Floral Park gardener gives advice in new book

Raymond Nones, a self-proclaimed penny-pincher and organic gardener, has been working the soil in his Floral Park garden for more than 35 years. The octogenarian, who lived through the Great Depression, remembers a time when food was scarce and "victory gardens" were planted out of necessity, to keep food on the table.

His father taught him how to grow vegetables when he was a child, and as an adult Nones developed what he calls "the modular gardening" system for his own use. "I had trouble with cats and squirrels," Nones, 83, explains, "so I developed a little fence to put around the garden, and it evolved from there."

As time went on, he enrolled in organic gardening courses at the New York and Queens botanical gardens to build upon his knowledge, and soon he began writing about growing vegetables for various publications.

After retiring in 1997 from his job as a graphic designer and art director, Nones thought about compiling his experience in one place and sharing his high-yield gardening method with a new generation of victory gardeners. "Through the years, I wanted to keep track of what I did in the garden, so I started with a diary so I wouldn't forget what I did. When I retired I thought maybe I should make it into a book."

So after having accumulated more than three decades' worth of hands-in-the-dirt experience, Nones started to expand upon his diary. "My mother-in-law was a terrific cook, but she never wrote anything down," he said when asked about his motivation. "She just said, 'Add a little bit of this, a little bit of that.' And now nobody knows how to cook like her. It's all lost" - something he didn't want to happen to his gardening know-how.

By 2002, Nones had completed his book. "I originally self-published it under a different title for a couple of years, but self-publishing is a hassle," he said. "There are printers and promotions, and you need the resources to push it. At my age, I didn't have enough to do it. So when I got tired of self-publishing, I expanded the book and shopped it around. The Countryman Press responded, and I worked with them."

"Raised-Bed Vegetable Gardening Made Simple" was published by Countryman, a publisher in Vermont, on April 19. The nuts-and-bolts manual teaches Nones' method of gardening in modular, framed raised beds with separate compartments designated for each plant. "I just wanted to make a garden that was easy to take care of and practical," Nones said.

He elaborated: "The usual way is you dig long rows, you dig up the whole thing. It looks terrible, like an open sore in the ground. You need a lot of space. I wanted to make a garden that looked nice.

"Also, the traditional method is hard to take care of. You need to leave space between the rows, and the sun bakes that ground and sucks out all the moisture, so you have to continually water. You have to work to keep it weed-free. But when you keep the crops close together, it shades the soil and keeps the water from evaporating. It's much easier to take care of. It's much more efficient."

His book begins with optimism: "Any piece of land that is growing weeds or grass can just as well be growing vegetables." From there Nones delves into a series of lessons to help readers turn a patch of dirt into a fruitful garden. He shares his gardening philosophy and teaches how to sow seeds, thin crops, transplant, cultivate, mulch, water, harvest and control pests. He covers composting, crop rotation and seed-saving methods, along with crop-by-crop growing instructions. The author's own sketches of modular bed plans and planting diagrams illustrate his instructions.

"I put so much time and effort into this," said Nones. "I thought, 'I'm getting old, and it would be a shame for me to die and not leave this knowledge to somebody else.' "

"Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening Made Simple", by Raymond Nones is available from BarnesandNoble.com, amazon.com and other book sellers.