Golden Gate Gardening New Edition--August 1

 

The cat is out of the bag because the announcement is now on booksellers' websites. Barnes and Noble and Amazon have even posted the entire new Introduction to Golden Gate Gardening 4th (30th Anniversary) Edition. It will be released on August 15, this summer. The book has been updated throughout, with current information on  plant varieties, seed and plant sources, resources, for gardeners, and suggested additional reading, There are also changes throughout to the latest information on gardening techniques, pest management, etc. The book has been updated to explain where we stand currently in the ongoing climate crisis. (While our change so far has not been as dramatic in terms of earlier springs as it has been in some Eastern locations,  it has become more chaotic, leading to more severe drought and more frequent wildfires. It already has caused disruption of our fruit trees' annual cycle, and has led to heat inland spells too hot for plant growth!)

This book has helped many gardeners get the most from our mediterranean climate. If you are concerned about drought, which we know will return despite this year's wet winter, you will be particularly interested in learning about growing food in the fall to spring season, which takes advantage of what rainfall we get, along with reduced sunlight, to grow many kinds of food, such as broccoli, lettuce, artichokes, and snap peas will little or no artificial watering. 

If you are primarily an ornamental gardener, you will appreciate the expanded list of ornamentals that bear edible flowers. Decorating a salad or a cake with flowers you can eat adds beauty and celebrates the joy of being alive! You will also like the new lists of cutting flowers that tolerate coastal cool weather and ones that tolerate summer heat.

You will be glad to read about the new Open Source Seed movement, which lets public interest crop breeders register their new varieties as unpatentable, avoiding the Monsanto-driven efforts to prevent such breeding by slapping patents on plant traits. And if you buoy seeds, you will be glad to find out where to buy these unpatentable varieties. 

New pest management ideas will improve your ability to escape pest damage. Notable improvements are newly available better root baskets to prevent varmint damage and new biofungicides to manage plant diseases on the plants and in the soil.

The new edition includes the same recipes, from an easy potato leek soup to a moist and delicious chocolate cake that includes shredded beets--a mystery ingredient. And it has the same great planting charts, to help you choose when to plant in 4 different regional microclimates, from coastal to hot summer inland climates like that of Walnut Creek or San Jose. (The inland charts have been reassessed by Master Gardeners in those regions, and have been slightly revised/updated.)

Above, I have posted the new cover, which I think it so much more inviting than that of the Third Edition. I hope you love the new GGG and that you will come to a book event next fall or spring and say hello. There will be books for sale at those events, and I will sign one to you or to some lucky person who will. get the book as a gift.  It will also be available at many of our region's  independent bookstores and at some nurseries and food stores. 

I will post information on all of my future appearances on the events page of this blog and also on my website, pampeirce.com.