Books on container gardening have been wildly popular with urban and suburban readers, but until now, there has been no comprehensive 'how-to' guide for growing fresh food in the absence of open land. "Fresh Food from Small Spaces" fills the gap as a practical, comprehensive, and downright fun guide to growing food in small spaces. It provides readers with the knowledge and skills necessary to produce their own fresh vegetables, mushrooms, sprouts, and fermented foods as well as to raise bees and chickens - all without reliance on energy-intensive systems like indoor lighting and hydroponics.Readers will learn how to transform their balconies and windowsills into productive vegetable gardens, their countertops and storage lockers into commercial-quality sprout and mushroom farms, and their outside nooks and crannies into whatever they can imagine, including sustainable nurseries for honeybees and chickens. Free space for the city gardener might be no more than a cramped patio, balcony, rooftop, windowsill, hanging rafter, dark cabinet, garage, or storage area, but no space is too small or too dark to raise food. With this book as a guide, people living in apartments, condominiums, townhouses, and single-family homes will be able to grow up to 20 percent of their own fresh food using a combination of traditional gardening methods and space-saving techniques such as reflected lighting and container 'terracing'. Those with access to yards can produce even more.

Table of Contents

Creating a Food System for Your SpaceDeciding What to Grow in Your Garden SpaceHow to Buy or Build Productive Vegetable ContainersUsing Vertical Space and Reflected LightStarting Transplants and Cycling Your CropsGrowing Fruit and Berries in Your Small SpaceSprouting Grains, Beans, Wheatgrass, and Salad SproutsMaking Yogurt, Kefir, and Fermented FoodsCultivating MushroomsRaising Chickens and Honeybees in the CityMaking Compost and Partnering with WormsSurvival During Resource ShortagesHelping to Build a Sustainable FutureNotesResourcesIndex

Author Biography

A licensed attorney and college professor, R. J. Ruppenthal has never given up on his gardening passion, even when his day jobs led him to a more urban life. He currently teaches at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, California, and lives and gardens in the San Francisco Bay area.