For those who understand the significance of home-grown foods to surviving and thriving in difficult times, F. F. Rockwell's no-nonsense Home Vegetable Gardening: A Complete And Practical Guide To The Planting And Care Of All Vegetables, Fruits And Berries Worth Growing For Home Use, may be the best single volume, practical manual of family-feeding, high-yield home gardening ever compiled. With some, the home vegetable garden is a hobby; with others, especially in these days of high prices, a great help. There are many in both classes whose experience in gardening has been restricted within very narrow bounds, and whose present spare time for gardening is limited. It is as "first aid" to such persons, who want to do practical, efficient gardening, and do it with the least possible fuss and loss of time, that this book is written. "Home Vegetable Gardening" can be very useful for the small space gardener as it discusses at length, basics of gardening. Anywhere the book describes use of horses, logic would indicate that a tiller of varying sizes could be substituted. Crop rotation is also discussed, and multiple acres are not needed for this. Instructions on constructing a manure-driven hotbed (the way things were done before electric seedling heat mats were around) are also included. Another section of "Home Gardening" discusses prepping sods for seed starting, the way things were done years before pellet pots, plastic seed flats and cell packs were common. "Home Gardening" is old enough to resurrect much of the forgotten techniques used by our grandparents and great-grandparents, when they had to garden more naturally and self-sufficiently rather than buying everything from the garden store. It might also be helpful for the budding survivalist who no longer wants to rely on manufactured products. The list of seed varieties is fascinating. When it comes to gardening basics, the publishing date of this book matters very little: many things haven't changed at all. In fact, this book might be better for beginners since it is a book that encourages a do-it-yourself and a 'from the ground up' tone. It is almost void of any pre-made devices and there are no gimmicky products being hocked. In "Home Gardening," the old standby tools are recommended, time tested and readily available.
About the Author: F. F. Rockwell authored the book "Home Vegetable Gardening" in the early 1900's, together with many articles on gardening and plants.