Fresh Food from Small Spaces by R. J. Ruppenthal
Square Inch Gardener's Guide Reviewed for Vegetable Gardeners
Sep 21, 2009
Fresh Food from Small Spaces, The Square Inch Gardener’s Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting and Sprouting is a book that addresses the constraints for small space and city gardeners who want to grow food. This book review is written for all food gardeners who want to make the most of their garden space. Gardeners will find many traditional as well as unexpected strategies to incorporate growing a vegetable or any edible plant garden.
Edible Plants in Shady Gardens
Ruppenthal recounts the constraints gardeners have in growing vegetables and other fresh food in an urban environment. City gardeners who want to grow edible plants have to contend with shady city garden plots. Urban gardeners often deal with low light where opportunities for large garden plots of vegetable plants requiring 6 – 8 hours of full sun are rare. These situations require unconventional thinking to locate space for growing edible plants.
The author talks about well-known strategies like growing in vertical space, edible plants for low light and utilizing indoor space for growing vegetables. Then he expands on these topics and others by discussing building self-watering containers, using the principals of reflective light with vertical gardening techniques, and growing fruit such as blueberry plants in small gardens.
Sustainable Living Growing Fresh Food
Ruppenthal further develops concepts of growing fresh food in urban environments by devoting entire chapters to:
- Cultivating mushrooms in dark locations, even in garages.
- Raising chickens and honeybees in urban environments.
- Growing wheatgrass, alfalfa or clover collectively known as sprouts.
- Fermenting yogurt and sauerkraut.
Survivalist and Food Shortages
Primarily this book is for gardeners who want to provide more fresh food for their family using small garden spaces in an urban environment. In that, the author has succeeded in writing a very useful book.
Although Ruppenthal states he is not a survivalist, the author uses many techniques that could be employed to weather temporary food shortages. The last two chapters include information on surviving circumstances where food, water and utilities are not readily available. For gardeners who want to plan for the unexpected or build a sustainable lifestyle, this book is a good first choice.
Food Grower and Author R. J. Ruppenthal
R. J. Ruppenthal writes Fresh Food from Small Spaces after years of personal experience living in urban locations where garden space was at a premium. Now, a college professor at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, California, he lives and gardens in the San Francisco Bay area.
How to Find Fresh Food from Small Spaces
Fresh Food from Small Spaces, The Square Inch Gardener’s Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting and Sprouting was written by R. L. Ruppenthal and published by Chelsea Green Publishing Company in the winter of 2008. The soft cover book has 240 pages. Gardeners can locate this book by using ISBN 9781603580281.
In keeping with the philosophy of a sustainable lifestyle and promoting wise use of resources, it is worth noting that Chelsea Green Publishing commits to preserving ancient forests and natural resources. This book is printed on 30 percent post-consumer recycled paper and processed chlorine-free.
Permission received for all photos used in this article.
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