Review by Margie Siegal
I am now reading a thirty year old book. It is one of the best gardening books I have read, and I think it would be especially good for a beginning gardener. Although The Self Sufficient Suburban Garden is out of print, used copies are available on Amazon. Apparently the author had quite a following in the Midwest as a gardening expert.
The Self Sufficient Suburban Garden assumes that all adults in a household have full time jobs and will more than occasionally want to do something else besides work on the garden, that garden expenses must fit into the household budget, and that space in which to garden is limited – sometimes, very limited. Sounds self-evident, but I have read any number of books whose authors assume that the reader is not working, has unlimited amounts of cash and has several acres to play with. Jeff Ball also understands that if you are growing vegetables to eat, you need to know how to prepare and cook them so that they taste good. And, on top of all this, he is a fan of organic gardening and advocates chemical sprays only as a last ditch resort.
The book is very organized. Each chapter states a goal and lists the steps needed to achieve that goal. For example, Chapter 3, The Beginning Garden, states as the goal, “starting with a small vegetable garden and developing experience in garden planning and management.” The strategy to achieve that goal is
- Choose the best available site
- Draw a garden plan
- Learn to make the best use of your time for garden chores
- Build one or two double dug raised beds and start a compost pile
- Plant and maintain your new garden and practice integrated pest management
- Start a recipe file for ideas on what to do with your garden produce.
The chapter proceeds to discuss each item in a clear and friendly way. Line drawings and photographs enhance the text.
The book ends with a discussion of permaculture and a suggestion that you try to live a sustainable life on your small plot of land, recycling as much as possible and avoiding waste. He concludes by saying that his adventures in self sufficient gardening have made him feel peaceful and happy.
The main problem with the book is that it was written thirty years ago from the perspective of someone who lived in Pennsylvania. The costs of items are hopelessly out of date, his list of great fruit tree varieties mostly won’t work in our area (fruit trees need a certain number of “chill hours” and we can only grow fruit trees that need a minimum number of “chill hours”) and the Internet was just starting to be a resource when he wrote the book. In one section of the book, he discusses growing chickens and rabbits for meat, which may be upsetting.
Despite the problems with this book, I think it is one of the best available for someone who has decided to take up gardening as a way to economically put some food on the table.