How to Garden Indoors & Grow Your Own Food Year Round

by Kim Roman

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

How to Garden Indoors & Grow Your Own Food Year Round is a basic general guide to indoor gardening for producing edible plants and herbs written and curated by Kim Roman. Due out 15th March 2022 from Fox Chapel, it's 192 pages and will be available in hardcover, paperback, spiral bound, and ebook formats.

Food security and transportation costs and availability are real and immediate concerns for the vast majority of people. We only have to look at the supply issues of the last few years to see how vulnerable we are to interruptions and resource scarcity. It's not possible to be self-sufficient with toilet paper and toothpaste (well, not really), but providing for part of our food needs ourselves is a great way to reduce some stress, gain valuable skills, and gain a fun and relaxing hobby.

This is a good general guide to maximizing yields by utilizing vertical growth "walls", hydroponics, and indoor container gardening with edible plants/herbs. The information is presented well and understandably. The author is an experienced gardener and adept at educational writing. The text is accessible and direct. The sections of the book are arranged logically: getting started, understanding what plants need (and how to give it to them), systems for indoor growing, choosing what to grow, and troubleshooting.

The book is full of clear color photos of different types of containers, optimal plants and varieties, and small tutorials for setting up and maintaining indoor growing spaces. There are a lot of good tips and tricks for stretching the gardening budget whilst still choosing safe plastics and other materials. Salient info is contained in highlighted text boxes throughout the text.

Four stars. I liked that the author is quite realistic about how much food can be produced reliably indoors year-round, but indoor gardening can supplement summer outdoor garden produce as well as being an enjoyable and rewarding hobby. Reliably being able to start seeds every year and get healthy seedlings will vastly enhance the available selection of plants for the gardener to utilize as well as cutting down on costs and transportation.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.