Nettles & Petals: Grow Food. Eat Weeds. Save Seeds. The Sunday Times Bestseller

by Jamie Walton, Samuel Binstead (photographer)

Edible flowers are the new veg; foraging is the new nature activity and wild nature is the future.

This book is a comprehensive how-to guide to wild gardening - including foraging, seed-saving, as well as identifying edible weeds and wild plants. Part practical guide, part educational plantlore - this book has everything to start your journey towards more sustainable and conscious green-living.

Conscious living is about active awareness, positive action, and connection to ourselves, to each other, and to the natural world. This book is the perfect gift for gardening enthusiasts, activists, conservationists and anyone curious about wildlife.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Food

176 pages, Hardcover

Published April 8, 2025

Reviews

[Matt Ustas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw this guy on my Facebook reels. Nice voice and knowledgeable. Got me fired up to start the gardening journey. My wife has really taken over as the head bed designer, waterer, harvester, etc. I have been pushed into a consultant role, offering unsolicited critiques and comments. I did however fill two huge raised beds with big logs, sticks, ton of leaves I lugged from my parents house, and compost. Please note that. But yea buy this book Jamie is great.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely range of growing, composting, preserving and seed and produce harvesting.

I found the companion suggestions and class overviews so informative and it really is helping me map out next year’s planting to best utilise my space and the natural qualities of plants.
The other do it yourself sections such as a wildlife mansion were interesting and well instructed. I look forward to implement a lot of learning from this book into my gardening.

Visually the book is very attractive with bright colours and appealing photographs throughout.

[Rosie Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nettle & Petals is a non-fiction gardening book.

I first discovered author Jamie Walton on Instagram and I like his approach to ecological gardening.

In this book he talks about good soil management and holistic systems to balance gardening with nature. The book is divided into eleven sections: Biodiversity, soil health, natural pest control, water conservation, native and adaptive plantings, minimizing disturbance, composting and recycling organic matter, polyculture and crop rotation, perennial plantings, creating wildlife habitats and the law of return (giving back to the soil what we take).

There are step-by-step instructions for beginners and ideas for more experienced gardeners. This is all backed up with good colour photos. Walton’s gardening methods make a lot of sense and the results speak for themselves.

This would make an ideal gift for any gardener, especially those who want to garden with ever more ‘green’ fingers.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book on gardening. LOTS of info, take your time to digest it all!

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good information in here, I like the guy as well, but this book has the dubious honour of being the first "proper" book I've ever read that I strongly suspect had large parts either edited or written by AI. I hope I'm wrong! Such a shame.

[Becky Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Book

So enjoyed this book. He made it easy to understand and follow. I will be able to easily look things up during my gardening season. Great reference and good starter book.

[Arianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’re an experienced gardener, you probably won’t get much out of this.

[Sue Dunlop · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to growing

[Nikolay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big fan of Jamie and his Instagram channel, the book was everything I expected. Looking forward to putting it to use some time in the future.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A straight up gardening book, which is not as fun to read on kindle. (I like reading real books,b ut alas.) I thought it would be on herbs but it's more gardening in general

[Sarah Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest, practical advise on creating a more naturally healthy garden. The chapter on soil was my favourate.