An Organic Approach to Gardening in Kentucky
by Jerome Lange
240pp 7" x 9.5" paperback
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Jerome tends to speak of this second volume in his series as consisting of the rest of the keys, the stuff that wasn't quite important enough to merit a spot as one of the Seven Keys. And that is true enough; here you'll find the other essential tasks—planting, manuring, weeding, harvesting, and many more—that go into managing any garden, large or small. The first volume of the series, The Seven Keys, is sufficient if you know roughly how to garden but need to appreciate that certain tasks are central and need careful attention; this book describes the tasks that complete the gardener's arsenal of tools.
But there is something more going on in Organizing the INGs which makes it valuable for even the experienced gardener. As Jerome goes about completing the gardener's arsenal, he explains in clear and simple terms how it all fits together over the course of a season. Not only does he cover individual areas, he shows how the work done in one area provides a critical foundation for work in other areas that will be done later in the year. Most important, he does not try to provide a comprehensive system for managing all these interconnections—in fact, there are numerous examples of how such an approach will generally fail—but instead teaches principles that will help to develop a deep enough understanding of gardening to do the things that need doing when they need to be done.
Any gardener, novice or experienced, will benefit greatly from Organizing the INGs. But it will be a true blessing for the beginning gardener who hopes to grow food at a scale that can dependably feed his family and even produce a surplus for market.
