Gardening Books

[mysteryduck]

Could be, these are the folks:
https://www.glendoick.com/Fruit-Vegetables-for-Scotland

If it’s out in April, that’s great!

[self-contained]

I've learned what I need to over the last year or so from the internet. The only gardening book I've ever read was The Passing Show by Captain W.E. Johns (He was a keen gardener and wrote columns for My Garden magazine in the 30s and 40s)

[SelkirkAlex]

Could be, these are the folks:
https://www.glendoick.com/Fruit-Vegetables-for-Scotland

If it’s out in April, that’s great!

that's the one, can't recommend it enough, info from seed companies etc down south is pretty useless, this book is the only one I have found written for our conditions, also written in a pithy dry style that will bring a smile to many Scots

[Greenleaves]

lets see books, magazines and newspaper articles.
books i say Amy Goldman:
the Compleat squash; melons for passionate grower and heirloom tomatoes

best garden system book :square foot gardening Mel Bartholomew.

best book for garden plans: ground breaking food gardens Niki Jabbour

best vegetable garden planning book : none so far

I have no doubt these are good books but being written by American and Canadian athours there rarely are useful in the UK as growing guides, we had a member once who swore by cages for tomatoes from American books but we tend to grow in greenhouses so not practicable

[rary]

For books about garden plants, read The Plant Hunters by Musgrave, Gardener and Musgrave, what the plant hunters endured to bring plants back to this country is staggering, also one about David Douglas by a girl Lindsay, I had this book which is hard to come by and OH put it out in a charity bag,,,, and also Geoffrey Smith's World of Flowers

[rary]

Should have said VC I would buy your book if you ever published, though I might have to wait a wee while, till it hit the charity shops
Also I put a like at self-containeds post, as it brings in the popular modern method for a lot of new younger gardeners getting their information

[Guest]

I have no doubt these are good books but being written by American and Canadian athours there rarely are useful in the UK as growing guides, we had a member once who swore by cages for tomatoes from American books but we tend to grow in greenhouses so not practicable

Amy Goldman doesn't tend to give techniques from what I remember just she grows on a field on mounds which the mound things can be transferrable. She does give storage and tasting advice. However the books are very much about the varieties.

Penny Woodward who I listed I think is Australian but again it is more variety focused.

So just to back up what you say good but not so much for techniques (not that they really offer them)

[mothhawk]

I have no doubt these are good books but being written by American and Canadian authors they're rarely are useful in the UK as growing guides, we had a member once who swore by cages for tomatoes from American books but we tend to grow in greenhouses so not practicable

I have a book by an American author that is pretty much my bible for vegetable growing, and indeed is titled "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible" by Edward Smith. He gardens in Vermont so a great deal of what he says can be applied in the UK.

The only differences of note are the variety recommendations, a lot of which we don't seem to have in the UK, or maybe we do, but they go by different names.

[Chippy Minton]

Dr Hessayon here too, always good to go back to and an easy read.

For a slightly different view "Allotment and Garden Guide" Twigs Way. Essentially reprints of the Dig for Victory leaflets. Interests me in terms of something like self-sufficiency (out of necessity) although what we're supposed to do with that many runner beans I've never been sure. Monthly guide with short pieces on what to do. Whenever I read it the voice in my head goes all BBC plummy though. I say.....

[nickdub]

Having started doing a bit more gardening than I have for a while and thinking about books I dusted down my trusty Amazon account and order a couple of old books which are new to me. First through the door today was "The Making of a Garden" – 1948 by Ethelind Fearnon.

Having had a quick peek, its not exactly what I was hoping for ie a personal story of her garden with the triumphs/tragedies, highs and lows gone through, but it does have some interesting pieces and a practical approach which I like, together with an extensive bibliography at the end which may lead to more Amazon buys :-)

I think my favorite autobiography of an amateur creating a garden is "Down the Garden Path " by Beverley Nichols - its listed as being the start of a trilogy and though I'm fairly sure I read the second book too - I certainly don't remember the third. Its a pity my memory isn't better or failing that the organisation of my book shelves. I'll probably end up ordering the third volume just to be on the safe side.

[nickdub]

The next volume in my current buying spree arrived today :- "How to Grow Food in Your Polytunnel"
Mark Gatter - I've had a quick thumb thorough and as anticipated quite a bit of the info in it is stuff I already know. However there's enough extras in terms of crops which can be sown at different times inside and how to manage them, that I reckon its a good new addition for me. I like the down to earth style and the info seems to be clearly laid out.

[nickdub]

BTW I keep meaning to add this tip and forgetting, so I'll put it in its own post. For those like me who buy a lot of secondhand books and do so now more and more on-line, Amazon is a great source for finding them easily, however it doesn't always show you the cheapest price on a book you are searching for .

What I do is when I've definitely located the book I'm after on Amazon I copy the title and author as Amazon lists it in to the "search box" and start a new search - very often the results returned will have some second-hand copies that weren't visible before, and sometimes one of these will offer the cheapest price for this book.

[veggiechicken]

I was a bit bored last night so looked at the WOrld of B00ks website - specifically all the gardening books ranked by price - cheapest being £1.99 which included P&P.

Ten books later I placed my order!

The titles give some idea of how my mind works;-
A Garden from 100 packets of seed
A Gentle plea for Chaos; Reflections from an English garden
How to grow food - A Wartime Guide
Led by the Nose: A Garden of Smells
The 3000 Mile garden
No Nonsense Vegetable gardening
The Companion Garden

and a couple of other "conventional" ones.
That's 10 books for less than £24.

Hope I don't get bored again tonight.

[Eric44]

I've got the Joy Larkcom one. Actually, I have her Creative Vegetable Gardening one as well, which is prettier, but has less information.

The book I find myself coming back to most though, is a '77 Reader's Digest 'Food From Your Garden' book. I got it free, as unsaleable, in a charity bookshop I worked in, but it's remarkably comprehensive, not only including stuff like how many seeds to sow, ground preparation, cooking tips, but it has plants like cardoons and scorzonera. And, importantly, it assumes you don't want to spend a lot

It is a bit outdated in some ways, but it's a good 'ol standby for traditional techniques.

I bought this brand new and it is the book I fall back on all the time. The only down side is that some of the varieties are no longer available and obviously, it was published before our newer varieties came onto the market. That said, it's always the first one I go to.(the Readers Digest book)

[nickdub]

exactly the sort of thing I end up doing :-)

Happy reading ....