Garden stuff I got that I really like and think you might as well

The following links are to various garden related products that I've really been happy with.  I will put a little description with each as to why I think they're worth having.

Books

Mediterranean Vegetables: A Cook's Compendium of All the Vegetables from the World's Healthiest Cuisine

There are so many traditionally consumed plants in the Mediterranean region and a good number of them will grow just fine here in the Pacific Northwest.  However, aside from the well known veggies, most of the others are hard to find detailed info about how they are traditionally eaten which makes it difficult to add those plants to our home yard to table menu.  This book gives lots of good ideas for how to actually use all those vegetables!

Native American Food Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary is an excellent reference book for all manner of food plants native to our continent.  While much of the valuable food knowledge of our nations first people has been lost due to forced cultural shifts, there is still much knowledge recorded here that will serve as a springing board into discovering wonderful and useful plants which you may incorporate into your garden.

Before writing the book Around The World in 80 Plants: An Edible Perennial Vegetable Adventure for Temperate Climates, Stephen Barstow spent decades trialing any and every edible plant he could find that would grow in his cold temperate climate home.  As a result he has been able to compile this book which I have found very informative and inspirational as many of the species he lists are also suitable for growing in our temperate PNW climate.  I'll admit though, this book has cost me a lot of money as it has made me buy soooooo many new plants to try!  😂

Fruit and Nuts: A Comprehensive Guide to the Cultivation, Uses and Health Benefits of over 300 Food-Producing Plants is a book that has given me much inspiration over the years.  Be warned though, it covers plants from all different climates, but the quantity of plants mentioned that do well in temperate climates makes this book more than worthwhile.

American Horticultural Society Pruning & Training (American Horticultural Society Practical Guides) is a great book that helped me build up my foundation of pruning knowledge when I was younger.  If you're not already somewhat comfortable with how to properly prune a range of trees and shrubs in your garden then there's a really good chance you would find this book very useful and empowering.



Swarm Traps and Bait Hives: The easy way to get bees for free. is a very quick read as the author gets straight to the point.  If you're interested in keeping honey bees in your garden I would encourage you to skip purchasing bees imported from out of state.  Instead, use the information in the book to encourage a swarm of locally adapted honey bees to move in to your ready and waiting hive.  You save money, and the local bees are spared from having their gene pool continue to be watered down by mixing with bees poorly adapted to our local conditions!

Home Plant Propagation Materials

This Extra Strength Seed Starter Kit - 72 Cell (2 Pack) is designed to be used over and over again.  It is not like the flimsy stuff that is widely available which doesn't last long before cracking and breaking and becoming garbage.  Aside from being really durable, what I really love is how this saves me labor regulating soil moisture for planting seeds.  The linked kit comes with 72 cell trays, but check out all their options before deciding what you'd like to use as they have a lot of variations!

Permanent markers often fade within a year when used to write homemade plant labels, but this Outdoor Garden Permanent Marker is made for this use specifically.  While it still won't hold up forever, it really will far outlast regular permanent markers.

Gardening Gloves!

Goatskin Gloves with Cowhide Sleeves

I generally don't like wearing gloves when gardening, but I make one exception. I have sometimes been known to put on gloves when pulling thistles (only sometimes though)! If you have garden work to do that involves anything pokey or scratchy this is a set of gloves I would actually recommend. They're soft and comfortable, but they actually do an amazing job at almost completely preventing even the needle like thorns of thistles from poking through.

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