Backyard Bounty - Revised & Expanded 2nd Edition - by Linda Gilkeson (Paperback)

About the Book

Backyard Bounty is the completely revised and expanded 2nd edition of the best-seller. A complete guide to year-round gardening on the West Coast, this encyclopedic reference includes greatly expanded information on pests, diseases, and working with an unstable climate. The perfect guide to enjoying fresh, home-grown produce all year.

Book Synopsis

Grow more food, with less work, in any yard - now completely revised and expanded!

Are you itching to start your own garden or grow more in the one you have, but feel that gardening is too challenging or time-consuming for your busy schedule?

Now completely updated and expanded, Backyard Bounty will demystify gardening, bringing it back to the down-to-earth, environmentally practical activity that anyone can enjoy.

Author and master gardener Linda Gilkeson covers everything you'll need to grow a successful garden, including:

• Planning your garden and preparing the soil
• Organic fertilizers and simplified composting
• Planting for winter harvests and intensive planting schedules
• Comprehensive information on pests, diseases, and working with an unstable climate
• Greenhouses, tunnels and containers
• Organic pest management.

Packed with a wealth of information specific to the Pacific Northwest, this complete guide emphasizes low-maintenance methods, covers problems related to common pests and climate concerns, includes a monthly garden schedule for year-round planting and harvesting, and features plant profiles for everything from apples to zucchini.

Perfect for novice and experienced gardeners alike, Backyard Bounty shows how even the smallest garden can produce a surprising amount of food twelve months of the year.

From the Back Cover

Grow More Food with Less Work in any Yard

Backyard Bounty is very likely the best book ever written on growing food in the Pacific Northwest, and it sets a whole new standard for garden writing. ... All growers should own this amazing and insightful book, and we should refer back to it often.
- Mark MacDonald, West Coast Seeds

THIS COMPLETELY UPDATED and expanded guide to year-round growing on the West Coast from author and master gardener Linda Gilkeson will demystify gardening, bringing it back to the down-to-earth, environmentally practical activity that anyone can enjoy.

Packed with a wealth of information specific to the West Coast, Backyard Bounty covers:

• Planning your garden and preparing the soil
• Organic fertilizers and simplified composting
• Planting for winter harvests and intensive planting schedules
• Adapting to extreme weather and changing climate
• Greenhouses, tunnels, and containers
• Organic pest, disease, and weed management

Covering everything you need to know to grow a successful garden, this complete guide emphasizes low-maintenance methods, covers problems related to common pests and climate concerns, includes a monthly garden schedule for year-round planting and harvesting, and features plant profiles for everything from apples to zucchini.

... this new edition adds more listings to the detailed fruit and vegetable profiles, updates variety choices, and supplies practical information on dealing with common pests and diseases, including new ones to our region.
- Helen Chesnut, Garden columnist, Times Colonist

LINDA GILKESON is a keen organic gardener with over 30 years of gardening experience on the West Coast. Linda is a regular instructor in Master Gardener programs and is kept busy giving workshops on organic gardening and pest management for community education den clubs, and other groups. Linda currently lives on Salt Spring Island, where she enjoys harvesting food from her garden all year round. Visit her web site: lindagilkeson.ca

^{To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, Mother Earth News is recommending select New Society Publishers titles to its readers. This book is one of them. For more information about Mother Earth News, visit MotherEarthNews.com.}

Review Quotes

Backyard Bounty is very likely the best book ever written on growing food in the Pacific Northwest, and it sets a whole new standard for garden writing. By acknowledging the impacts of climate change on our gardens, Gilkeson further elevates the literature. This is the first "real time" gardening book. It is fresh and timely, and every page courses with practical advice and revelations. All growers should own this amazing and insightful book, and we should refer back to it often.
-Mark Macdonald, West Coast Seeds

Ideal for both new and seasoned gardeners, this new edition adds more listings to the detailed fruit and vegetable profiles, updates variety choices, and supplies practical information on dealing with common pests and diseases, including new ones to our region. Tips on adapting gardening practices to changing weather patterns are eminently helpful, as is a focus on the soil as a life force that fosters health in plants.
-Helen Chesnut, Garden columnist, Times Colonist

As usual, Linda Gilkeson is spot on with her trademark down-to-earth advice to Pacific Northwest Gardeners. If, like me, you sometimes find your vegetables bolting before their time and falling short of your expectations, if you're wondering how climate change is affecting what you should plant and when, if you're perplexed about pollination and the impact it is having on your garden's productivity, struggling with organic pest management, or wondering how to achieve year-round bounty in your outdoor space, you'll find these pages brimming with seasoned wisdom and practical common sense.
-Carol Pope, Editor, GardenWise

Whether you have a small or large lot, little or plenty of time, this book shows you how to grow your own toxic-free fruit and vegetables the whole year round. From preparing the ground to harvesting and storing the ripened produce, all is clearly explained. An invaluable book for novices and experienced gardeners.
-Barry Roberts, Past-President, Master Gardeners Association of BC

Linda Gilkeson has paid some tuition in the garden. Backyard Bounty is remarkably thorough, from roots to pests to pruning to crowns, and it inspires even the experienced grower. Just like homemade soil for a bedding plant, this book is loaded with the richness we need in order to feed ourselves.
-Lyle Estill, author, Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy and Industrial Evolution: Tales from a Low Carbon Future

About the Author

Linda Gilkeson is a keen organic gardener with a passion for insects and 25 years of gardening experience on the west coast. After earning a Ph.D. in entomology, she worked as the research director of a biological control company and then for the British Columbia government coordinating programs to reduce pesticide use in the province. She is the author of Year Around Harvest: Winter Gardening on the Coast and West Coast Gardening: Natural Insect, Weed and Disease Control , as well as the first edition of Backyard Bounty , which has sold over 10,000 copies. Linda is a regular instructor in Master Gardener programs and is kept busy giving courses and workshops on organic gardening and pest management for community education programs, garden clubs and other groups. She has received a Queen's Jubilee medal and an outstanding achievement award from the Professional Pest Management Association of BC. Linda currently lives on Salt Spring Island where she enjoys harvesting food from her garden all year round. Visit her web site: lindagilkeson.ca.