Golden Gate Gardening, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Food Gardening in the San Francisco Bay Area & Coastal California

“For vegetable gardening in the Bay Area, Golden Gate Gardening is indispensable—if you buy one gardening book, this is the one.”

--Michael Pollan

This fully revised fourth edition of the ultimate food gardening bible for Central and Northern Californians includes updates that address changes in climate, crop availability and sources, and pest management strategies, and includes expanded help for inland, hot summer gardeners.

The gardening guide has become a perennial seller, beloved by both new and experienced gardeners for its friendly, practical advice on how to grow fresh produce all year long. Expert author Pam Peirce shows how to use the unique local conditions of climate, soil, and rainfall to grow both common and unusual vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, cut flowers, and fruit from trees and shrubs including berries, citrus and avocados for your kitchen garden.

This encyclopedic guide covers all the bases, including what to plant in every season, how to select varieties, assess a microclimate, organize a garden, manage pests and weeds safely and effectively, attract beneficial creatures, conserve water, improve soil, make compost, harvest wisely, and garden in containers. It includes delicious, seasonal garden-to-table recipes and an essay on learning to eat from a garden. Charts, sidebars, illustrations, maps, resource lists, and cross references make it easy for readers to find the information they need.

This vegetable gardening book will especially help readers in the San Francisco Bay Area and in California coastal areas from Humboldt County south to San Luis Obispo, as well as those in nearby mild-winter inland climates (including Alameda, San Mateo, Marin, Santa Clara, Monterey, and Santa Cruz counties).

Publication History:New updated edition of previously published pb

About the Author

Pam Peirce has gardened in San Francisco for more than 40 years. She is also the author of Wildly Successful Plants: Northern California. Pam participated in the founding of the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG), an organization that supported both community and home gardeners citywide, serving on its board until 1999. She also taught horticulture at City College of San Francisco for 30 years. Her column runs monthly in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Author Residence: San Francisco, CA

Author Hometown: Indiana