Author Description

"Home Vegetable Gardening is an outstanding resource for those interested in gaining a better understanding of vegetables and learning the best methods for producing vegetable crops in home gardens. The book presents important concepts in home gardening, including composting, soil improvement, fertilizer use, pest management, and season extension practices. Readers will also learn about vegetable classification and propagation, as well as the best techniques for growing organic vegetables. Important chapters are devoted to cool- and warm-season vegetables for home gardens as well as container vegetable gardening and gardening with heirlooms. With material that has been extensively tested in class over a period of almost two decades, this is the rare text on the subject that directly targets a university-level audience. Home Vegetable Gardening is ideally suited to university courses related to vegetable horticulture and other course offerings in ecology, sustainable vegetable gardening, and vegetable-based small farm agriculture. Alan Walters holds a Ph.D in horticultural science from North Carolina State University. Currently, he is a professor of horticulture focusing on vegetable science at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale where he teaches courses in crop physiology and ecology, commercial vegetable production, world crops, and home vegetable gardening. His applied research focuses on improving vegetable production systems throughout the world. As a Fulbright Research Scholar, Dr. Walters has spent considerable time devoted to international agriculture working on various research and training projects in several countries."