Waterstones The Edible Garden
306 ratings
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Price: £26.00
Brand: Waterstones
Description: There's no denying that growing your own food is good for the pocket, good for the environment and hugely rewarding for the soul. In The Edible Garden, Gardeners' World's Alys Fowler will take you one step closer to self-sufficiency by showing how to grow edible crops and flowers in any garden - even a small suburban back garden! 'Quirky is the word that springs to mind when leafing through this book. it is for anyone who has dreamt of the Good Life but despaired at their lack of land' -- Countryfile Magazine'A handsome book' -- The Times' An indispensable go-to gardening book' -- ***** Reader review 'I absolutely love this book and it's just my sort of gardening' -- ***** Reader review' Beautiful and inspiring' -- ***** Reader review' The best gardening book I have ever read - so useful for a beginner!' -- ***** Reader review' Inspirational' -- ***** Reader review********************************************************************** In this timely book, Gardeners' World'sthrifty and resourceful Alys Fowler shows that there is a way to take the good life and re-fashion it to fit in with modern day living. Abandoning the limitations of traditional gardening methods, she has created a beautifully productive garden where tomatoes sit happily next to roses, carrots are woven between the lavenders and potatoes grow in pots on the patio. And all of this is produced in a way that mimics natural systems, producing delicious homegrown food for her table. And she shares her favourite recipes for the hearty dishes, pickles and jams she makes to use up her bountiful harvest, proving that no-one need go hungry on her grow-your-own regime. With beautiful, specially commissioned full colour photography, step-by-step recipes, directories of crops and flowers to grow and accessible, practical advice, The Edible Garden will encourage everyone to chuck out the old gardening rules and create their own haven that's as good to look at as it is to eat!.
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9781846079740
Delivery cost: 0.00
ISBN: 9781846079740
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Author: Nicola
Rating: 5
Review: This really has been our `go-to' gardening book recently- we actually bought it last year, but it is only this year that we have truly embraced the abundant knowledge contained in it and I'm so glad we have. My partner and I are amateur gardeners and are determined to grow our own fruits, vegetables and herbs, having fairly recently moved into our first home with a large, hilly back garden and being a bit freaked out by it. We didn't honestly know where to start with so much overgrown, awkward space, but having watched Fowler's show last year and her non-conformist approach to tackling her own garden, we acquired this book and I'm pleased to confirm that it has been indispensible for us. We now have vegetable plots laid, lots of fruit trees planted, herbs on our patio and tubs of vegetables galore- and it actually looks like we know what we are doing! We even have a greenhouse set up with tomatoes and peppers in it, something which I never thought we'd do- but this book has given us the confidence to go for it. Last year we experimented with a few vegetables that seemed to do okay, but this year the book has taught me not to be too cautious and give everything a fair chance at least once; with our first tomato plants already starting to bud and other seedlings merrily underway, I'm hoping for a nice crop of food as a reward. The book is just written in such a lovely, vibrant way that makes gardening appealing to anyone- be it someone with a large garden plot or even just a small patio or balcony who wants to try growing their own. It is written in a simple but effective manner with pretty illustrations, photographs from the show (a nice tie-in) and detailed explanations of crop varieties, soil types and pesticides and diseases that could befall your garden, and also how to repel them. Fowler writes in a down-to-earth non-preachy manner and comes across as offering accessible information to all. I genuinely learned a lot more about varieties of plants and flowers after reading this book and though we're only sticking with the vegetable aspects this year whilst we're still clearing out our garden and deciding what we want to do with its overall layout in the long-term, I hope next year that we'll be able to embrace the full `poly-culture' ideal by introducing edible flowers into our vegetable patches as well, because that sounds really intriguing and fun, as well as beneficial for the soil and crops. This book also contains tempting recipes and methods for preserving your food, which is very handy for someone who really wants to have it all long into the winter months, particularly someone who enjoys making jam, cakes and chutneys as much as I do. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending this book to anyone wanting to get a bit more out of their garden, patio or balcony. Go for it! I'm so glad that we did.
Author: J McNeil
Rating: 3
Review: Alys' book is very pretty, and there are some useful bits; but I find the chapters very awkward to follow, it jumps around quite a lot, and nothing is dealt with in great detail. I was expecting more information than we got in the TV programme, and I felt a little let down. Very good section on the various types of compost for container planting; but her chapter on foraging almost seems an afterthought - I am hoping she is planning a whole book dedicated to the subject, which may explain why her advice amounted to 'buy a good reference book'. Definitely one to depress those of us who need somewhere to dry clothes and house a slide and a sandpit (or, heaven forbid, a deckchair), because her garden is stunning, but what most of us (or our neighbours) would probably despair of outside the summer months - I definitely think the fact she is a professional horticulturalist puts her on a bit of a pedestal - if my garden looked like that my neighbours would probably complain to the council that it 'needs seeing to'! The explanations of permaculture / polyculture were very good, she has a lovely, approachable way of writing that explains things really well for beginners, and there's a nice chapter on edible flowers. I wish, ruefully, that I'd bought 'The Thrifty Gardener' instead. In all, a pretty, easy to read and inspirational book more suited to the coffee table than a resource for growing healthy crops as easily as possible. If that's what you want, look to John Harrison instead.
