Description: With full-color photographs and detailed expert advice, this affordable paperback describes how to grow abundant vegetables and edible herbs in gardens anywhere in Florida.
Jim Stephens offers clear explanations of useful gardening terms and joins popular growing concepts with the expertise of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
Stephens explains
-- types of gardens (including hydroponic and organic),
-- site selection,
-- vegetable variety selection,
garden establishment and care,
-- soil fertilization and management,
-- climatic implications,
-- cultivation practices, and
-- harvesting and storing.
He addresses the challenge of pests and diseases and includes a detailed and illustrated description of all the major and minor crops usually grown in Florida.
And he doesn't overlook the basic, practical advice: thin the turnips, Stephens says, keep your tools sharp and clean, don't use lawn fertilizer on those vegetables. This guide will be indispensable to county agents, schoolteachers, garden writers, and anyone who enjoys a juicy, homegrown tomato.
Brief description:
James M. Stephens is professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida and State Extension vegetable specialist in charge of educational programs for home gardeners. He was a founder of Florida's Master Gardener program, the Florida Urban Gardening program, and the Organic Gardening Research and Education Center at the University of Florida. He is the author of more than 300 publications and articles and more than 200 radio and television talks on gardening