It's not just how you grow – what you grow and where you grow are the root of truly sustainable food production. Develop a garden plan based on biointensive techniques and permaculture principles to produce the maximum amount of calories and nutrients in the space you have, while cultivating cover and compost crops to enhance soil fertility.

Row by row - maximize your harvest and feed your soil by developing a customized plan for your garden

Everyone loves to prepare a meal with ingredients fresh from their own garden. But for most of us, no matter how plentiful our harvest, homegrown produce comprises only a fraction of what we eat. And while many gardening guides will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about individual crops, few tackle the more involved task of helping you maximize the percentage of your diet you grow yourself.

Grow a Sustainable Diet will help you develop a comprehensive, customized garden plan to produce the maximum number of calories and nutrients from any available space. Avoid arriving in August buried under a mountain of kale or zucchini (and not much else) by making thoughtful choices at the planning stage, focusing on dietary staples and key nutrients. Learn how to calculate:

• Which food and cover crops are best for your specific requirements
• How many seeds and plants of each variety you should sow
• What and when to plant, harvest and replant for maximum yield.

Focusing on permaculture principles, biointensive gardening methods, getting food to the table with minimum fossil fuel input, and growing crops that sustain both you and your soil, this complete guide is a must-read for anyone working toward food self-sufficiency for themselves or their family.

Foreword by John Jeavons
First, a little history

1. Sustainable Diet
What If the Trucks Stop Coming?
Making Changes

2. Garden Maps
Plan Outside the Box
Permaculture Plan
Tools for Map Making

3. Crop Choices
Growing Calories
Growing Protein
Growing Calcium
Oils and Sweeteners
Other Crops
More Planning Tools
Worksheet : Temperatures
Worksheet : Precipitation

4. How Much to Grow
Worksheet: How Much to Grow
Biosphere 2
Homegrown Fridays
Oils and Sweeteners
Keeping Records

5. Cover Crops and Compost— Planning for Sustainability
Beware of Bringing in Outside Inputs
Grow Your Own Compost
Sixty Percent Compost Crops
Worksheet: 60/40 Bed Crop Months
Cutting Rye at Pollen Shed
Harvesting the Grain

6. Companion Planting
Potatoes
Achieving Balance
Borders

7. Plan for Food When You Want It
Frost Dates
Worksheet : Plant/Harvest Times
Plant/Harvest Times
Length of Harvest
Determinate and Indeterminate
Plant and Harvest Schedule
Worksheet : Plant/Harvest Schdeule
Plan for Special Events

8. Rotations and Sample Garden Maps
Transition Garden
Quartet of Beds
Garden of Ideas

9. Seeds
Seed Inventory
Worksheet: Seed Inventory
How Many Seeds?
Worksheet : Seeds and Plants Needed
Germination Test
Save Your Own

10. Including Animals
Chickens
Dairy — Goats and Cows
Swine
Rabbits

11. Food Storage and Preservation
Make Use of the Space You Already Have
Crawl Space Root Cellar
Pantry
Cooling Cabinet
Fermentation
Canning
Solar Food Dryers
Grain Mills

12. Sheds, Fences, and Other Stuff
Garden Shed
Water Storage
Outdoor Washing Station
Coldframe
Chicken House
Trellises
Fencing

13. Rethink Everything!

Endnotes
Resources
Index
About the Author

Row by row - maximize your harvest and feed your soil by developing a customized plan for your garden

Everyone loves to prepare a meal with ingredients fresh from their own garden. But for most of us, no matter how plentiful our harvest, homegrown produce comprises only a fraction of what we eat. And while many gardening guides will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about individual crops, few tackle the more involved task of helping you maximize the percentage of your diet you grow yourself.

Grow a Sustainable Diet will help you develop a comprehensive, customized garden plan to produce the maximum number of calories and nutrients from any available space. Avoid arriving in August buried under a mountain of kale or zucchini (and not much else) by making thoughtful choices at the planning stage, focusing on dietary staples and key nutrients. Learn how to calculate:

• Which food and cover crops are best for your specific requirements
• How many seeds and plants of each variety you should sow
• What and when to plant, harvest and replant for maximum yield.

Focusing on permaculture principles, biointensive gardening methods, getting food to the table with minimum fossil fuel input, and growing crops that sustain both you and your soil, this complete guide is a must-read for anyone working toward food self-sufficiency for themselves or their family.