13 Facts About Ruth Stout

Ruth Imogen Stout was an American author best known for her "No-Work" gardening books and techniques.

Ruth Imogen Stout was born June 14,1884, in Girard, Kansas, the fifth child of Quaker parents John Wallace Stout and Lucetta Elizabeth Todhunter Stout.

Ruth Stout claimed to accompany Carrie A Nation in a 'joint hatchetation' where the saloon was smashed up as a protest against the public sale of alcohol.

Ruth Stout moved to New York when she was 18 and was employed at various times as a baby nurse, a bookkeeper, a secretary, a business manager, and a factory worker.

Ruth Stout was a lecturer and coordinated lectures and debates, and she owned a small tea shop in Greenwich Village and worked for a fake mind-reading act.

Ruth Stout married Fred Rossiter in June 1929 at age 45.

Ruth Stout's family relocated to New York City in 1894.

Ruth Stout decided to try her luck at gardening, and in the spring of 1930, she planted her first garden.

Ruth Stout had to wait for someone else to come and plow the fields before she could start.

Ruth Stout claimed that to be successful her system required a thick mulch of at least 8 inches.

Ruth Stout suggests that if starting a new garden in poor soil it is beneficial to plow manure in the first year and then proceed with the mulch, which is to be left on the garden year-round.

Ruth Stout wrote under her maiden name but had changed her legal name to Rossiter after getting married.

Ruth Stout's husband, Fred, died on November 24,1960, after an extended illness.