1. The subtitle of Green’s book could be “an ode to fish emulsion” . Hardly a page flips over before he outlines yet another reason for using this organic fertilizer. (My cats have been trying to convince me to turn in the kelp liquid for fish fertilizer for years — maybe this season I’ll take theirs and Doug’s advice).
2. We’ve all read about how to warm up the soil early in the season by laying down black plastic mulch. But only Green’s book tells you the truth: clear plastic heats up the soil faster than black plastic. Who knew?
3. How many methods does it take to deter critters from the garden? Green outlines many common ones, including the electric fencing trick to keep out deer and raccoons. But, here’s his wiley spin: first, attract the animals by wiping the wire with a rag covered in peanut butter.
4. The section on intensive gardening methods includes plenty of useful charts on plant combinations for a succession of crops and season by season crop rotation suggestions.
5. A plant encyclopedia sets out growing advice for a cornucopia of vegetables and herbs. Each plant profile includes “Additional Information” — another phrase for Doug’s homegrown wisdom. One of my favourites is an explanation of tomato types: determinate vs. indeterminate.  I don’t know how many “official” definitions of these types that I’ve read over the years, but each usually dwelt on whether the plant needed staking (indeterminate) or not (determinate). Well, gosh, Doug spells out right away what we all really want to know — that determinate plants produce fruit all at once, so they’re great if you want a batch of tomatoes for canning while the indeterminate ones ripen in sequence, giving us fresh tomatoes throughout the season.

For anyone gardening in a cold climate, Doug Green’s Guide to Canadian Vegetable Gardening spells out Canada’s newest food rules.