It’s definitely not my style to wait until the last minute, I’m a planner at heart, but some days life sneaks up on you. Today is one of those days. When my calendar alerted me this column was due, I was busy weeding what just might be the best year for my garden yet. Most of the weeds are now just the standard dandelions, and the perennials I planted five years ago are full, mature and ready to divide. With little else on my mind besides what’s growing in the garden I thought it might be appropriate to stay on theme and toss out a few of my favorite books that inspire blooms, fruits and vegetables.
I often say I plant vegetables and then let the flowers grow. This year I swore I’d treat calendula and sunflower volunteers like weeds and keep the baby kale and carrots thinned so they had a chance. My favorite resource for vegetable gardening is Sandra Perrin’s “Organic Gardening in Cold Climates.” This little book is so thorough in instruction you need little else to grow hearty vegetables despite the short and turbulent season of our northern climate. Perrin instructs the reader with the practical wisdom of a grandmother and covers everything from soil and compost, pest control to planting and harvesting.
I do still love the flowers though, so much so I removed my entire lawn and planted mostly native and perennial flowers and grasses. It was a few years of heavy maintenance and at the time. I relied on my instincts to guide me, but a few years ago I came across, “Tiny and Wild: Build a Small Scale Meadow Anywhere” by Graham Laird Gardner. This is the book I wish I had before I started and is a great resource for anyone looking to naturalize even just a corner of their yard let alone the whole thing.
The thing I am most excited about in my garden this year though is my peaches. Yup, I’ve got peaches. My son and I counted them last night, there are 11 little orbs of furry fruit waiting to be harvested. Fruit is tricky for the organic gardener though as pests love the fruit as much as we do. But even if I wanted to spray them, who has the time? My favorite book for fruits is “The Holistic Orchard” by Michael Phillips. Some adaptations have to be made for our dry climate but the basic principles apply and the book truly is holistic in both its approach to management and the topics it covers. I have been using it as my go to resource for fruits and berries for 10 years now, and all seems to be going well. I do have peaches after all.
Well my time is up, the deadline is NOW! But this is only a spattering of the gardening books I could recommend so come find me for more, I’ll be at the bookstore or in the garden — either works for a friendly chat.
Katrina Mendrey
Provided photo
The Mortal Reader is a weekly book column written by the owners and staff of Chapter One Book Store, 252 W. Main St., Hamilton, Montana 59840. To find a book you have read about here, or to learn more about events at Chapter One, please go to chapter1bookstore.com.