Leaves, Roots & Fruit

Eat what you sow in this step-by-step beginner's guide to creating an edible garden from scratch.

Have you woefully bought overpriced and wilted basil from a refrigerator shelf? Do you imagine a patch of life and color warming your empty kitchen windowsill? Have you tried gardening a time or two before, with only a well-watered swath of dirt to show for it months later?

Nicole Johnsey Burke, author of Kitchen Garden Revival and founder of Gardenary, Inc., and Rooted Garden, Inc., offers a straightforward and easy-to-follow gardening system that is built for attainable success. Nicole guides beginning gardeners through the fundamentals of garden setup and design, plant selection, and the mechanics for plant growth, in a gradual stepladder of three categories of plants:

• Leaves, including sprouts, herbs, and leafy greens

• Roots, such as bulbs, tubers, and rhizomes

• Fruits and seeds

By making gardening a step-by-step process where you build your skills and understanding of plants as you go, Nicole makes a potentially overwhelming process as simple as planting that first seed.