If you’ve been anywhere near the gardening section of any book store, then you have surely seen (or already own) Niki Jabbour’s popular book The Year Round Vegetable Gardener (Storey, 2011). Or perhaps you’re a devout listener of her radio show, The Weekend Gardener. Whether you’re already a fan (or are about to become one), you’re in for a treat because Niki has done it again.

This time it looks as if she invited seventy-two of her closest friends over for Sunday brunch and gathered up some of the gardening thoughts that spilled out over their orange juice and French toast. Only we’re pretty sure that Niki pulled the old switch-a-roo with the OJ and replaced it with mimosas. How else could she get every single one of these (seventy-two) garden geeks to also sketch out designs on the back of the napkins?

In any case Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden (Storey, 2014) is loaded with innovative ideas and garden inspiration that includes chickens, bees, bugs, microbes, pollinators, squares, circles, knots, wildlife, kids, sun, shade, front yards, backyards, hillsides, walls, rooftops, summer, winter, upcycle, recycle, communities, trucks, gutters, cocktails (booze, ya’ll) — and everything in between.

Full disclosure: yours truly just happens to have a garden plan inside these pages. However, I am fully prepared to copy Jessie Bloom’s “Eggs & Everything” garden design down to the T bar trellis system for berries. I’m always looking for great ways to keep my hens near my veggie gardens, yet out of them because my feathered friends — no matter how adorably dressed — also happen to be garden-plowing beasts.

Of course, I probably won’t even try to resist Teresa O’ Connor’s “Founding Father’s Garden” plans. They’re complete with heritage varieties that were grown in Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and George Washington’s Mount Vernon gardens.

Being of Italian decent, I see no point in even pretending to resist Doug Oster’s “Italian Heritage Garden” design. A couple of things in Doug’s plan really make it a stand out for me: the bee hive (which I find oh-so-necessary in any garden) and the unique tomato staking technique that he learned in Italy.

Oh wait! I can’t forget to make room for “Garden Squares for Kids” by Karen Liebreich and Jutta Wagner. You know, just for the grand babies…

Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden

Niki Jabbour

263 pages

Storey Publishing

$19.95

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