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ISBN: 9781615193257
Published: February 23, 2016
Price: $18.95 US / $28.95 CAN
Paperback: 352 pages
Subject: Home & Garden
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One Magic Square Vegetable Gardening
The Easy, Organic Way to Grow Your Own Food on a 3-Foot Square
Expanded Second Edition
by Lolo Houbein
 

All it takes to grow your own organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs is One Magic Square

Lolo Houbein has 40 years’ worth of gardening wisdom to share—on how to coax an abundance of organic food from a plot that is just 3 feet square!

  • Sustainable, cost-effective, and creative techniques: how to compost, save water, troubleshoot weeds and pests, create a plant-friendly microclimate, and more
  • Over 40 themed plot designs, from antioxidant-rich and anti-cancer plots to salad, pizza, pasta, and stir-fry plots
  • Encyclopedic information about every crop in every plot
  • Tips on drying, freezing, pickling, and other ways to get more value and enjoyment from your homegrown produce
  • And her irresistible gardening philosophy (“If herbs wanted to be used frugally, they would also grow frugally. But they don’t!”)

Ever encouraging, often charming, and always practical, this expanded second edition of One Magic Square Vegetable Gardening will help first-time gardeners get started—and help veteran gardeners get results—on a small, easy-to-maintain plot. No actual magic is required!

★ One of Amazon’s Best Books of the Month in Crafts, Hobbies & Home
2016 Foreword INDIES Honorable Mention

“Enchants on many levels.” –Chicago Tribune

“The thirty ‘Magic Square’ garden plots offer plenty of ideas, from a simple garden salad with a variety of lettuces, to gardens for soup, stir fry, root crops, and more.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“[Houbein is] brilliantly contemporary in organizing each of her 40-plus model gardens into a number of practical culinary groupings. The clever gardener . . . could make this book work anywhere.”—Booklist

“So many gardening books feature plants’ mile-long Latin names and confusing charts. Not this one. Its easy-to-follow instructions, diagrams, and photos inspire desire to grow good-for-the-body fresh produce from little yard space. A bonus: some delicious serving suggestions. One Magic Square tells you everything you need to get started and profiles each plant.”—The Virginian-Pilot

Lolo Houbein first learned about growing fruits and vegetables from her Uncle Wim, whose food garden saved the family during the last years of World War II in war-torn Holland. In 1958, she emigrated to Australia with her husband and children. She studied literature and anthropology at the universities of Adelaide and Papua New Guinea, and has written numerous books and articles on humanitarian and conservation topics. Houbein lives and gardens in the Adelaide Hills of Australia.