B2B Book Review: High Performance Gardening

Dan’s and my first garden on the homestead was huge. It seemed like the right thing to do to become food self-sufficient, but eventually we figured out that it was just too much to manage. If the garden was all we had to do, then sure, it would have been great. But we have other things going on: livestock, home repair, building projects, lumber making, field crops, haying, food preservation, and other self- sufficiency projects like expanding our rainwater collection system, etc. Plus my writing and Dan’s job. There just aren’t enough hours in a day.

We cut back on the size of the garden, and I cut back on the variety of vegetables we were growing. Also I stopped experimenting with new seeds, deciding to focus on what I knew grew well in our little part of the world. I also knew we’d need to learn ways to extend our growing season and garden more efficiently. That’s why I was glad to find High Performance Gardening by Lynn Gillespie in this year’s Back to Basics Living Bundle.

What is a high performance garden? The author defines it as a garden that grows in harmony with nature, is disease and insect resistant, has few weeds, requires low time and energy inputs from the gardener (and with only a few tools), utilizes all available gardening space, produces huge yields, and is fun! Isn’t that everybody’s dream garden?

But isn’t that what all books on gardening promise? What makes this one any different? Rather than focusing on specific vegetables, the author deals with concepts. Twelve characteristics of high performance gardens are discussed in detail, supported by science and experience.

One concept that was brand new to me was utilizing the Brix Index to measure the nutrient density of what I grow. What’s that, you ask? I’ll let the author explain…

“There is a meter called a refractometer that can measure the amounts of dissolved solids in fruits or vegetables to tell you which fruits or vegetables are more nutrient dense than others. The higher the reading on the refractometer the better quality the fruit or vegetable. . . a poor tomato would have a Brix index of 4, an average tomato would have a Brix index of 6, a good tomato would have a Brix index of 8 and an excellent tomato that would make you jump for joy would have a Brix index of 12.”

A chart of how various grades of vegetables register on the Brix scale is included.

Who doesn’t want to grow food like that! The rest of the book tells you how to achieve excellent nutrient density, how to increase bug and disease resistance, and how to decrease weeds and back-breaking work. I’m thrilled because I feel that at last I have a tool with which to measure my gardening efforts and results.

For a list of all the eBooks in the bundle, click here.

You have several options to purchase the collection:

• Online access: $39.97
• USB flash drive: $64.97 (includes domestic shipping)
• USB flash drive PLUS online access: $69.97 (includes domestic shipping)