The Patch

by Tessa Evelegh, Fern Britton (Foreword)

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is surprisingly easy whatever the size of your garden or allotment. You don't need to be entirely self-sufficient but there's nothing more satisfying than being able to harvest your own tomatoes, snip a few leaves from a salad bed or make strawberry jam from home-grown strawberries. And by planting some easy-to-grow flowering plants it's perfectly possible to have freshly picked cut flowers to decorate your table.

Accompanying the BBC Two series, The Big Allotment Challenge: The Patch celebrates our burgeoning interest in knowing where our food comes from and is a practical guide to making your garden a haven of productivity. With essential know-how on everything from soil and compost to pruning and pests, the book is aimed at novice gardens. There's an A-Z section on easy-to-grow vegetables, fruit, herbs and cut flowers; foolproof recipes for transforming your produce into delicious jams, jellies, chutneys and cordials; and stunningly simple flower arrangements.

Genres: Gardening

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2014

About the author

Tessa Evelegh is a writer and stylist specializing in stitchery of all kinds, crafts, interiors and gardens, with more than 30 titles to her name. Prior to going freelance, she spent eight years at Family Circle magazine, overseeing the dressmaking, interiors and fashion departments. Her work has been published in the Daily Telegraph, Homes and Gardens, Ideal Home and Woman and Home. An enthusiastic dressmaker since the age of five, when she ‘cut her teeth’ on dolls’ clothes, she still makes and customizes clothes, home furnishings and upholstery. Tessa lives in South London and has two (almost) grown-up daughters who also love to ‘make their own’.

- excerpted from http://jacquismallpub.com/tessa-evelegh

Reviews

[Cat {Pemberley and Beyond} · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logical format: how to arrange your growing space; what to grow (and how to grow it!); how to arrange flowers from the allotment (seriously stunning arrangements); less-common recipes that use up gluts of fruit, and vegetables.

Good for dreamers, cooks, and gardeners alike!

[Georgie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, would recommend for beginners.