Zero Waste Gardening: Maximize space and taste with minimal waste

by Ben Raskin

Zero-Waste Gardening is your essential go-to guide to growing your own food for maximum taste and minimum waste.  

Organic gardening expert, Ben Raskin, shares over 60 unique planning-for-yield guides for key crops. Work out how to make the most of the green space you have got, what to grow easily in it, and how much you will harvest seasonally for zero waste.

Learn about the roots of organic gardening, and unearth how to plant waste-free for any size plot , from balcony containers to 5-metre-square yards. Peppered with root-to-stalk cooking techniques , and edibility tips including which crops you can eat straight away, this is a plot-to-plate handbook for everyone with a green-thumb.

Perfect for new and experienced growers ,  zero-food waste followers,   city gardeners , and the ecologically minded , this is the only gardening book you will ever need!

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Green

160 pages, Hardcover

Published June 1, 2021

Reviews

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice book with lots of good information, particularly about individual garden veggies (and fruits) to grow. It's illustrated with colorful drawings. It does give lots of great information but I didn't feel that it really focused on zero waste as much as general organic gardening information. I was hoping for more tips for things like sources of mulch, specific fertilizers, potting soil, mixes, etc. What do you use in place of peat moss if you don't want to harm the environment by purchasing that for seed starting soil mixes? That sort of thing. This is a great book, but it's mostly garden basics and I didn't learn anything I didn't already know. I also felt that photos would have worked better than illustrations in a lot of cases. This will still be a great read for gardeners, though, particularly those who are new to organic gardening and want specific information about garden veggies.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forty-eight years ago my husband and I took a class in organic gardening and rented a plot in the seminary garden. We grew tomatoes and zucchinis and green beans and leaf lettuce and radishes and more, watering the garden from a creek nearby and mulching it with newspaper. I canned quarts of tomatoes and green beans for the winter.

Now we are in retirement and gardening again. Only one parsonage in the intervening years provided us with a garden plot; for a few years we had the best broccoli I ever ate!

We have a small suburban yard. There is an herb garden and two raised planters for spinach, chard, and leaf lettuce. We have huge tubs for tomatoes.

But I want to expand my garden and I wanted new ideas. I hoped that Zero Waste Gardening would give them to me.

'Zero waste' is about sustainability, the awareness that resources are finite. Making use of everything we grow, and using the whole plant, is the focus of this book.

The presentation is very attractive with full pages with color illustrations. The contents are divided into Space (including preparation of the ground, manure, inter-planting, under-sowing, space, yield); Taste (recipes, using all the plant, food preservation, storage); and Waste (sowing and harvesting, reducing energy, water); and information on the garden plants.

The garden plants include the stock choices but also more unusual crops. Information on plants include when to sow, plant, and harvest; yield per plant; how to pick; growing tips; zero waste tips; and how to use.

There is a page on gardening tools needed and how to keep them sharp. And a full index and glossary.

I learned to use the leaves of root vegetables as food and that some seeds are also edible. I did not know that we can eat the roots of Swiss Chard. But we do eat the stems, which we cook and serve in a white sauce on toast with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

I especially liked the idea of not disturbing the soil but adding mulch to disintegrate over winter, providing soil for planting.

There are numerous ways we can participate in zero waste. For several years we have shopped with a delivery service that distributes 'imperfect' vegetables and fruits. They are too big or too small or have blemishes or are in oversupply or being phased out.

Microgreens are all the rage now. The raised planter beds need to be thinned out, and I plan on keeping the baby plants for eating.

We save zinnia seeds. I dry herbs. We freeze leftover veggies for soups, and dice up and freeze vegetables on the verge of going bad.

I always thought of these habits as being economically and environmentally friendly. Now I know, they are zero waste habits!

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

[Kelcie Rucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book were very endearing. I also loved the bright colors and the overall layout/structure of the book.

I picked this up hoping it would talk a lot about what plants and parts of plants you can eat that most people don't. That was true; there was a section under each vegetable that included how to use other parts of the foods (the stems & leaves of strawberries, for example). However, it always felt like these were mentioned in passing because they weren't expanded on.

That's actually my main issue with this book, is there was SO MUCH information, but it was simultaneously tiny amounts. The author mentioned so many things that needed explaining or that almost didn't make sense because there was so little information given, and this happened all throughout the book. So, tons of stuff I didn't know about were mentioned, but I still don't know about them, nor do I even remember what they were. There wasn't much sustenance to the book because it was just little tiny tidbits about a lot of different things.

I think the audience of this book is those who have gardened for a long time and who already know a lot about gardening. That would make the lack of explanations make sense. Since I am a beginner, I didn't gain as much from the book. But to those who are far along in their garden journey, this may be just the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for the free e-ARC.

[Mary Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zero Waste Gardening by Ben Raskin is a great book for the organic gardener no matter if you're a master gardener or just a beginner. I have gardened for 40 years but this book had great ideas for even a seasoned gardener such as myself. I learned to garden from my Grandmother, who's garden was planted according to space, crops, harvest, and seasons and allowed for no waste. Gardening was not a hobby, it was a way of life and all those she was responsible for feeding needed it to survive. My Grandmother feed her family, including grandchildren who lived on the farm and farm hands daily. Every part of the vegetable was utilized in harvesting, cooking, canning, freezing and preserving. Waste not, want not was the family's motto.

The illustrations in this book are simple, attractive, and modern and the text is easily understood. The author shares more than 60 uniquely interesting plans to help with untilizing the green space you have, foods that will easily grow and calculating your yield to zero waste. With tips for root to stalk cooking techniques and tips on edibility this book will help the beginner or expert to develop their gardening skills to zero waste.

Thank you to Ben Raskin, Net Galley, and the publisher for sharing this book with me in exchange for an honest review. #ZeroWasteGardening #NetGalley

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Zero Waste Gardening" focused on how to make the most of your gardening space and minimalize the waste when using the plants. The author very briefly covered a lot of different gardening techniques. It's enough to get you interested but you'd have to read other books to really learn how to do these techniques. He talked about crop rotation, green manure, interplanting, undersowing, choosing efficient crops, and correct spacing for the crops (including estimates of how closely they can be planted and still give a good yield). He also talked about ways to store the plants after harvest (freezing, drying, fermenting). He then gave profiles on a lot of common garden plants and included information on how much space each plant takes, how much food you get off the plant, growing tips, when do harvest, how to use every useful part of the plant, and how to store the excess harvest for future use. I felt like this was more for a beginner gardener, especially one with limited space, but it doesn't really go into pest or disease control. Its strength is information on minimalizing food waste.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

[Johanna Sawyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I disliked the cover but the title was eye catching enough to make me want to read it. The book is not all encompassing and just really has basics about gardening. Some of it was more focused on storing and how to plant your garden. I was hoping it dealt more in waste and how to flip those into compost.

What did I like? Very colorful illustrated book with some great tips on a variety of everyday vegetables and fruits grown in a household garden. From carrots to pumpkin. If you have limited space then knowing what will grow in your soil and what won’t helps you produce more. Really though gardening is trial and error.

Would I recommend or buy? I bookmarked some of the items I am trying to grow. Really though gardening is just trial and error. Crop rotation and no till are becoming bigger because of climate change. I’d recommend it to beginner gardeners just looking to start growing.

I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left a review!

[T Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The topic of this book should be in every gardener's mind, and when it comes to the eating, everyone needs to pay attention. I once saw a cooking book for poor people, where the use of carrot tops was included in recipes. Why throw them away?
The text is very easy to read, it delves deep enough into the matter, and the disposition is perfect as there are lots of examples.
The drawings are good, and even if I prefer photos, I like it when the drawings are drawings and not trying to look like photos.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book had a variety of tips on how to eliminate garden waste (using all parts of a plant, only planting what you can eat, etc.), there was not much I hadn't already heard before. I'm also surprised Raskin didn't focus more on composting (in fact, he said a few times something like "don't throw that on the compost pile, here's how you can re-use it") - it's a great way to "re-use" your garden scraps by converting it into soil-replenishing fertilizer!

[Anjana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because I have recently started a mini kitchen garden. This was my first spring with the concept, and I have cooked my radishes and zucchini, and this book felt like it came at just the right time!
It is a colourful book and helpful to those who are seriously considering reducing their wastes from gardening. The first half talks about general information, while the latter gives a page by page detail of a crop and the related information. There are tips and strategies to increase what you can get out of limited space. I found some of the pages more helpful than others but overall was happy to have picked this up.
I gave up on a few unrealistic plans for my tiny garden and added few possibilities for this year or the next! An advanced gardener may not find anything too new in this collection, but this is a helpful tool for a beginner.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

[Jordan Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be very informative and a resource I would like to keep in mind for when I plant things in the future. The reason I gave it four stars instead of five is that there were multiple grammar errors throughout the book, which felt very unprofessional to me. Overall, though, I’d say it’s a great resource to have!

[Olivia Cummings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information and tips for zero waste gardening. I wasn't very impressed with the publishing quality however. The illustrations were lovely, but there were plenty of spelling errors, a few unfinished sentences, and at one point tried to reference something on another page and put the page number of the current page.

[Joni Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

All you need to know on about gardening. From planting to picking to storing. I struggle with knowing when and how often to harvest my plants. This book takes all the guess work out of that. Oh and the illustrations are so cute!

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fabulous illustrations and approachable text, but I found it to be somewhat rudimentary when it came to the nuts and bolts. I'd recommend this book for a first-time organic gardener, but not someone who has some experience with edible gardening and is looking for more creative solutions.

[OjoAusana · Rating 4 out of 5]

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* pretty interesting book, i suck at gardening so i enjoy reading these and finding out new tips if i ever start to get into it, this would be a book id buy if i was going to start gardening!

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic gardening advice which would be good for a novice gardener. Also offers a few tips for those of us who have been doing this awhile, like drying celery, using green coriander seeds, and pickling veggies you may not have thought to pickle.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I found out a whole lot about what I've been doing wrong! There's hope for my crops this year!

[Ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really useful tips. Read it in a day + will go back to specific parts as and when I need them :)

[A.g. · Rating 3 out of 5]

After initial few chapters on zero waste which was quite useful, the test are plant profiles and planting advice which are not applicable to all climates.

[Danielle Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit light on information. Half the book is a list of vegetables.

[Laney Estel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a wealth of knowledge. for both large and small gardens. I particularly love that the author gives you a variety of vegetable examples for how to grow, harvest and store them. This is definitely one of those books that will sit as a reference for many years as I start my own garden.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great information

Lots of basic information in a compact presentation. Not overloaded with too much. Just the right amount of basics to get one started.