The Heirloom Life Gardener: The Baker Creek Way of Growing Your Own Food Easily and Naturally [Hardcover]

Jere and Emilee Gettle (Author), Meghan Sutherland (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 4, 2011

Tired of genetically modified food every day, Americans are moving more toward eating natural, locally grown food that is free of pesticides and preservatives—and there is no better way to ensure this than to grow it yourself. Anyone can start a garden, whether in a backyard or on a city rooftop; but what they need to truly succeed is The Heirloom Life Gardener, a comprehensive guide to cultivating heirloom vegetables.

In this invaluable resource, Jere and Emilee Gettle, cofounders of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, offer a wealth of knowledge to every kind of gardener—experienced pros and novices alike. In his friendly voice, complemented by gorgeous photographs, Jere gives planting, growing, harvesting, and seed saving tips. In addition, an extensive A to Z Growing Guide includes amazing heirloom varieties that many people have never even seen. From seed collecting to the history of seed varieties and name origins, Jere takes you far beyond the heirloom tomato. This is the first book of its kind that is not only a guide to growing beautiful and delicious vegetables, but also a way to join the movement of people who long for real food and a truer way of living.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jere Gettle's passion for farming developed early, and by the age of seventeen he was in business, selling seeds from his bedroom in Mansfield, Missouri. He didn't set out to start an empire, but to save heritage plant varietals from being lost to genetically modified mega plants and to wave the banner for a way of life he saw rapidly disappearing. He began traveling to far off places, Asia, South America; anywhere he could find and swap rare and unusual seeds, and started a seed catalog that now has 350,000 devoted customers. His seed company employs over 200 full time staff and includes a store, vegan restaurant, and pioneer village in his home town of Mansfield, Mo., as well as two other retail operations--the Seed Bank in Petaluma, California, and Comstock in Westerfield, Connecticut.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (October 4, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401324398
• ISBN-13: 978-1401324391
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 1.1 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #89 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Vegetables

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book that teaches you and makes you want to garden. March 11, 2012

By R. George

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book starts out letting you get to know the author somewhat. I think that this is appropriate, as his love of vegetable gardening and heirloom varieties permeate the pages of this book. Besides containing information on how to garden, this book actually makes me want to garden.

To address concerns you may have after reading other reviews: Yes, the first part is a biography of the author, some of his adventures, and where he is coming from both philosophically and geographically. It is probably shorter than it could be, but does take up about 42 pages out of 228. I found this section a fun and interesting read, and a great way to connect with the author. You may or may not enjoy it, but I do not feel that the rest of the book suffers due to this longer biographical section.

Yes, there are a lot of pictures, mostly of vegetables, to show the uniqueness and diversity that heirloom vegetables have to offer. If you have ever seen the magazine or catalog that Baker Creek puts out, their use of photography is similar in this book to those other publications. Personally I enjoy all the pictures of vegetable varieties that I may not have seen before.

The sections on how to garden make up about 30 pages total. There is enough information to get you going, with ideas for variations based on your particular gardening situation. I think that there is a lot of information here, but certainly not everything is covered. There are books that cover with much more depth areas such as pests, pest management, plant nutrition, etc. While that can all be valuable information when you need it, sometimes throwing it at a novice gardener can leave them feeling overwhelmed. So yes, there could be more information here, but I think that these few chapters are great. Some of the details not listed here are actually listed per vegetable in the next section.

The real gem of this book is saved for the second half (and takes up well over half of the book.) There is an A-Z guide to vegetables, with a lot of information on each one. Each vegetable is introduced with a nice picture and a bit of history. For each one, you get additional growing tips, pest information, seed saving instructions, and even a couple of kitchen ideas. Whoever thinks that this book doesn't tell you how to save seed did not look in this section. What is interesting is that you will find yourself actually reading each section here, even for vegetables with which you are already familiar. This compendium does a good job of being informative while still holding my interest as a reader. Use Amazon's "look inside" tool, search for a vegetable,and you will see what I mean.

I like that this book isn't too regional in its approach. This way, the information in here is equally applicable to people all over the country. When I need more specific information on local planting schedules or other concerns for my area, I turn to either the newspaper or publications from the county's agricultural extension (and if Las Vegas has these resources available, your area probably does too.) The page or two of regional information that I have found in other gardening books has never been too helpful, so I don't bemoan its absence here.

Overall, I think that this is a very good book, an enjoyable read, and something that reignites my passion for gardening. It is an excellent reference, and I think this may be the new book that I give people as a gift to start gardening.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book! November 9, 2011

By TD in Indiana

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I buy my seeds from Baker Creek for my garden and I also get their magazine so I was very excited when I saw they made a book! This book is wonderful. It gives very helpful information on growing vegetables from A-Z and the format is the same on each type of vegetable which makes it very easy to follow. I also liked how it will help me prepare my garden before I plant it, such as cover crop and compost tea.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Back to flavor November 7, 2011

By wogan TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

`The Heirloom Life Gardner' has been published to help lead gardeners back to naturally grown, free of pesticides, genetically modified food, especially with the use of heirloom seeds...Have you ever tasted one of the new seedless watermelons, compared to the old fashioned kind that had seeds and such wonderful flavor? That alone should be a reason for a step back to `real' foods.

There are many close up photos of plants, friends and family. Subjects covered are; an explanation of growing up with heirlooms, the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed company, seeds in America, collecting seeds around the world, how to garden - showing the right spot to garden, preparing the soil, planting, weeding, mulching, pest and disease control, saving seed, the city farmer (where they do mention to have structural engineers check for rooftop gardens, but many people need more of an emphasis on the importance of that). There is a 129 page - A to Z growing guide, starting with amaranth ending with watermelon--, giving a photo, information on growing tips, pests and diseases, seed saving and what you can do with it in the kitchen.
It would have been appreciated if there would have been some storage, canning, freezing tips.

There is information on the different markets available, farmer's, roadside, CSA's and a list of resources in the United States and Canada. An index is also included.

A beginning gardener might need a bit more help from a more simplistic book in getting started, but with this, one would have a very complete resource.