Growing your own food is a satisfying experience as well as an investment that will pay you and the community back in a myriad of ways, including benefits for the earth, greater food security, and better health. But where do you start and what is the best way to approach creating a garden and growing food?

The raised bed gardening technique, used by successful food gardeners for centuries, is simple and can be done pretty much anywhere. Building beds allows you to bring in the right materials, which might not exist in your own environment, and grow your own food year-round, if you so choose--no matter where you live. So whether your outdoor space is big or small, raised beds are the best choice for your first vegetable garden. Some water and a little love and attention is all you need be successful.

In Raised Bed Gardening: A Complete Beginner's Guide, you will learn everything you need to know to prepare and execute your garden plan and grow and harvest your produce. The book includes:

• Plans for building quick-and-simple beds that you can make yourself with a few common tools
• Details on how to build the right soil mix to fill your beds
• List of the easiest plants to grow as a beginner
• Plant information, along with which plants work best with other plants
• Planting advice, including spacing instructions
• Advice on mulch, watering, and fertilizing
• Organic pest control
• How to harvest and store your produce
• How to get the most out of your raised bed space