Product Description

This updated edition contains new chapters on "baby" vegetables and the modern easy ways to grow food crops. There is an enlarged chapter on herbs, with details of new varieties which have appeared in the past few years.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2030 in Books
• Published on: 1997-04-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

About the Author
Dr. D.G. Hessayon
Dr D.G. Hessayon's Expert books have made him the world's best-selling author on gardening. Born in Manchester, he was variously a horticulturist research scientist, university lecturer, artist and newspaper editor before launching the Expert series in 1959. In 1999 Dr Hessayon was awarded a Guinness World Record Certificate for being Britain's best-selling living author of the 1990s. He lives in Essex, and has two daughters and four grandchildren.

Excerpted from The New Vegetable and Herb Expert by D.G. Hessayon. Copyright © 1997. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
One of the most important changes in gardening since World War II has been the resurgence of interest in growing vegetables at home. The concept that it is only for the poor or the country dweller has long been swept away with the realisation that home-grown produce beats the shop-bought equivalent in three vital ways. Firstly, you can harvest at the peak of tenderness and flavour instead of having to wait for maximum yields like the professional grower. You can also serve vegetables within an hour or two of picking and with sweet corn, beans, asparagus etc. this can mean a new flavour experience for you. Finally, you can grow vegetables which do not appear in High St shops and you can sow top-quality varieties of ordinary vegetables which are not grown commercially.

You can save money by growing your own – it has been estimated that an expenditure of £1 on seeds, fertilisers, canes etc. yields a crop worth about £9 at shop prices. But saving money is not the main motive for many – it is just a bonus from a hobby which provides a special thrill from growing and then eating your own.

Most of the basic principles of vegetable growing have been with us for hundreds of years, but the subject doesn’t stand still. There have been several important developments since the earlier edition of this book appeared. Interest in herbs continues to expand and specially-bred baby vegetables have made their appearance in seed catalogues. Until recently growing vegetables nearly always meant long rows of plants, but now the idea of growing in pots, raised beds and even in the flower bed and shrub border has taken root.

Customer Reviews

Allotment holders bible
We are first time allotment holders and our knowledge of vegetable growing was to say the least limited, we first got this book from the library and have found it to be worth its weight in gold. Not only does it show in easy stages how to grow the veggies but how to freeze and preserve them too. There is nothing it doesn't tell you. If you are into growing organic vegetables then this book is a must, so stop reading the reviews and go and buy it, we did, you won't regret it.

Great help to a novice grower
I got this book when I decided to get my allotment, and I found and still do a great help.

Fantastic pictures are illustrated with the information that goes with them.

The book starts at the beginning which helps if you're a complete novice to vegetable growing.

"Getting started" covers digging and preparing your land, what is the best seeds to buy and how to sow them. This section also covers the importance of crop rotation.

Other section covers the growing of vegetables, covers greenhouse growing, border planting and cover pot and windowsill planting.

Looking after vegetables section covers the dreaded weeding. But it also covers feeding, mulching and watering of the plants; also a section is covered on spotting and dealing with pests.

The book has a section about unusual types of vegetables and how to grow them.

There is a good section on vegetable troubles, how to spot and treat before it starts to do damage to other crops.

Tips on how to preserve and ripen your vegetables and of course to eat them.

This is a great book and if you're thinking of growing your own vegetables like I have done this year, this books it a must

Everything you could want to know
I must say that is the most helpful and discriptive fruit and veg book I have ever read.
It tells you everything from crop roatation to harvesting and techniques plus clear illistrations and a desease chart for the veg with pictures and discriptions.
All in all its all you could want!