Chapter Five

How to Grow,

How to Cook

I

n my fi rst year with the garden, I grew 34 plants, and I plan to introduce a

further 26 in year two. All 60 are described in this section of the book. Since

many entries do not benefi t—or suffer—from my personal experience, I re­

lied on the wisdom of others, such as my local knowledge posse and writers and

gardeners such as Steve Albert, whose The Kitchen Garden Grower’s Guide has

become my companion along the way, and should be yours as well. With Steve’s

brilliant encyclopedia at my side and the advice of my other experienced garden­

ing friends—Scott Titus, Charlie Yaw, and Debbie Mitchell, among others—I

was able to gather a few important growing characteristics for each plant as well.

What I have tried to do is give you just enough information to get you started

and to encourage you to go that extra mile for any particular plant. There are so

many resources for you to call on, and I have included some of those in the refer­

ence section at the back of the book. But you will, no doubt, find your own local

knowledge sources, which will be invaluable to you as they have been to me.

For each vegetable, I’ve given a nutrition profile that clearly shows the bene­

fits you get from that plant. I loved getting this information down on paper and

rejoice in the fact that not only did the plants provide an incredible array of tastes,

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