Author Topic: What are your most-loved gardening books? (Read 8849 times)

supersprout · « **on:** March 23, 2006, 09:51:52 »

I can't resist acquiring vegetable gardening books, and have a wall full :-[ :-[ ;)
If I were restricted to the 'top three', they would be:

Edward C Smith, The Vegetable Gardener's Bible
Pauline Pears, Beds
John Seymour, The Self-Sufficient Gardener

They are well-thumbed, annotated and referred to almost daily when using this forum and planning sowing/planting, and all have curly pages ;D.

If YOU were to name your top three veg gardening books, what would they be? ::) :D

flowerlady · « **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2006, 10:43:28 »

Supersrpout, I am ashamed to say I have never seen the books you mention :o

However, for many years all that was available to me was the RHS "Vegetable Garden Displayed"!!

Having been 'modernised' by my family and friends I now have to say that these are my reference books of the moment!

"Grow your own Vegetables" Joy Larckom
"The Complete Book of Vegetables, Herbs & Fruit" Biggs, McVicar & Flowerdew
"The River Year Book" Fearnley-Whttinstall

I know the third is a combo cook book but it has helped me really get my brain around the seasons, also the best time to grow things in order to obtain the best results ;D

MikeB · « **Reply #2 on:** March 23, 2006, 10:51:56 »

1. The Vegetable Gardener's Bible - Edward C Smith
2. Gardeners' World: Practical Gardening - Geoff Hamilton
3. Torn between two books here, The square foot garden by Mel Bartholomew or The new seed starters handbook by Nancy Bubel

Pete the Plot · « **Reply #3 on:** March 23, 2006, 13:34:03 »

Just a beginner, but so far:

The Vegetable Expert - Dr DG Hessayon (1985 edition) from local Oxfam.
Grow Your Own Vegetables - Joy Larkcom (2002) borrowed from Library, but will buy this one!
The Big Book of Gardening - Charles Boff (1930s?) local church book sale. MAGIC!

DenBee · « **Reply #4 on:** March 23, 2006, 13:53:26 »

The Reader's Digest Gardening Year.

My copy is however, very old and falling to pieces. I suppose I ought to find a replacement. Don't even know if it's still published.

jennym · « **Reply #5 on:** March 23, 2006, 13:58:15 »

This was SO hard!
I have a very wide variety of books, notes, and references...

But, sticking to the topic title "most-loved", I choose:

Fruit and its Cultivation by TW Sanders - an amazing old book purchased recently which has given me hours of pleasure.
The Reluctant Gardener by Ethelind Fearon - and yes supersprout I have the Reluctant Cook as well! ;D
Self Sufficiency by John & Sally Seymour - First edition - one of the first books I ever bought new, whilst living in a tower block in Tottenham. It gave me hope and dreams at a time when there were none to be had.

On a more practical basis, the Hessayon "Expert" books, Readers Digest Gardening Year Month-by-Month, H.Witham Fogg's Vegetables All Year Round and the RHS A-Z Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants have been useful.

cowellen · « **Reply #6 on:** March 23, 2006, 16:22:22 »

well i havent read any gardening books :-[

but i just ordered one (if that counts)
http://play.com/play247.asp?pa=srmr&page=title&r=BOOK&title=668038

"Allotment Gardening" is a practical guide to growing your own fruit and vegetables organically. Aimed at those who have not had an allotment before, or are new to growing their own, it is packed with advice - from choosing and planning your allotment through to harvesting and storing your produce.

i will let u know what its like ???

(sorry i wanted to join in)

plot51A · « **Reply #7 on:** March 23, 2006, 16:53:19 »

I use Joy Larkcoms "Grow your own Vegetables" all the time, couldn't do without it. Have got loads and loads of books on how to cook vegetables but not many on how to grow them!!!!

myrtle · « **Reply #8 on:** March 23, 2006, 17:01:14 »

I've got so many, but some I use more than others. I really like the 'expert' books by Dr. Hessayon and the Reader's Digest Encyclopaedia and my Gwiddion's moon book. :)

fluffygrue · « **Reply #9 on:** March 23, 2006, 18:42:42 »

Ooh, er..

RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening
Complete Guide to Self-Sufficiency - John Seymour
RHS A-Z of Garden Plants

..and maybe a few of the River Cottage books. And some Christopher Lloyd stuff. And something by Bob Flowerdew..

Melanie (indecisive)

Crash · « **Reply #10 on:** March 24, 2006, 12:39:14 »

You've all got to read "Close to the veg" . I got it from the library but now wish I'd bought it. You won't learn a lot but will have a laugh.

daisymay · « **Reply #11 on:** March 24, 2006, 13:22:40 »

Joy Larkcom "Grow your own veg" is good - small and practical but I find it quite wordy sometimes. I have an RHS Vegetable book - cannot remember the complete title but it is really good and has step by step photos of different stages. Brilliant! ;D

katynewbie · « **Reply #12 on:** March 24, 2006, 13:48:16 »

;D

Great topic!
1. Joy Larkcom: Grow Your Own..
2. Dick Kitto: Planning The Organic Vegetable Garden: complicated cropping plans etc, but some good sense in there.
3. John Seymour: Complete Self Sufficiency...mostly read in the winter to help my dreams!!!

Have loads of others which are dipped into at random...hence my level of confusion most of the time!!!

;)

bupster · « **Reply #13 on:** March 24, 2006, 13:56:44 »

Just spent £30 quid at Amazon - will tell you top three after they've arrived :D Wanted to get the Seymour book mentioned above but they're charging between £25 and £45 for it second hand! Is it worth it?

In the meantime: Joy Larkcom's Grow Your Own
HDRA encyclopedia of organic gardening
The Heligan vegetable garden

katynewbie · « **Reply #14 on:** March 24, 2006, 14:15:06 »

:-\

Wow.....thats expensive Bupster!! Dont think I would pay that. Mine was a present, but looking inside it says £20..it's the "New Complete Book of Self Sufficiency"

bupster · « **Reply #15 on:** March 24, 2006, 14:19:31 »

I think it was the Self-Sufficient Gardener that was £ouch. The big shiny new self sufficiency one is in my local library so I've reserved it. Love this thread - lots of reading to do.

Squashmad · « **Reply #16 on:** March 24, 2006, 14:22:02 »

Well the one I read over and over again is Fork to Fork by Monty and Sara Don. Other favourites include The Great Vegetable Plot by Sarah Raven; and; the River Cottage Cookbook and Garden in the hills by Elizabeth West.

Ceratonia · « **Reply #17 on:** March 24, 2006, 14:43:54 »

I am interested to see what Palustris has to say on this topic - he has thousands of gardening books.

The RHS Encylopaedias and Hessayon books get a lot of regular use, as do various gardening related cookery books (eg River cottage booksl).

The John Seymour books are always fun to read. The book that launched Dorling Kindersley publishers. The new version of it is only £13 at amazon, I think?

I also like Richard Mabey's Flora Britannica and Food for Free books.

supersprout · « **Reply #18 on:** March 24, 2006, 17:11:06 »

Quote from: bupster on March 24, 2006, 14:19:31

Love this thread - lots of reading to do.

Yes, look forward to getting busy on Amazon lol. It's such fun to find out what's on everyone's shelves/in everyone's sheds! Some books coming up time and again, and some surprises. Myrtle, what's the Gwyddion's Moon Book?? :o ::)

fluffygrue · « **Reply #19 on:** March 25, 2006, 12:22:57 »

Yup, I'd definitely recommend the Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency.. worth every penny.

The Self-sufficient Gardener is the expensive one.. I'm resisting the urge to pay silly money until I see it going reasonably cheaply somewhere. Suppose it must be good if no one wants to get rid of their copy!

Melanie

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Author Topic: What are your most-loved gardening books? (Read 8849 times)