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Root crops reward careful planning with dependable, nutrient-dense harvests
From carrots and beets to lesser-known crops like salsify and oca, root vegetables are foundational to productive gardens and market farms. Root Vegetables: A Grower's Guide provides clear, practical guidance for growing a wide range of root crops efficiently, using proven biointensive methods that support both yield and soil health.
Based on The Market Gardener Method, this concise, highly illustrated handbook helps growers understand what root crops need—and how to meet those needs with thoughtful preparation, timing, and care.
What this Book Offers
- Profiles of 20 diverse root crops, with clear guidance for each
- Practical instruction on soil preparation, spacing, and timing
- Strategies for sowing, transplanting, irrigation, and fertility management
- Organic approaches to pest control, disease prevention, and crop rotation
- Harvest and storage techniques that preserve flavor, nutrition, and quality
Rather than treating root vegetables as secondary crops, this guide shows how they can anchor a productive growing system when managed with intention and precision.
Who this Book is For
- Home gardeners expanding beyond basic root crops
- Market gardeners aiming for reliable, storable yields
- Growers refining crop rotations and soil management
- Readers seeking practical alternatives to high-input methods
- Anyone wanting dependable harvests from resilient crops
Jean-Martin Fortier draws on decades of farming experience in challenging climates to share methods that balance productivity, efficiency, and long-term soil care.
Root Vegetables is part of the Grower's Guides from the Market Gardener series—designed to support growers at every stage with practical, field-tested knowledge.
If you want root crops that store well, taste better, and support a healthier growing system, this guide will help you get there.
— David R. Montgomery, co-author, What Your Food Ate and The Hidden Half of Nature
I was thrilled with this series. I love the illustrations and pored over them. The techniques and strategies are useful and appropriate. The information is well organized and the language is clear. It is such a useful addition to home gardeners and commercial growers.
— Rowe Morrow, Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute, author, Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture
The Grower’s Guides from The Market Gardener series has something for everyone, from seasoned gardeners and small farmers, to newbies. Read it. Enjoy it. Learn from it. The contents of these books belie their small size; they are packed with solid information, which, along with the layout and illustrations, make for an engaging and very pleasant read.
— Lee Reich, PhD, scientist, farmdener (farmer/gardener hybrid), and author, Growing Figs in Cold Climates
It’s always fun and informative to read a seasoned grower’s tips and tricks for any crop. I know Jean-Martin has spent years refining his techniques, and it’s great to see his methods laid down in these little guide books.
— Josh Volk, Slow Hand Farm, author, Compact Farms and Build Your Own Farm Tools
Market gardening innovator Jean-Martin Fortier draws on his decades of experience in a difficult climate to share his strategies and techniques for producing high yields in healthy gardens.
— Darrell E. Frey, author, Bioshelter Market Garden, and co-author, The Food Forest Handbook
Jean-Martin Fortier, a distinguished farmer, author, and educator, has been spearheading a movement in ecological agriculture for over twenty years. Since 2004, he and his wife have been operating Les Jardins de la Grelinette, an efficient and productive 2-acre microfarm. This farm is often referred to as a blueprint for effective human-scale organic farming.
In 2015, Jean-Martin established La Ferme des Quatre-Temps, a research farm dedicated to training apprentices and developing new strategies for market gardening, including year-round production. His pioneering methods are taught worldwide through the Market Gardener Institute, which is present in more than 90 countries.
Jean-Martin is the author of The Winter Market Gardener and The Market Gardener, which have sold over a quarter of a million copies in nine languages. His contributions to organic farming and regenerative agriculture have earned him the Meritorious Service Cross from the Governor General of Canada. He farms and lives in Quebec, Canada.
Pierre Nessmann was born to a family of Strasbourg market gardeners and holds a degree from the École d'Horticulture de Genève, in Switzerland. He has worked as a landscape gardener and a journalist for over 40 years. He is the assistant editor of the popular French gardening magazines Rustica Pratique and Rustica Weekly, covers gardening and DIY stories for the French television Network TF1, and currently hosts a gardening segment on the show Nous Voilà Bien, on the French radio station RTL. He is the author of several books about vegetable growing, gardening, and landscaping. Pierre lives in Paris, France.
Flore Avram is a freelance artist and graphic designer specializing in scientific and botanical illustration. She has collaborated extensively with the French language children's publisher KiloWatt Editions, and with Inserm Magazine, a quarterly journal which explores health and biomedical research. Flore has earned several professional certifications in graphic design and scientific illustration from L'Ecole Estienne, the Municipal Graduate School of the Arts and Printing Industry. She also works as a Médiatrice en botanique at Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil, a unique French natural heritage site and eco-garden. She is based in Paris, France.
Introduction
Preface: Discovering Root Vegetables
Introduction: The Essentials of Root Vegetables
Jean-Martin's 20 Favorite Root Vegetables
Beetroot
Carrots
Celeriac
Kohlarabi
Pale-leaf Woodland Sunflower root
Turnip
Rutabaga
Oca from Peru
Tuberous Nasturtium
Parsnip
Sweet Potato
Parsnips
Tuberous Chervil
Potato
Ground Pear
Small Radish
Asian Radish
Winter Radish
Black Salsify
Jerusalem artichoke
Acknowledgments