Perennial Vegetables: From Artichoke to 'Zuiki' Taro, a Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Delicious, Easy-to-Grow Edibles

by Eric Toensmeier; published in 2007 by Chelsea Green Publishing Company

Anyone who thinks that perennial vegetables begin and end with asparagus will welcome the arrival of a well-written, comprehensive survey of perennial vegetables for the home garden.  Eric Toensmeier clearly knows and loves his subject.  While his survey of perennial vegetables could have been better organized, its thoroughness and its unusual subject matter make it useful and fascinating.

The book is divided into two parts; an extended introduction discussing general gardening issues as they apply to edible perennial vegetables, and an extensive listing and description of some of the plants themselves.

When I think of urban gardening, I remember the hand-pollinated heirloom tomatoes I grew on my windowsill when I lived in Manhattan, or the herb garden on my Brooklyn fire escape, or the container garden my friend kept next to her stoop.  I think of the fight to keep community gardens in empty lots, and guerrilla gardeners lobbing "seed grenades" into fenced-off abandoned plots.

Luckily for their circulation, Urban Farm, the new title launching this month from the publishers of Hobby Farms magazine, has a broader definition of "urban."  The subtitle is "Sustainable City Living," but this new magazine, published out of Lexington, Kentucky, mostly caters to the suburban demographic--basically, anyone with a small enough garden that they don't feel comfortable buying Hobby Farms.  Read on for the full review of the first issue.