We have on average 170 days here between the last frost and our first frost. This basically means we spend time leafing through seed catalogs in the winter and come March we start planting indoors or in our greenhouses. This is also the time of year to look through our collections of books that have anything to do with gardening.
This morning, I have been reading The Secret Garden Growing Delicious Food for Essential Living. It a basic guide for beginners and provides a history of the American Garden and 10 reasons why you should grow your own food.
The book lists select plants and some of their friends, enemies, known threats along with the type of soil that is generally preferred.
I like books that point out steps towards becoming sustainable and this one does that. If you have similar interests you may appreciate this book too.
If you wish to look up frost-free dates by zip code you might want to try The Old Farmer's Almanac.
About the Author
You can learn more about Master Gardener Susan Patterson and her projects here.