Grow Now: How We Can Save Our Health, Communities, and Planet One Garden at a Time

Pass the Pistil blogger Murphy (Grow What You Love) delivers an encouraging primer on gardening as a way to combat climate change. She shoots for a simple equation: “my garden + your garden + your neighbor’s garden = save the planet one garden at a time,” and argues that people shouldn’t succumb to the idea that climate change is too big a problem for ordinary people to confront. Murphy begins with an overview of carbon, the “essential building block of life” and “the main ingredient in soil organic matter,” and offers tips for maintaining soil health, most of which involve fostering biodiversity. She outlines a slew of regenerative gardening practices, including no-dig gardening, composting, and planting native crops. There’s a comprehensive plant guide, too, which covers edible perennials (such as artichokes, asparagus, and chives), edible perennial vines (grapes and chayote), bird and butterfly favorites (including buckwheat and milkweed), and soil builders (broad grass and clover among them). Murphy’s account is loaded with easy-to-implement tips, inspiring photos, and useful lists, and she’s full of passion: “In our gardens, we can repair ourselves and our plots of earth with our own two hands.” New gardeners will find this a fine starting point, and those with dirt already under their nails will enjoy the nudge to try something new. (Jan.)