About the Author

Jennifer Kujawski grew up helping in the family garden. She has many memories of the experience, both fond (eating peas straight from the pods) and not-so-fond (squashing potato beetles between rocks). Jennifer earned degrees in botany and horticulture and worked as the assistant manager of USDA’s National Plant Materials Center in Beltsville, Maryland. She has written articles for numerous publications, including American Nurseryman and Native Plants Journal and was one of the authors of the Community Forest Buffer Guide (Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 2001). Jennifer currently works as a freelance writer and editor for such organizations as University of Massachusetts Extension, USDA’s Forest Service, and Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association. She is passing along the family gardening tradition to her young son in the 2,000 square foot vegetable garden she tends with her father.Ron Kujawski’s indoctrination into vegetable growing began at an early age, when he worked on a family onion farm in upstate New York. That experience provided the motivation to pursue a career that involved teaching and research in plant sciences and horticulture. Though now retired, he continues to write, lecture, and consult in the horticultural field while maintaining a passion for gardening, which he shares with his daughter, Jennifer, a professional horticulturalist.