There are loads of books available for reference, with titles such as "All New Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew and "Your Farm in the City" by Lisa Taylor and Seattle Tilth coming to mind. Both of these books along with countless others should be available at your local library...they are at mine.
Another good resource is the Internet. Unfortunately, the quality and level of detail of information you find on the Internet varies. Generally if you type a phrase into Google about gardening you will taken to an about.com article or something similar which is good, but generally very abbreviated. In my opinion, the best and most relevant source of information relative to your geographic location is your state's extension service.
In my state, the University of Maryland manages this service. They also happen to maintain a very well designed and useful website. The University of Maryland extension started an initiative specific to food and vegetable gardening called Grow It Eat It. This website is loaded with information such as vegetable profiles, how-to videos, gardening publications, community gardening resources, and details on how to contact the extension for additional information. Hopefully your state maintains a similar service and website.
Here are some links to the pages I commonly visit on the University of Maryland extension websites:
- Vegetable Profiles - a good source of information on how and when to plant, care for, and harvest commonly grown vegetable varieties
- Food Gardening Publications - detailed guides and reports on how to perform various gardening tasks such as composting, establishing gardens, and managing pests
- Community Gardens - a source of information on community gardening, including a directory of some of the known community gardens located throughout central Maryland
- Spring Frost/Freeze Dates - a chart listing the main towns and regions throughout Maryland along with the probability of frost occurring on certain dates
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