Acknowledgements                                              

Introduction                                                    

1. Honoring the Land                                             

         Gardening in Nature's Image—But Which Nature and Which      

         Image? | Has Nature Thought of Everything? | On Being

         a Member of a Keystone Species. | Organic and Beyond.

2. Honoring the Essential Nature of the Plants         

         Sun, Earth, Air, Water, Warmth. | What Can We Grow? |

         Expected First and Last Frost Dates. | Sun and Shade 

         Tolerance. | Some Like It Hot; Some Like It Cold. | When 

         to Plant Everything. | Planting Guide.

3. Honoring Your Own Essential Nature                     

         Discovering Your Inner Gardener. | Planning Versus

         Spontaneity. | Structure, Labor, and Freedom.

4. Flexibility                                                          

         Choosing Gardening Styles and Methods. | Getting the 

         Most from the Small Garden. | Volunteers. | How to Eat a 

         a Weed—Dandelions, Lambsquarters, Purslane. | The 

         Prepper's Garden.

5. Balance                                                          

         Grand Versus Prosaic. | How Much Garden? | Limiting 

         Factors.| Too Much Tilling. | Too Much Watering. | Too 

         Much Fertilizer. | Too Many Pests. | Knowing When to 

         Stop.

6. Non-Doing                                                        

         Daring to Not Do. | On Not Tilling, Digging, Mowing, or 

         Tending Absolutely Everything. | Twenty-Four Good 

         Places Not to Plant a Tree. | Seven Reasons Not to Chop 

         Down a Tree. | Thirty-Seven Reasons for Not Planting 

         Various Vegetables. | On Not Planting Purple Flowers in 

         Front of an Orange Brick House. | Flower-Patterned 

         Shirts Attract Bees. | A Weed by Any Other Name Is 

         Usually Still a Weed.  

7. Beginning—Tomatoes                                         

         Begin with Something You Really Love. | Tomato Kinds 

         and Colors. | Flavor Favorites. | Thirty Interesting 

         Open-Pollinated TomatoVarieties. | Starting Tomatoes 

         from Seed–Growing Transplants. | Potting Soil for 

         Germinating Seeds and Starting Transplants. | Preparing 

         the Ground. | Hardening Off and Planting Transplants. 

         | Do Carrots Really Love Tomatoes?—Garden Woman 

         Adventures. | Polycultures. | Supporting and Nurturing. 

         | Watering and Mulching. | Why It Will Soon Be  

         Impossible to Grow Our Current Generation of Heirloom 

         Tomatoes and What to Do About It–Late Blight | 

         Dealing with Late Blight. | Late Blight Resistant Hybrid 

         Tomato Varieties. | Late Blight Resistant Heirloom and 

         Open-Pollinated Varieties. | Why the Best-Flavored 

         Tomato May Not Be the One That Is Picked Vine-Ripe. 

         | Using Green Tomatoes.

8. Nurturing—Weeding                                         

         Avoid, Delay, Remove. | Garden Woman Meets Pigweed 

         with Attitude. | The American Square Hoe. | Buying, 

         Using, and Sharpening the Peasant Hoe. | Buying, Using, 

         and Sharpening the Coleman Hoe. | Stirrup Hoes. | 

         Wheel Hoes. | Electric Wheel Hoe and Electric Tiller.

9. Non-Knowing—Squash                                      

         Adventures in Ignorance. | The Perfect 

         Polyculture—Squash and Overwintering Kale. | 

         ‘Candystick Dessert Delicata’ Squash. |‘Lofthouse 

         Landrace Moschata’ Squash. | Apologizing to a Squash. 

         | Butternut Squash Cookery. | Planting by the Moon. 

         | Talking to Your Plants. | True Understanding.

10. Effortless Effort—The Eat-All Greens Garden      

         The No-Labor Garden—Just Sow and Harvest. | The 

         Nutritionally Most Important Home Garden Crop. | 

         Leaves Versus Heads or Stems. | The Essential Role of 

         Cooking. | Using Greens in Soups and Stews. | The 

         Mess o' Greens. | Harvesting and Handling Eat-All 

         Greens. | Freezing Eat-All Greens. | Dried Greens and 

         Herbal Teas. | Lactofermenting Greens. | Growing 

         Eat-All Greens. | Eleven Great Eat-All Greens Varieties.

11. Peas and Beans      

         Nitrogen Fixing and Legumes. | Dry Seeds Versus Edible 

         Pods Versus Green Seeds. | Pea Vine Types and  

         Support. | Shelling Peas. | Edible-Podded Peas. | 

         Growing Peas. | Presoaking Legume Seed Without 

         Suffocating It. | Keep Peas and Beans Picked. |  

         Harvesting and Using Edible-Podded Peas. | Kinds 

         of Bean Varieties—Green, Dry, Shelly. | Pole Versus 

         Bush Green Beans. | Seed Color and Green Bean Flavor. 

         | Supporting Pole Beans. | Growing Beans. | Growing 

         Pole Beans on Corn. | Harvesting and Using Green Beans.

12. Joy      

         Jumping for Joy. | On Carrying Vegetables. | Weeding  

         Meditation. | Noticing. | Simple Pleasures. | Sunset. 

13. Completion—Seeds      

         Cycles and Circles. | The Do-It-Yourself Seed Bank. | 

         You Will Not Fall Off the Edge of the Earth If You 

         Don't Save All Your Own Seed. | Preparing Seed for 

         Long-Term Storage. | Containers for Storing Seed. | 

         Eight Seed-Saving Myths. | Creating Your Own Modern  

         Landraces. | Rejuvenating Heirloom Varieties. | Breeding  

         Crops for Organic Systems. | Dehybridizing 

         Hybrids—Disease-Resistant Tomatoes. | Tomato 

         Genes and Genetics. | Breeding the Heirloom Tomatoes 

         of Tomorrow.

Appendix. Seed Companies and Sources                                            

Index