"A chatty, friendly swapping of good ideas on vegetable-growing with something for berries and fruits," is how author Ross Gast described Vegetables in the California Garden when it was first published in 1933. "If you have never tasted vegetables from the garden, you do not know what real flavor is."Whether you're already a hands-on gardener, or a novice seeking inspiration and instruction to plot your very own Victory Garden, this book offers sage advice to help you prepare the soil, select the seeds-including heirlooms-and plant, maintain and harvest your home-grown produce.Complete with berry-growing information from Walter Knott-written even before he founded Knott's Berry Farm-this California classic has long been considered the best resource on the market for gardeners in the know.
About the Author: Ross H. Gast, a veteran of World War I, was an accomplished teacher, gardener, and writer who turned his expertise into stints with the U.S. Departments of Interior and Agriculture. He moved to Hawaii in 1935, where he worked with the University of Hawaii and assisted local efforts to create a sustainable food supply; he completed two notable biographies and devoted himself to his hobby, the hibiscus. Upon his return to the mainland, Gast served as a consultant to the thriving commercial vegetable growing enterprises located on the West Coast. In 1961, he moved to London, England become managing director of Germain Seed Company where he worked in beet sugar production. Gast spent his later years traveling the world in search of new and unusual species as part of the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum's Hibiscus Project. His collection of letters (1963-1967) sent to his associate Joe Stanniford comprise a charming account of his expeditions-and a glimpse of his character, unflappable outlook and sense of humor. He whimsically referred to his expeditions as "hibiscusing," and "hibiscating," and even signed off some letters "Hibiscusly yours." He eventually became bored with discussions of plants other than hibiscus, explaining, "I had developed the bad habit of saying to myself-and others-that 'if it ain't hibiscus the hell with it.'" In his world travels he became acutely aware of the economic gap between Americans and citizens of less affluent countries. He imparted some advice, "Americans traveling anywhere in the world should humbly recognize that their principal charm is their money and that their only virtue is a readiness to part with it." The author of this book was a multi-talented man of good humor and great expertise who made many friends throughout his long life. Such a conclusion is easily reached, even by reading this instructive little volume about vegetable gardening. The California native, who coaxed food from the soil and admired beauty wherever he found it, is interred at the modest Pioneer Cemetery in the small town of Julian, where his headstone reads, "Father, Native Son, Aloha."