Although we have the great fortune to be able to grow vegetables year-round in Sonoma County, May seems to be the month that most locals get excited about growing vegetables, probably because that is when tomatoes, the home gardener’s favorites, are planted here, along with copious others such as melons, cucumbers, eggplants and peppers. If you are looking for a good reference book to help you with vegetable selection, planting and care, Edward Smith’s ‘Bible’ is a good choice.
One immediate caveat before I discuss the many virtues of this book: Ed Smith gardens in Northern Vermont! West Coast gardeners have a long history of ‘translating’ East Coast garden books into ‘West Coast’ garden language (indeed, even deriving useful information from English gardening books) so with a little understanding this one is no different than many others. I use it anyway because it is comprehensive, easy to use, and has great photos.
The premise of the book is the author’s ‘W-O-R-D’ system, which refers to Wide rows, Organic methods, Raised beds and Deep soil. Cut away the gimmick and we see that he largely gardens along the lines of those principles espoused by the University of California horticultural and agricultural experts: pay attention to the quality of your soil, amend it with lots of organic material, raise the beds to improve the drainage, mulch abundantly and go easy on the pesticides. His own particular views on bed size, shape, etc are fine but you can readily adapt them to fit your own space or inclinations.
The real value of this book to me is his advice on determining what to plant and how much of it – planning a vegetable garden is as important as planting it – and then the Plant Directory which lists vegetables alphabetically with cultivation requirements and other pertinent information. There is also a very good section on ‘gardening vertically’, which discusses various ways of trellising. I experimented with several ways of trellising my tomatoes, for example, until I found this section and after reading the pros and cons of various types I chose the wood and twine structure that he likes best. The discussion of this trellis has excellent photos, it is easy to build and doubles as a pea support in the winter when I replace the twine with netting. There are similar discussions of teepees and A-frames, along with construction detail and photos.
In the ‘Plant Directory’, under each plant there are, once again, great photographs that accompany the text. Each entry has information on sowing, transplanting and growing, including spacing, depth, light and nutrient information. I would ignore – or at least discount – the suggestions about specific varieties, as many are more suited to other climatic zones. You also have to use local information about the timing of both planting and harvesting (this website has a vegetable planting calendar for Sonoma County – use that instead).
Overall, this is the best single reference book that I have found for my vegetable garden. In combination with the more locally relevant information that the Sonoma County Master Gardeners provide, you should have everything that you need to plan, plant, harvest and EAT all the vegetables that you would like.
‘The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible’ is published by Storey Books. Master Garden advice can be obtained from this website (see the archive for past vegetable articles), by calling the help desk at the number listed on our home page, or at any of the local Farmer’s Markets. Look for the table with the Master Gardener’s sign.