Product Description

Taking a fresh look at kitchen gardens, this definitive guide provides the latest advice and specialist tips from the RHS team of experts on growing healthy and tasty crops. Using a blend of cutting-edge, organic and traditional techniques specifically chosen for their simplicity and reliability, this accessible volume is essential for all kitchen gardeners. Whether you want to grow celeriac, basil or sweet cherries, the step-by-step images show exactly how to plant, care for and harvest a wide range of crops. Clear explanations of the basics of kitchen gardening describe everything from planning and crop rotation to composting and weeding. Also included is a calendar to make month-by-month planning simple, together with information on average crop yields, sowing and harvesting times, and pest and disease control. This is a valuable handbook on successful growing for everyone who wants to sample the delights of fresh, home-grown produce.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49579 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Review
THE definitive guide to fruit and vegetable growing and an essential for every gardener old and new. Acknowledged experts on the subject such as Jim Arbury, Guy Barter, John Edgeley, Jim England and Michael Pollock give comprehensive advice on choice of cultivars, cultivation, harvest and pest and disease control for every fruit and vegetable imaginable. From soft fruits, top fruits, root crops, brassicas and cucurbits, all are given the renowned RHS attention to detail to provide a fool-proof guide to this increasingly popular form of gardening. Whether you have an allotment or just a small back yard - even just a balcony - there are fruit and vegetables to suit. Containers, ideal for strawberries and herbs, raised beds for the more serious gardener or even just leaf crops grown as much for their ornamental value as their culinary, interspersed in herbaceous borders for extra summer interest. Under glass or outdoors, against a wall or in an orchard, all aspects of this form of horticulture are covered in comprehensive detail. Basic gardening skills such as composting, bed preparation and pruning are included to give a rounded picture for the novice and to help them on the path to success. When to harvest and how to store to ensure crops are not wasted and last as long as possible are carefully explained and the whole is gloriously illustrated and laid out in typical Dorling Kindersley style. An essential book for every gardener's bookcase.An authoritative practical refere nce on cultivation requirements and techniques for fruit and vegetables. Shows how to grow more than 150 kitchen garden crops with step-by-step instructions and full colour illustrations. - Lucy Watson

Customer Reviews

Another RHS book to recommend
As a novice allotment holder, I went searching for books on vegetable growing to complement the RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening that I already had. This book turned up, and has a lot to recommend it if you want good solid information on what to grow where, and how to grow it. It also tells you when to sow or plant, and problems you may encounter, with extra information over and above what is in the previous more general book.
Another good point is that there are sections with up to date recommended varieties in, and the problem solving section is more geared to giving both organic solutions and our more and more restricted choices of pesticides and herbicides, which is where the older RHS books now show their age.
It's only drawback could possibly be that it's more text-oriented than a lot of modern books, having relatively few photographs in it. I found this useful, as you are buying information rather than glossy pictures. If it's pics you are after, then there are other books around which would probably suit better, and this stops me giving it a 5.

A truely excellent book, worth every penny
What a great book! Loads of detail about the things you really need to know. So much better than the average glossy 'picture' book about gardening. I reckon this book would pay for itself in no time in increased yields of a better quality crop from your allotment or kitchen garden.
It gives you the knowledge and confidence to try things you wouldn't otherwise tackle. I'm going to try to espalier some apple saplings based on this book. And also try growing other vegetables than the usual spuds, onions and carrots.
Excellent, can't recommend it highly enough.

The one book you will ever need to buy!
I got this book as a present when we first started to grow veg on our new allotment. It has all the information you will ever need, whether you are a complete beginner or been growing your own for a few years. It has small sections on each type of fruit and veg which makes it very easy to read. It also covers the different pests you might come across as well as giving you a crop planner, to help you know when to plant what. Overall a fab book that I recommend anyone with an interest in growing fruit and veg should buy.