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Gardening Vegetables

The Prairie Gardener’s Go-To for Vegetables

by (author) Janet Melrose & Sheryl Normandeau

Publisher
TouchWood Editions
Initial publish date
May 2020
Category
Vegetables, Canada
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781771513128
    Publish Date
    May 2020
    List Price
    $15.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781771513135
    Publish Date
    Apr 2020
    List Price
    $15.00

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

All the most common questions about growing vegetables in the prairies are answered in this first installation of the new gardening series, Guides for the Prairie Gardener.

Too often people think of vegetable gardening in the prairies as challenging, but certified master gardeners Sheryl and Janet are here to show you how rewarding it can really be.

From planning to planting, they encourage you to take a hands-on approach with your prairie garden. They let you know when—and how!—to transplant your carefully nurtured seedlings in the spring, ways to shelter your plants from that inevitable July hailstorm, and how to determine how much irrigation is necessary in the arid prairie climate. They help you figure out if you should prune your tomatoes, how to hold up your pumpkins off the ground, and maximizing your harvest by planting in succession. And they show you how you can directly influence the quality of your produce, minimizing problems such as woody radishes, buttoning cauliflower, and split cabbage heads.

This Q&A-style resource covers all your most common questions about cultivation practices, preventing damage from frost, flood, and drought, harvest and storage, and they cover your questions about the veggies you love to grow:

  • Garlic, Onions, and Leeks
  • Lettuce
  • Brassicas
  • Carrots, Celery, and Beets
  • Legumes, Corn and Other Warm Season Edibles
  • Tomatoes and Peppers
  • Potatoes
  • Squash, Pumpkins, and Cucumbers

Whether you’ve just acquired your first garden space, or you’ve been growing vegetables for decades, gardeners are always learning and experimenting, building on the wisdom gained on their own or from others. With Sheryl and Janet on your team you’re that much closer to achieving success in your prairie garden!

About the authors

Janet Melrose is a garden educator and consultant, and an advocate for Calgary’s Sustainable Local Food System. She is a life-long gardener and holds a Prairie Horticulture Certificate and Home Farm Horticultural Therapy Certificate. She has a passion for Horticultural Therapy and facilitates numerous programs designed to integrate people marginalized by various disabilities into the larger community. She is a regular contributor to The Gardener for Canadian Climates magazine. She lives in Calgary where she runs her education and consulting company, Calgary’s Cottage Gardener.

Janet Melrose's profile page

Sheryl Normandeau is a life-long gardener, and holds a Prairie Horticulture Certificate and a Sustainable Urban Agriculture Certificate. She is a freelance writer specializing in gardening writing with hundreds of articles published. She is a regular contributor The Gardener for Canadian Climates, The Prairie Garden Annual, Herb Quarterly, Mother Earth Gardener, and many more. She lives in Calgary.

Sheryl Normandeau's profile page

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series

"Helping gardeners across the prairies succeed in growing food, flowers and everything in between." —Medicine Hat News

"Melrose and Normandeau answer all the questions that the two experts could think of when it came to horticulture on the prairies." —Edify Edmonton

“The Prairie Gardener’s series offers knowledgeable yet accessible answers to questions covering a broad range of topics to help you cultivate garden success. Get growing!” —Lorene Edwards Forkner, gardener and author of Color In and Out of the Garden

“This is a beautiful and incredibly well-written series of books on earth-friendly gardening. Lavishly illustrated, with photos in every segment, the books are a pleasure just to leaf through, but the accessible writing and level of expertise makes them essential to any gardener’s library. Although they’re geared to prairie gardeners, I found great information that transfers anywhere, including where I live, in the Sierra Foothills, and will enjoy them for years to come. Well-indexed, to help you find solutions to elusive problems. Highly recommended!” —Diane Miessler, certified permaculture designer and author of Grow Your Soil!

“All your gardening questions answered! Reading the Prairie Gardener’s series is like sitting down with your friendly local master gardener. Delivers practical guidance that will leave you feeling confident and inspired.” —Andrea Bellamy, author of Small-Space Vegetable Gardens

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