(introduction...)

This book is organized into four parts: Part I (Chapters 2-4) gives an overview of gardens in development and background information important for supporting gardens; Part II (Chapters 5-13) is about growing gardens; Part III (Chapters 14-16) discusses using the harvest from gardens; and Part IV (Chapters 17-20, plus an index) contains information on measurements, resources, and the complete list of references, some of which are annotated. It is not necessary to read the entire book, or to read it in the order in which it is laid out. Some readers will have very specific interests and needs and so may only use selected chapters. However, we encourage reading as much of this book as possible, and especially reading Part I before starting a garden project.

CHAPTER DIVISIONS Each chapter, except those in Part IV, starts with a brief introduction followed by a summary of the information and concepts discussed in the chapter. Within each chapter there are three levels of headings: the chapter number and title (e.g., 9 Soils in the Garden), the primary chapter divisions (e.g., 9.5 Soils and Plant Nutrients), and the secondary chapter divisions (e.g., 9.5.2 Nitrogen). There are also boxes and tables in some chapters.

BOXES Boxes are surrounded by a border and contain detailed information or techniques. The boxes are not necessary for understanding the discussion in the text. Boxes may occur anywhere in the text and are numbered sequentially within chapters. For example. Box 4.4 is the fourth box in Chapter 4.

TABLES Tables are summaries of information useful for quick reference. They may occur anywhere in the text and are numbered according to the chapter they are in. For example. Table 9.2 is the second table in Chapter 9.

CROSS REFERENCES Often in this book discussion of one topic refers to or builds on another that is discussed or illustrated in a different section. When this occurs we give the other section or figure numbers in parentheses in the text.

PRONOUNS This book reflects the fact that both women and men garden by using female pronouns (she, her, hers) to refer to the gardener in even-numbered chapters, and male pronouns (he, him, his) in odd-numbered chapters. Specific examples are sometimes exceptions to this.

NONENGLISH WORDS In the text, italics are used for all words in languages other than English, including the scientific names of plants, which are in Latin.

DEFINITIONS When a word or phrase is being defined in the text, it is italicized and printed in bold. In the index, page numbers in bold italics indicate where a word or phrase is defined in the text.

GARDEN CROPS In the text only the English common names of garden crops are given. In Chapter 18 the common names of all these crops are listed alphabetically, accompanied by their scientific names.

OTHER PLANTS When plants that are not garden crops are mentioned, their common and scientific names are given in the text.

REFERENCES For each chapter, references are indicated with superscript footnotes, referring to a list of abbreviated references at the end of that chapter. The complete references for all the material cited in the text are listed alphabetically in Chapter 20. Some of the most important references in Chapter 20 are followed by a brief comment.

MEASUREMENTS In the text all measurements are given in metric units and most are followed by the rounded-off English equivalents in parentheses. In examples of how to use a formula or equation, the measurements are only given in metric units. The glossary (Chapter 17) gives conversions and abbreviations for all measurements used in this book.