Create an Edible Garden filled with Veggies, Herbs and Berries

by Three Dogs in a Garden

The central message of author Niki Jabbour's new book, Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans that will change the way you grow your garden is that food can be grown anywhere when cultivated a little creative thinking.

Niki Jabbour is a smart, passionate Canadian gardener wrote about her innovative use of cold frames to extend the gardening season in her first book "The Year Round Vegetable Gardener".

As you can see from the cover of her first book, Niki has managed to find ways to harvest a range of vegetable crops even in the midst of a Canadian winter. Pretty impressive eh?

In her continuing search for inventive ways to grow food, Niki has collected 73 themed garden plans from a diverse and varied group of gardening experts.

The list of contributors is impressive and reads like a who's who of the gardening world. There are well known American writer's like Amy Stewart, whose "Cocktail Garden" is filled the ingredients sure to add a fresh zip to evening cocktails.

The book also contains original designs from prominent Canadan writers like Marjorie Harris, who offers a "Partially Shaded Vegetable Plan" for less than ideal light conditions, and Liz Primeau, whose "Garlic Sampler" mixes a flavourful range of garlic bulbs, with plants like thyme to suppress weed growth, and keep your garlic patch low maintenance.

Each of the book's plans includes a profile of the contributor, the concept behind their design, a beautiful illustration and...

a plant list.

The design themes vary widely in style and include everything from a "Chicago Hot-Dog Garden" from writer Amanda Thomsen (author of Kiss My Aster) to an "Elizabethan Garden" by Stephen Wescott-Gratton, senior horticultural editor of Canadian Gardening magazine.

Challenges like size and location are also addressed with ideas like a rooftop farm and an apartment balcony container garden by Canadian garden writer Andrea Bellamy.

Even if you are not looking for a whole new garden design, there are an abundance elements that you can adapt to an existing garden.

This "Comfrey Tower" contributed by author and blogger Emma Cooper caught my interest.

It produces a "comfrey tea" that is rich in potassium and nitrogen. (Comfrey is a deep-rooted, leafy perennial that is rich in these nutrients.)

Here is how Emma's Comfrey Tower works in a nutshell: Comfrey leaves are loaded into the top of an 8" PVC pipe. The rotting leaves form a "tea" that drips down through a mesh screen into a bucket at the base of the tower. When diluted with water, the Comfrey "tea" makes an excellent fertilizer for food crops like tomatoes, fruits and peppers which love the high-potash feed.

For so many of us, it has been a long winter and a cold, wet start to the gardening season.

I think that exciting 2014 book releases like Groundbreaking Food Gardens may be the perfect inspiration to finally get things growing this spring!

Niki Jabbour and Storey Publishing have graciously given me one copy of "Groundbreaking Food Gardens" which I am going to give away in a draw to one lucky Hometalker*.

To enter the Hometalk book draw, please leave a comment below.

* Please note that due to shipping costs, winner must be a resident of Canada or the U.S.A.

"The Groundbreaking Food Gardens" book draw will remain open for one full week. Winner to be announced on my blog.

To help with the draw for a chance to win a copy of Niki Jabbour's new book: Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans that will change the way you grow your garden I employed the talents of my proudest creation, my son Daniel.

And the winner is...Vicki. Congratulations Vicki!

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3 of 8 comments

Vicki on May 10, 2014
Looks phenomenal! Great designs...and great ideas of layout! KUDOS! Now wondering, how it adapts to opposite climes..being in a place of heat, dust, little water, cold winds in the winter...and horrid soil! Unlike say, Vancouver!

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- Three Dogs in a Garden on May 20, 2014
  @Vicki Hi Vicki, I have good news. You are the winner of my Groundbreaking Food Gardens book giveaway. Congratulations! Can you please email me your home address so I can get the book off to you. My email address is jenc_art@hotmail.com.
  
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Vicki on May 20, 2014
How absolutely fantastic!! Thank you so!! I'm absolutely beyond delighted!!!

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