Grow Great Grub book giveaway
Gayla Trail, author of the most beginner-friendly garden book I own, You Grow Girl, has a new one under her garden belt and I’m so excited to be able to offer up a copy to you.
;)
Grow Great Grub is a friendly, practical primer on container and small-space organic gardening. Gayla takes you through the step-by-step process of growing food that’s good for you and good for the planet without costing you an arm and a leg. I love her creative, improvisational alternatives to going out and buying a bunch of stuff, some of which I’ve employed with success, like her toilet tube seed-starting method and managing to eat from our back-deck, bucket garden last year.
Here are some of the things I particularly love about this book:
- Her focus on windowsill growing, for those of us without even a stoop or balcony to our rental agreement
- She lays out which plastics to avoid when selecting/crafting DIY container garden bins (leaching issues)
- The side-boxes that accompany all the plant varieties and give you specific details on how to grow each plant in a pot successfully
- The whole fruit chapter!
- Her suggestion of the insanely cute idea to freeze edible herb flowers inside ice cubes for a pretty and refreshing lift in your iced tea or water.
- Great suggestions on short and long-term storage of the things you grow (that is, if bounty is a ‘problem’ for you!)
- She has a great community forum for Q & A or specific issues you encounter that are not in the book.
So, let’s get down to business. Clarkson Potter has been so kind as to ship a copy of this book to the winner, but they can only ship to the US and Canada. To enter, post a comment below telling us: What you’re excited to grow this year and what kind of gardening you do (or plan to start doing), i.e. you’ve got actual ground, containers on the roof, windowsills, a guerilla garden, etc.
Comments close on Tuesday, March 8 at midnight CST. I will select a winner via random.org. Please don’t forget to include your email address in the little box that asks for it on the comment form so I can contact you if you win; don’t worry, other readers won’t see it.
Kate
Congratulations to Kelly! Thanks all for entering. Wishing you happy endeavors in the growing season, no matter what your situation may be.
Garden & Outdoors, Gardening, Giveaways
Reader Comments (150)
I'm so excited to be doing a double garden this year! At my suburban home outside Atlanta, I will be doing fairly ambitious container gardening. I've actually started work on that already. Next weekend I will be in SC planting early crops in my main garden at the in-laws house. We are going co-operative this year. We will all work on the initial garden setup and planting, they will keep it watered and I will keep it weeded. We are looking forward to sharing the fruits (and veggies!) of our labor.
We rent, but are lucky enough to have some leftover raised beds in our backyard. My kids love the tomatoes, especially the small yellow or purple ones. My zucchini was a total failure last year, so I'm *hoping* that this year will bring more success!
I love to garden. We have 6 raised beds, berry bushes, three fruit trees and a greenhouse. We grow everything that will work in the short New England climate but I love trying new plants. This year I hope to add custom made cold frames and a few more beds. I would love to check out this book. Thank you!!!
We are in the process of finally getting a home, with a yard after years of apartment/condo living. One of the things we are most excited about is a home garden!!!
ooh! what a great prize! this is our first year here in this apartment, so i'm eager to see what the possibilities are. just a few windowsills and an itty-bitty porch to work with. herbs are a must!
Although we recently moved to a new home with two acres instead of our previous postage stamp lot, we also now have deer. Lots of them. So until we can afford a fenced in garden, I'll be planting in containers on our deck. I'll be growing a variety of chiles, tomatoes and herbs to make hot sauce, salsa, tomato sauce and pesto. Some good advice on container gardening would be most welcome!
This is a fantastic book. I flipped through it at the bookstore the other day and have been meaning to go back to buy it ever since... but winning a copy instead would be even more awesome. :)
I've been growing tomato plants and herbs in containers for the past couple of years, and last year I added three small vegetable boxes to the garden for beans and carrots. This year, I'm planning on planting radishes and salad greens for the first time, and also trying out a few new heirloom varieties of beans and tomatoes I haven't grown before... can't wait!
my husband have wanted to try to grow a garden for a long time but just kept putting it off, now he is leaving on another deployment so while he is gone to keep me busy I thought that I would start out small and surprise him with the results, do you have any tips for a newbie who doen't have a green thumb.
Mmm, I am most excited about a variety of Heirloom tomatoes, greenbeans, bok choy. blueberries, and figs! I mostly do containter/rooftop gardening but am considering taking over the giant abandoned lot directly next to my house this year! :)
Kelly
I recently discovered her blog and LOVE it! I hope one day to be able to also grow, girl. My current apartment is a plant killer with giant windows letting in all kinds of sunshine, but no UV rays that the poor plants need to live. Almost all of our plants have bit the dust since living here. Moving in May!
I'll be planting a few big containers around the corner of my apartment building. I can't wait to grow pickling cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchini!
I am so completely kitchen challenged, I could use all the help I can get. Gardening is something I am longing to do and am in a rental with limited space, like many other posters. I don't know how to utilize my small space, or be successful in my plantings. My daughter would be overjoyed to have a garden and I would love to share that with her.
I have a new place, so I'm excited to grow everything! It's tiny, but there's a little south facing space with a rosebush. I'm going to forage for medicinal herbs in a nearby park to transplant, and I'm going to try my hand at dwarf veggies.
We moved last fall to a house on an acre of land, so my above ground gardens are built and all sort of organic things have been decomposing all winter. Can't wait to get started planting - this book would sure a help!.
We are a family of eight and grow as much of our food as we can. This year I'm excited about putting in a few new beds for dried beans, melons and squash!
I want to grow heirloom tomatoes this year. I have containers on my porch, but a big enough back yard to plant some things, that do well in shade! we'll see!
Oooh, great giveaway! I am rethinking my tomato/pepper strategy this year because of the the unpredictablity of Seattle summers. I'm still growing them, but not as many. I am going to try melon this year and birdhouse gourds!
My biggest goal is to get enough berries going that we don't have to buy any.
I am excited about everything to grow... the snow is still here on the east coast but so looking forward to great salads, tomatoes and beets :) I have 10 raised beds we grow in, but would like to build another larger bed for squash or corn.
I just added this to my Amazon Wish List, only to then stumble upon this great giveaway! I am excited to finally start growing from seed this year
Hi, I always have lots of plans for the gardens each year...and every summer I overwhelm myself trying to get everything done! :-) Some day I hope to have more gardens than grassy area in my yard (working on getting my husband on board with that!). I started my blog so I could write all about my ideas and projects...can't wait for summer!!
Amy (Get Busy Gardening!)
I'm short on space not due to lack of a yard, but due to very inquisitive dogs that dig everything up, or move pots around the patio. I have taken up space at a friends house and teh broccoli and tomatoes just thrived last year so I am excited to repeat!
I just have a patio, so I've only done herbs. I do tomatoes and jalapenos in my aerogarden though! I really want to branch out and start doing lettuce and broccoli. That book looks super helpful.
I have had a small backyard veg and herb garden for years but I'm so excited for Spring because I've decided to turn most of my front yard(where the best sun is) into one big veggie/herb heaven!
I'm excited to grow potatoes, one of my favoritest foods in the world, and saffron. This is my first time trying saffron. I'm also excited about my second time growing horseradish. The first time, we had one plant, and it was about enough to make horseradish sauce for a handful of us for one party. This time we have three plants, all growing in their own garbage cans, and we're leaving them in their cans longer in hopes of getting fatter roots (the first one was maybe the diameter of a good sized kids' marker).
Every year I plant stuff we don't hardly ear. this year my goal is to plant something of everyones favorite fresh vegetable, plus more salad fixings.