The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener

by Eliot Coleman, Sheri Amsel (Illustrator)

“Updated for its 30th anniversary edition; [This book] remains as relevant as ever.”― New York Times Book Review Since its original publication in 1989, The New Organic Grower has been one of the most important farming books available, with pioneer Eliot Coleman leading the charge in the organic movement in the United States. Now fully illustrated and updated, this 30 th Anniversary Edition is a must-have for any agricultural library. Eliot Coleman’s books and innovative methods have helped innumerable organic farmers build successful farms in deep accordance with nature. The wisdom in this seminal book holds true even as the modern agricultural canon has grown―in large part due to Coleman’s influence as a wise elder with decades of experience. New information has been included in this edition to showcase the new tools and techniques that Eliot has been developing over the last thirty-five years. Inspired by the European intensive growers, The New Organic Grower , 30 th Anniversary Edition , offers a very approachable and productive form of farming that has proven to work well for the earth and its stewards for centuries. Gardeners working on 2.5 acres or less will find this book especially useful, as it offers proof that small-scale market growers and serious home gardeners can live good lives close to the land and make a profit at the same time. The New Organic Grower is ideal for young farmers just getting started, or gardeners seeking to expand into a more productive enterprise. New material in this edition   "I was interested in the environment, farming, science . . . and there was Eliot’s book lying on the shelf. I remember grabbing it, and I just FELL IN. . . . I remember reading it like it was the Bible."―Dan Barber, chef

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Agriculture, Food, Reference, Nature, Plants

340 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 1989

About the author

Eliot Coleman is an American farmer, author, agricultural researcher and educator, and proponent of organic farming. He wrote The New Organic Grower. He served for two years as Executive Director of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), and was an advisor to the U.S. Department of Agriculture during its 1979–80 study, Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming, a document that formed the basis for today's legislated National Organic Program (2002) in the U.S.

On his Four Season Farm in Harborside, Brooksville, Maine, he produces year-round vegetable crops, even under harsh winter conditions (for which he uses unheated and minimally heated greenhouses and polytunnels). He even manages to grow artichokes, claiming that "I grow them just to make the Californians nervous."

Coleman is married to gardening author Barbara Damrosch. For several years, from 1993, they co-hosted the TV series, Gardening Naturally, on The Learning Channel. Coleman and his wife continue to grow and locally market fresh produce.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book has alot of wonderful information and accumulated wisdom from Mr. Coleman, it is not for beginners. If you have little-to-no experience gardening or farming, and especially if you don't have a place to practice, this book can leave you more confused than enlightened. This was one of the first books I read when starting to learn about farming, and while I could tell that there was some great stuff in there (especially the section on soil amendments, and the excellent discussion of crop rotations), I just couldn't put any of it into context, and the text doesn't walk you through any of the basics. As the subtitle says, it is a Master's Manual, not a Beginner's Manual.

Since reading it the first time, I've gone back and re-examined parts of the book and found it much more helpful now that I have a firmer grounding in the general practices of market gardening. I would certainly recommend it to any experienced or beginning farmers looking for some ideas to improve their operation, but those looking for an introduction to vegetable growing should look elsewhere

[Zora · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you eat organic vegetables, are in a CSA, or go to a farmer's market, you have Coleman to thank in part. While others were part of the organic farming movement in the 60s, Coleman did it well, and he educated himself, and he continues to be an active proponent of true organic gardening (not necessarily the stuff labeled that at your supermarket, which may or may not be as safe or chemical free as you'd hope.)

He's such a booster for this, so enthusiastic and charming, still humble though heaven only knows why he's that, and willing to be taught new tricks despite his age. He made me want to read all those gems of books and pamphlets from the 40s and 50s he dug up, when the smartest of farmers and researchers began to suspect the bill of goods the chemical industry was selling them wasn't necessary good for food or the land or their wallets.


I recently read some interviews with gardeners who had begun gardening in the 1890s or so, and once upon a time, pest pressures were minor, and everyone used manure, and the poor could grow their own good nutritious food, and those people kept fit forking hay onto fallow fields and splitting wood.

It seems to me that as the poor get poorer in this country and the middle class get poor, we'd all be smart to return to growing our own food. Forget the lawn, start with tomatoes or your favorite food, read this book, and spend the time you used to spend on social media on putting your hands in the soil. Dollar Tree has 25 cent seeds in mid-winter. Give it a whirl.

And when you do, heed Coleman's core advice: feed the soil, not the plants.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This may not be a fair rating --- I only read the first chapter and flipped through it. The book is probably useful if you're a beginning gardener who wants to start an organic farming venture. But all of the parts I read were just rehashing information I'd learned elsewhere.

[Kristina Seleshanko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite this book's title, it's not all that useful for the home gardener. But since I have a fantasy of someday becoming a market grower, I still found it interesting. Coleman really knows his stuff, and while this book is older, I learned a lot. I especially appreciated his thoughts on choosing property to grow on, what size works best for market growing (hint: you don't need tons of acres), and what tools he uses to reduce labor. A must for anyone who thinks they'd like to sell produce locally.

[George Ilsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have the original 1989 edition, not the expanded edition shown here. There's much to learn and think about, although sometimes Coleman's advice is aimed more at gardeners with large market plots than someone (like me) with smaller, more modest ambitions.

That being said, if you are a market gardener this book provides a wealth of information how to do it quickly and efficiently.

For me, it also provides a rich loamy source of information. It's funny, too, to think how in the 1980s the idea of organic gardening was considered revolutionary, if not impossible.

Research continues.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading all the books seemed more of necessity before I was growing at the scale I wanted. Now that I have my hands in the dirt... (or playing with way more dirt)
It's interesting to see how that's changed my reading of farming books.
Now instead of needing to inhale all the information and ideas I tend to find little nuggets of information I need. I think this probably represents progress. Guess we'll see how 2020 turns out!

[Larry Guthrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource on pursuing true organic ways. There is information that goes beyond the needs of a home gardener but sparks ideas on how to do it better. The soil blocking and transplanting chapters are worth the book price. If you garden, put this on your shelf.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coleman is the kind of innovative gardener that I aspire to become. Many of the techniques in were not in use elsewhere when this book was first written. I particularly like his development of soil cubes for starting seeds, instead of using plastic containers. These little compacted cubes of a special soil mixture relieve the gardener of the need for those bothersome plastic trays where the roots end up growing out of the bottoms. With his technique, simply plop the seedling and soil cube into the prepared space, and that's it! Some of his other recommendations, like the collinear hoe he designed that cuts off weed roots just under the soil, are simply brilliant.

Market gardeners will find this book particularly useful, because it contains many ideas for time and labor-saving strategies. It covers all of the basics of organic gardening, includes plenty of the type of charts dear to garden planners' hearts, and has a pleasing layout. Overall, it is a very well done book.

[Scott Lupo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and amazing information regarding organic gardening throughout the year. While this book was aimed at market gardening, it has plenty of information for the home gardener too. Most everything I read by Eliot Coleman is fantastic because he has been doing this for so long, has learned from the best, and continues to experiment to make things even better. I long for some land and hope to use many of these techniques, especially moving greenhouses, to grow food all year long. Thanks to Eliot Coleman for sharing his vast knowledge.

[Sharleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent intro on how to set up a small organic farm - useful tips on site selection, soil improvement, crop rotation planning, and cover cropping. Very readable. About half-way through right now.

[Michael Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is commonly referred to as the organic Bible & I can see why. It's something I regularly reference for helpful advice to correct what I mistakenly think I have already mastered. Read it, even if you don't think you can garden no matter why you think that. I can do stuff now I would have never even considered possible before reading this book.

[Jordan Tilley]

Tiktok

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a treasure trove. Both breadth and depth on the subject, with a steady encouraging tone. Principled but not an ideological zealot. There's a good balance of theory and practical wisdom too. After having read several less useful books on the subject I wish I had started with this one.

[Carl Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published in White River Junction, VT. Betty had people there.
Pg v: "The Shaker Venture" by Marguerite Fellows Melcher, sound like a good book for community development.
Pg 300: Celery will bolt at below 55 degrees so won't grow around here (western Washington).I nee something else for myu tuna salad mix.
Pg 16: 5 acres for intensive vegetable farm.
Pg 18: His example sounds like Jim's place in Ferndale.
Pg 21: Better not be bigger than 2 1/2 acres per worker which would provide veg. for 100 people. He give numbers for cost of equipment at around $15,000 considering a walk behind tiller.
Pg 33: Ray and Betty have the planning and observation down for western WA..
Pg 38: If he can grow celery in New England we can grow it here. His "A" salad crops include tomato, cucumber, pepper and celery. His "B" salad has lettuce and others. Wait, the "A: is more expensive and takes more capital. More like a dairy A & B.
Pg 56 Observation comes in in rotation of what follows what.
Pg 66: Has a good rotation conclusion. Potatoes, sweet corn, cabbage family, peas, tomatoes, beans, root crops, squash.
Pg 75: Question for Ray; does he do green manures or under sowing. Maybe not in this area because of slugs.
Pg 92: He does tip his hat to no till growing.
Pg 103: Claims rocks can be crushed to give amendments to grow green manure.
Pg 109: A good list of soil amendments are found here.
Pg 113: "I have always found that not having access to "ideal" equipment makes me more inventive." he says. I like that.
Pg 123: Uses seeder for direct seeding.
Pg 140: Hey sludge is brought up. Whey sludge coud be used in the soil blocking process.
Pg 170: This guy is a student of market farming and goes back decades in his studies. He tries to be rid of weeds.
Pg 178: Plant enhancement rather that pest control. I like that.
Pg 188: Vacuum treatment of pest. What about leaf blowers.
Pg 206: Dark colors, charcoal, carbon black, coal dust, increases the heat in soil. Which is useful, in the spring. I never heard of such a thing.
Pg 265: Mobile green house don't have the build up of nitrates and other salts.
Pg 269: Winter boarding of horses would manure a 5 acre operation.
Pg 291: An acre is 210 feet on a side or about 70 paces and could feed 40 people.
His book would stand good for setting up a community commune or extended family. Home school family with good labor and flexible schedule would be ideal.
Pg 332: "Ten Acres Enough" Edmund Morris the American New Co. 1864 subtitled "How a very small farm may be made to keep a very large family."

[Lgordo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books is probably most useful for the market gardener, as there are long chapters on tools, marketing, and moveable greenhouses which don't apply to most people I know who are working in their backyards. (To be fair, there are some very large backyards out in the country, but still.)

At one point it seemed like the book was primarily written to inform the world of soil-blocking, which I still don't understand, even after reading his chapter on it. (How on earth do you keep them watered without them falling apart? So confused. He doesn't address watering at all, but it's clearly not bottom-watered, so does he spray them daily?)

Even then, I didn't really find it full of amazing information. Sure, there were some good snippets on building soil and spacing plants and crop rotation, but he has this final chapter with specific notes on specific crops and it wasn't exactly rich in detail. Given that his whole pest-control premise is that if your plants are happy they won't fall prey to bugs, it seemed a shortcoming that he didn't provide the conditions for happiness for all the plants.

I think the problem is that Eliot Coleman is so amazing at what he does that he doesn't realize what he's doing any more and can't explain it to us regular folk. I have plenty of respect for the man, but I think I need books by less masterful gardeners for the future.

I will say, his tone is approachable, friendly, non-prescriptive, and humble, and I bet walking through his fields with him would be an education in itself. I'm just not sure this book quite collates everything he has to give.

[Mark Gowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eliot Coleman farms in Maine, and is highly successful at it. The New Organic Grower is his book that covers the techniques and beliefs that make Coleman successful. Even if you do not garden in Maine, but in the farm-friendly states of the midwest and southeast, I believe that Coleman still has a lot to offer.
His techniques (as he points out) are not new but have been used by european farmers for centuries. But Coleman puts a fine point on the techniques here. While the book is detailed in its assessment of processes for farming, including experiments in greenhouse designs and vegetable growing, I still think that Coleman's book offers more than just technical expertise: it offers a bit of an insight into why we ought to think this way.
He writes, "In the process of finding the models, the philosophy, the tools and the technologies of the small farmer, I also learned a great deal about scale and the advantages of staying small." I think this sums up his philosophy of farming.
Coleman has proven his worth as a small-scale [truly] organic farmer: he is successful, has done and continues to do the work Perhaps he sums the book's point up best: "Rather than not acting because we can't be certain, I suggest we try instead to apply what we hope we know."

[Jennae Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate the history Coleman gives of organic (or rather what he calls biological) farming. It was interesting to hear about the people pioneering (or perhaps holding on to) these ideas before they became a fad. This book gave me a greater respect for organically grown food because it made sense of why it is important.
There are a lot of practical explanations for how to grow things in this book. It's also chock full of resources. There are some terms and practices that I would have liked to have had explained at a more basic level, but the focus of the book was to share Coleman's tools and techniques, so it probably did not make sense for him to include that information. I mention that here just as an fyi that if you are new to farming, especially organic farming, there will be some topics that require further investigation and study.
Overall, I learned a lot! This book is filled with useful and practical information.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic seemingly quality information. I know Coleman can get criticized because of his popularity, but from this book I can completely understand this popularity. He is clear, seemingly practical, and has a sound philosophy to base from. I have no idea if he truly 'practices what he preaches' and all but I love what he preaches. His intentional and thought-as-input style of farming is exactly what drew me to the field in the first place. I definitely feel like this is a reference book that I will draw upon in the future and a great buy. I don't necessarily know if his methods are all applicable to a raised bed style farm like mine but I do hope to use some of his practices. And even more important in the long term may be his practice of continual inquisition, observation and improvement.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

One summer I decided to take over a small organic farm from a neighbor on Salt Spring Island, BC... by myself. One of the many problems with this situation was that I had zero farming experience! I spent a lot of time in the library, and this book was my bible. Eliot is renowned for his ability to farm year-round in Maine; I figured if he could do that, I could stick out a mellow season in a lower latitude. (I didn't stay quite long enough to see the squash ripen, but I did make enough money selling basil to travel to the Queen Charlotte Islands.)

My recommendation if you want to start farming: find a farm where you can work alongside people who know what they're doing! It's much easier to learn food production by watching than by reading about it in a book, no matter how great the book.

[Luke Merrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coleman gives a wonderfully detailed review of his years studying and working as a small scale organic farmer. I appreciate the fact that he is a very straight forward thinker and that he's not afraid to admit the things hes not sure about. He's probably best labeled a perpetual learner, constantly experimenting and figuring things out.
The chapters and writing style are easy to read and follow, and the subject matter is spot on.
My only critique would be the age of the book, even though Coleman offers plenty of revolutionary ideas and age old farming practices - there have still been advances in farming since the publishing of the book.

All in all, the book is an essential read for those interested in small scale organic farming.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coleman manages to deliver great amounts of knowledge and inspiration in this relatively short (for the topic) book. This book is for those who are serious about small-scale farming and backyard gardening. It assumes that you already know some things about food production and perhaps even a bit about organic growing methods. He will walk you through the importance of soil fertility and how to maintain it - this is arguably the basis of organic growing. He gives both very practical and very philosophical advice that serves to prepare you for growing and pressing on in your knowledge as a farmer. Truly wonderful book.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though this is an older edition, it is filled with a great amount of knowledge and advice that is pertinent today. I am a beginner myself, and I would recommend this book to other beginners as it gives you a broad scope of what to expect. It also make you trouble shoot potential problems, plan for success, and gives you a glimpse of what other successful farmers are doing. This book is geared more towards market and commercial growers, and it is also wonderful for homesteaders. True backyard gardeners would appreciate this, but I believe his examples and prototypes are made for larger endeavors.

[Carolyn Semple faucher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coleman has been the leader in organic growing techniques, forever. When this book was published it was radical in North America. His ideas & techniques were unusual at the time, but are now so mainstream that I find this book too basic.
His newer books expand on these techniques, making them a bit more helpful.
If you are completely new to organic growing, this is a great place to start.
If you’re looking for innovative ideas, check out what J.M. Fortier is doing in Quebec! He’s the Eliot Coleman of my generation.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so I read this book before I knew anything about gardening and it was waaay over my head. It's quite technical and more aimed to the market gardener than the home gardener. I did enjoy the back of he book where it talked about the individual vegetables. I also enjoyed the chapter on crop rotation. There's a lot of information here. Probably one I will read again in the future.

My rating of three stars is just because it was too in depth for me and left me feeling overwhelmed.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coleman is a master of the craft of agriculture. His major work, The New Organic Grower, is intensely practical and yet simultaneously academic in its approach to growing food for oneself or as a livelihood. This book was replete with helpful diagrams and drawings, an extensive bibliography, and intimate knowledge of soil and plant health. To top it off, Coleman made this work a very enjoyable read!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In gardening books, I like either a strong point of view or a lot of technical detail, and Elliot Coleman gives both -- all in a very enjoyable writing style. My only quibble about the book is that the title is misleading. This is really about running a 5-acre farm for market. There's still lots of good information in here for the home gardener, just know ahead of time that much of the text is only applicable to people with a generous amount of land.

[SK Gaskell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eliot Coleman is incredibly bright and "The New Organic Grower" is one of the first really accessible tomes for organic growing that made robust connections between the common gardener and those who want to become advanced. If you've never gardened a day in your life you might have a really hard time with this book but if you're in the life sciences or have an interest in practically greening your practices, this is a really great place to visit.

[Karen Mahtin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a few years since I read the revised edition, so it's hard for me to remember what's different. I was disappointed that the "new section" about cut flowers was basically a sidebar. I was struck again by the amazing details that Mr. Coleman has noticed and improved in his work over the years. There are so many little tidbits of information. I'm so grateful that he chose the farming career and wrote this book. I was surprised to see that there were a few typos-- even in the 3rd edition!

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good bridge between the ones written for farmers and the ones written for households: it shares the principles of highly productive (and yes, lucrative) farming in a way that is written on the level for anyone to understand and apply even on the smallest scale.
(I did not read the last half because I do not have a garden yet, but I think it would be great to come back to when I do.)

[Lexie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was full of great information on a variety of tools/philosophies useful for the amateur organic grower. However, I would recommend reading this in conjunction with a book more specific to growing crops. Crockett's Victory Garden (ignoring Crockett's conventional methods) would be a good companion to this book.