“The New Vegetable Growers Handbook” by Frank Tozer

The New Vegetable Growers Handbook: A Users Manual for the Organic Vegetable Garden

By Frank Tozer. Revised ed., 2016. Paperback. 304 pages.

A must-have resource for every grower. Covering over 80 common plant types (from amaranth to wheat), in addition to many herbs and edible weeds, this book is remarkably informative. Tozer gives fairly specific instructions for each crop and includes details about nutritional value, soil needs, planning and planting tips, seed facts, weed, pest and disease pressures, irrigation needs, harvest advice, and even kitchen use. Tozer writes, “I know this book isn’t as pretty as most other gardening books and I have no illusions that it will win any awards for its beauty. I can live with that however, as this book is intended for the tool shed, rather than the coffee table. When you are out in your garden working, you don’t need a book that is two thirds made up of pictures (no matter how well designed and beautiful it may be), you need practical information….The more dirt you get on the pages, the more successful I will have been.” Hear, hear!