says you need and actual "garden" to garden? Andrea Bellamy shows you how to maximize your usable space and grow your own vegetables and herbs without all the hassle of managing large amounts of land. With more and more people moving into condos and apartments, Bellamy provides easy methods for balcony and rooftop gardening that's a snap to execute and even easier to maintain. Softcover, 221 pp. $24.95.
 Simple Organic Kitchen & Garden
Christine & Michael Lavelle
Here is your guide to organic gardening and cooking. Learn to create a balanced and healthy outdoor environment with beautiful fruits, vegetables and herbs. Simple Organic Kitchen & Garden offers an extensive guide to all the fruits of your labour, their flavours and culinary uses, along with wonderfully fresh recipes to tantalize your tastebuds and make you feel good! Softcover, 512 pp. $19.95.
 Urban Farms
Sarah C. Rich
Learn the art of gardening and farming in an urban setting. Sarah Rich helps you discover the tricks of the trade and brings to life the joy of cultivation throughout the 'States. From New Orleans there is an inspiring backyard pig and chicken farm. In Milwaukee, a former college basketball player heads Growing Power which raises bees, goats, poultry, and vegetables for CSA boxes. They also sell high quality soil from their composting efforts. Hardcover, 222 pp. $33.00.
 Italian Kitchen Garden
Sarah Fraser
The ever popular locavore trend has many of us ready to start that home garden we've always dreamed of. Sarah Fraser makes this possible for everyone, from the humble windowsill herb garden to the backyard abundant with every Italian vegetable, from asparagus to zucchini. Included with the gardening instructions are recipes to make from the fruits (well, vegetables) of your labour. Colour photos. Hardcover, 176 pp. $27.95.
 Ripe
Cheryl Sternman Rule
Unusually, this book is organized by produce colour. One finds rhubarb, beets, tomatoes, and radishes all in the same chapter. Ditto for plums, purple cabbage, and grapes. The recipes include gremolata fingerling potatoes, watermelon sluchy, and jicama with peanut sriracha sauce. Color photos. Hardcover, 312 pp. $28.00.
 Rare Breeds
Terry Bridge
Featuring some of the most unusual farm animals from around the world, Rare Breeds reminds us of the great diversity which we are in danger of losing. Many of these breeds are truly wild and wooly. Check out the Arapawa goats from New Zealand, the American Guinea hog, and shaggy, long horned Highland cattle. Colour photos. Softcover, 256 pp. $9.99.
 Chickens
Derek Hall
This colorful guide details some of the world's great poultry varieties. Author Derek Hall also includes some history about the development of chickens and tips on caring for them. Softcover, 256 pp. $11.99.
 Home Sweet, Home Grown
Robyn Jasko
Warm, well organized, and easy to follow, Home Sweet, Home Grown makes gardening accessible no matter whether you live in the country or the city. Not content to merely teach you how to grow great ingredients, this book shows you how to cook, preserve, and best enjoy your garden's bounty. Softcover, 126 pp. $11.95.
 The Practical Encyclopedia of Garden Pests and Diseases
Andrew Mikolajski
A little slime, a little disease, will inevitably worm its way into every beautiful garden plot. This handy and well-illustrated book will help the gardener keep invasions and damage to a mimimum. In the opening section, the author covers how to diagnose and control problems. He includes a chart listing specific plants, their common problems and how to overcome them, Following, there are chapters on the three major types of problems and their solutions: insects, fungus and bacterial diseeases, and finally physiological problems. Softcover, 256 pp. $18.99.
 Kids in the Wild Garden
Elizabeth McCorquodale
This book is a great aid for parents trying to distill a lifetime love of nature in their childen. Featuring projects to engage family members of all ages, this book teaches the methods, tools, and vocubulary one needs to engage with the natural world. Colour photos. Softcover, 96 pp. $15.95.
 Kids in the Garden
Elizabeth McCorquodale
Forget "hiding" vegetables so that your children will eat them. Enlist their help in growing them and they will be eager to taste test their harvest. This book features common, easy-to-grow crops such as salad greens, peas, herbs, and carrots. At the same time, children will learn about the science of nature. Best of all, there are recipes which capture the best of the produce. Softcover, 96 pp. $15.95.
 The Heirloom Life Gardener
Jere & Emilee Gettle
Can we just say off the top these authors look way too young to bemarried and parents let alone be authors? Cofounders of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company serve up a mix up seed collecting methods,general gardening directions, and a guide to the 50 most reliable heirloom vegetable varieties from the more than 3000 they offer. Color photos. Hardcover, 227 pp. $34.99.
 Aquaponic Gardening
Sylvia Bernstein
Step-by-step instructions on how to grow plants and raise fish in the same areas for a truly unique and rewarding experience. Tips on ecosystem balance and organization assist the amateur gardener while still enhancing the prowess of the greener (and wetter) thumbs out there. Softcover, 256 pp. $29.95.
 Home Ground: Sanctuary In The City
Dan Pearson
Break through the gardening confines of the big city and create the flower bed of your dreams with this book geared towards people in urban environments. Flowers are reccomended depending upon their compatabiliity with the rigors of a urban atmosphere and space. Embrace your discontent with anemic balcony flower pots and do something truly deserving of an urban green thumb! Hardcover, 272 pp. $35.99.
 A Taste of the Unexpected
Mark Diacono
Why hoof it to the grocery store for products that you can grow in your backyard? Intimidation need not be a factor, as Mark Diacono fearlessly leads you towards a healthy and prolific harvest of all your favorite produce. Outlined guide-style, instructions and tips are easy to follow. Hardcover, 192 pp. $39.95.
 Grow Your Own Vegetables
Carol Klein
It's warming up now, and that means it's prime time for gorgeous, bright and tasty things to start making their way into the sunlight. Fuel your backyard garden ambitions and get your own vegetable crop started! A comprehensive layout and clear instructions are sure to help you bring out your inner green thumb and put something fresh and delicious on the table. Softcover, 224 pp. $23.99.
 The Wild Table
Connie Green & Sarah Scott
Connie Green finally steps into the spotlight after years of foraging ingredients for such restaurants as The French Laundry, Bouchon and Alinea. Here she provides recipes to use with her foraged wares. Recipes are split up by main ingredient, beginning with an outline of what the ingredient is, and how it is foraged for. Recipes are simple, but complex in flavor. Do not be discouraged if foraged product is unavailable; recipes work excellently with more cultivated ingredients as well. 343 pp. $50.00.
 Harvest to Heat
Darryl Estrine and Kelly Kochendorfer
This is a book celebrating chefs and the farmers who supply them, where have we heard that before?! The chefs don't necessarily take centre stage here, beyond their recipes of course; instead of talking about themselves they put their farmers & suppliers first. A beautifully photographed book with recipes that although not ground breaking are worthy of trying from some of America's more creative chefs. Hardcover, 296 pp. $40.00.
From Seed to Skillet
Jimmy Williams and Susan Heeger
The kitchen gardener should be well into their seed catalogues at this time of year. This books guides you through seed selection, preparing/building beds, tending, harvesting and of course recipes for eating your crop. Very readable, not too overwhelming. Softcover,176 pp. $35.00.
 Raised-Bed Vegetable Gardening Made Simple
Raymond Nones
Black and white drawings, accompanied by handwritten explanations, create a sense of familiarity and comfort - essential for the first-time gardener! - and author Raymond Nones' use of language is such that directions are easily understandable without seeming over-simplified. A great book for those wanting to grow their own vegetables, but also a book that provides tips for those wanting to expand their crop-growing knowledge. Softcover, 192 pp. $20.00.
 City Farmer
Lorraine Johnson
Veteran Toronto gardening writer Lorraine Johnson relates the many ways in which urban dwellers can transform the concrete jungle into a crop-producing Garden of Eden. Converting lawns to vegetable gardens, reclaiming abandoned lots, foraging, and keeping chickens are a few of the guerilla tactics that will create a band of city farmers. Softcover, 250 pp. $19.95.
 New Urban Farmer
Celia Brooks Brown
Whether growing in an allotment, in your own home garden, or in containers, New Urban Farmer addresses the essentials for each gardening style. The book is divided seasonally, with a convenient chart for each month listing the vegetable/fruit and the conditions under which it should be grown (indoors or under glass, outdoors direct in soil), whether it is suitable for container gardening, its harvestability, and recipes featuring that particular vegetable/fruit. Softcover, 208 pp. $29.95.
 The Organic Farming Manual
Ann Larkin Hansen
This fast growing area of self suffiency can be practiced on different levels. You may glean enough to do it on a small scale but this manual is meant for those wanting to do the gate to plate endeavour as a business. Softcover, 438 pp. $36.95.
 River Cottage Handbook No. 4
Veg Patch
Mark Diacono
A welcome additon in this series from River Cottage, in helping the gardener/cook plant their own crops. How to grow, how to harvest, how to eat are well layed out for each vegetable, along with additonal info for varieties and controling pests. Hardcoer, 272 pp. $25.00.
  Grow Great Grub
Gayla Trail
Writer, photographer, and roof top gardener, Torontonian Gayla Trail has created both an attractive and practical guide for the small space urban gardener. From seed sources to canning the products of grown-upside-down tomato plants, this guide will help you create a garden that is pleasing to the eye, easy on the pocket book and the environment, and which will provide food for the table long after growing season has ended. Colour photos. Softcover, 208 pp. $24.99.
 Homesteading
Abagail R. Gehring
If you are dreaming about packing in the day job and moving to a small holding in the countryside, this could be just the book to get you started. Homesteading deals with everything you need to know about self-sufficiency, from gardening and a backyard farm, to preserving and foraging, using alternative methods of energy and building structures like smokehouses and root cellars. There are also sections on crafts and well being, and plenty of illustrative colour photos. Hardcover, 456 pp. $29.95.
 Growing Stuff: An Alternative Guide to Gardening
Packed with information on how to grow all manner of fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers in even the smallest of spaces, this is a book well suited to urban dwellers wishing to make the most of a patch of garden, a patio, or even just a windowsill. There is a helpful section on getting started as well as a section devoted to interesting projects, a ladybird house and flowering teacups for instance. Full colour pictures throughout. Softcover, 141 pp. $24.95.
 Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden
Lee Reich
Elaeagunus, maypop, jujube and medlar are just some of the unusual fruits that this book highlights. The bulk of the book tells the story of a large variety of fruits unknown to most people, and then ends off with some information on sourcing and cultivating these rare gems. Softcover, 288 pp. $22.95.
 Fruits and Berries for the Home Garden
Lewis Hill
This book has been completely revised and is ready to take a place on all fruit lovers shelves during the current gardening revival. The book is full of information on starting anywhere from a small fruit garden to an orchard. It begins with general information on soil conditions, choosing your plants and common pests. It then goes into more detail focusing on specific types of fruits and tending to them. Softcover, 266 pp. $25.95.
 The Complete Compost Gardening Guide
Barbara Pleasant
With a growing ecological and local food movement taking hold, this book gives the solution on how to get the best use from your food waste and produce new food in the process. A comprehensive guide to starting and maintaining a compost based garden, this book is indespensible for beginners to the serious gardening locavore. Softcover, 320 pp. $26.95.
Back to Basics
Third Edition
Edited by Abigail Gehring
In this time of back to the land, raising livestock, planting fruit trees, root cellars, (yes we have books on that too!) this book has seen a surge in new found interest. Whilst some chapters may harken back to days of no electricity eg Energy from Wood, Water, Wind and Sun, there are practical chapters on Raising Your Own Vegetables, Fruit and Livestock; Enjoying Your Harvest Year Round. The more whimsical chapters make for wistful reading Patchwork Quilting, Rope and Twine, Broommkaing. A great resource for those wanting to do more with less. Hardcover, 456 pp. $33.95.
 How to Make a Garden
Marjorie Harris
The gardening columnist for the Globe and Mail, Marjorie Harris offers the best of both worlds to the Canadian gardener: the writing skill and depth of knowledge of the British garden writers and the understanding of which plants work best in our climate zones. Using a combination of practical advice and inspiration photos, Harris guides us on the steps that lead from tangled - or empty - plot to the controlled lushness of our dreams. Even the most seasoned gardener will appreciate the indispensable plant list. Colour photos. Hardcover, 175 pp. $29.95.
 The Gardener's Companion
For anyone who has ever put on a pair of gloves, picked up a spade and gone
out into the garden in search of flowers, beauty and inspiration.
159 pp. $19.95.
 Kitchen
Garden A to Z
Mike McGrath
Information on selecting, growing, harvesting and storing and buying
produce, common or unusual, is necessary but it is those luscious
photos that will have us rushing to the garden centre. Colour photos.
Hardcover, 158 pp, $67.50.
 The Cook's Garden
edited by Liz Primeau
This beautifully photographed book features 100+ recipes for cooking
what you grow in your home garden. Divided into seasons to showcase
optimal taste, it also contains
expert growing advice from Canadian Gardening Magazine. For a refreshing
spring treat, please try the Rhubarb & Ginger Cordial on page 34. Softcover,
215 pp. $29.95.
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