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Grow For Flavor: Tips and Tricks to Supercharge the Flavor of Homegrown Harvests
Gardeners can be disappointed by the insipid flavor of the vegetables and fruit that they have so carefully nurtured. The problem, according to botanist James Wong, is that many conventional gardening practices are based on pure myth or faulty science. They create bumper crops at the expense of flavor and nutrition. It doesn't have to be that way.
After trial and error of cutting-edge horticultural techniques and extensive review of more than 2,000 journal papers from around the globe, Wong turns the tables on old-school advice with a radical new system that transforms the flavor and nutrition of homegrown produce.
"Grow for Flavor" shows the simple steps and innovative methods that yield tasty harvests beyond dreams and, best of all, the methods involve less effort, are strictly organic and can be mastered easily by newbie gardeners. The goal is maximum flavor with minimum labor.
Consider these examples: For tomatoes 150 percent sweeter with 50 percent more vitamin C, ditch the tomato food and use molasses, aspirin sprays, and a bit of salt water. For strawberries 20 percent bigger with 100 times the aroma, plant in acidic soil in full sun with a skirt of red plastic mulch. For super-healthy berries with 300 percent more antioxidants than grocery store varieties, plant Rubel blueberries. For maximum flavor and sweetness, harvest beets early and carrots late.
"Grow for Flavor" is more than tips from a gardening expert. It overflows with practical information and inspirational advice -- an essential for all gardeners.
After trial and error of cutting-edge horticultural techniques and extensive review of more than 2,000 journal papers from around the globe, Wong turns the tables on old-school advice with a radical new system that transforms the flavor and nutrition of homegrown produce.
"Grow for Flavor" shows the simple steps and innovative methods that yield tasty harvests beyond dreams and, best of all, the methods involve less effort, are strictly organic and can be mastered easily by newbie gardeners. The goal is maximum flavor with minimum labor.
Consider these examples: For tomatoes 150 percent sweeter with 50 percent more vitamin C, ditch the tomato food and use molasses, aspirin sprays, and a bit of salt water. For strawberries 20 percent bigger with 100 times the aroma, plant in acidic soil in full sun with a skirt of red plastic mulch. For super-healthy berries with 300 percent more antioxidants than grocery store varieties, plant Rubel blueberries. For maximum flavor and sweetness, harvest beets early and carrots late.
"Grow for Flavor" is more than tips from a gardening expert. It overflows with practical information and inspirational advice -- an essential for all gardeners.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2015
88 people are currently reading
604 people want to read
About the author
James Wong
56 books68 followersJames Wong is a Kew-trained botanist and BBC presenter, working on the award-winning show Grow Your Own Drugs and regularly appearing on Countryfile and Our Food. He lives in London where he obsessively trials new species in his tiny garden.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 5, 2016
An interesting book with genuinely different advice from the stock tips found in other grow your own guides. The guides you are given on how to maximise flavour contain easy doable steps - giving your plants a dose of aspirin for example may sound strange but the science is there and the process quick and cheap. I was disappointed to discover that a full range of edibles are not covered. Sometimes this is because James doesn't like eating or growing the plant in question enough to have spent time experimenting with the flavour and on other occasions he claims that home grown and shop brought will always taste about the same whatever you do. A refreshingly honest opinion but perhaps disappointing for those wanting more advice on maximising taste on brassicas and more traditional root crops which are not well covered.
I like the fact that both James' own experience and the latest research play a role in the advice given as it is what has really worked in practice and not just in theory we want to know. I have planted tomatoes and beetroot based on the recommended varieties here, and they have proved wise choices. I also followed his feeding plan for many vegetables last year- improved taste was not always obvious to a large degree but improved growth and resilience certainly was.
I like the fact that both James' own experience and the latest research play a role in the advice given as it is what has really worked in practice and not just in theory we want to know. I have planted tomatoes and beetroot based on the recommended varieties here, and they have proved wise choices. I also followed his feeding plan for many vegetables last year- improved taste was not always obvious to a large degree but improved growth and resilience certainly was.
September 15, 2017
This was an excellent book full of useful tips for growing more flavourful food, the drawback it written for an UK audience so a lot of the variety recommendations are not readily available this side of the Atlantic. I liked the presentation especially some of the pictures where the varieties were laid out according to taste characteristics. Worth reading definitely, I would buy if there was a more Canadian version
July 19, 2017
As I started to read this book I was REALLY not impressed. The further I got the more amazing this book became. I am really interested i growing a garden. This would be a wonderful guide. I never realized there there were so many different types of strawberries, or types of berries in general. So amazing. I would love to buy this for myself and get my library to get it.
Read
June 1, 2016a refreshing take on flavouring one's meals. the book was not only informative it was also easy to follow & creative in its use of ingredients. I won this book on goodreads & thank Mr. Wong for creating a masterpiece in the kitchen as well as in the publishing world
March 17, 2016
Detailed info that I want to come back to for tomatoes. Addresses some things I don't want to grow or can't (pears, beets) but I love the science and practical tips for what I *am* interested in.
May 9, 2016
what a beautiful book!
September 27, 2016
What a great reference book, love the colorful photos. So many ideas, will keep me referring to the book for years to come. Will be trying some of the growing tips in my garden.
November 21, 2016
One of. My favourite books to refer to when gardening
January 13, 2018
mm I don't have a shelf for house hobby books, alas. James Wong has always been a favorite television presenter of mine, first discovering him through the "Grow Your Own Drugs" show in the mid-aughts, and his twitter @botanygeek is delightful (he does excellent work engaging with food snobs into vague natural woo with facts).
As for the book itself- like the cookbooks I read, not something I'm going to immediately put into practice (it's difficult to plant a tree ready for harvest in ten years when in a second story apartment...) but James' thoughts are well-researched, with an 18 page PDF on his website of scientific literature references. This book isn't dry, though, distilling stats and numbers into easy to follow instructions.
My issues with this book are editorial- there are a handful of typos (in one case, I think captions were switched for two varieties of fig) and some of the "See x on page y" things early on led to the wrong place. I suspect this might've happened in the transition from UK to NA publication, but can't confirm unless I look at a British edition. Because this was originally aimed at a British audience, some of the plants assumed to be common might not be as readily available, but a very full list of seed purveyors in Canada and United States is included right before the index.
As for the book itself- like the cookbooks I read, not something I'm going to immediately put into practice (it's difficult to plant a tree ready for harvest in ten years when in a second story apartment...) but James' thoughts are well-researched, with an 18 page PDF on his website of scientific literature references. This book isn't dry, though, distilling stats and numbers into easy to follow instructions.
My issues with this book are editorial- there are a handful of typos (in one case, I think captions were switched for two varieties of fig) and some of the "See x on page y" things early on led to the wrong place. I suspect this might've happened in the transition from UK to NA publication, but can't confirm unless I look at a British edition. Because this was originally aimed at a British audience, some of the plants assumed to be common might not be as readily available, but a very full list of seed purveyors in Canada and United States is included right before the index.
March 22, 2021
I follow Wong on Twitter and decided on a whim to buy this book after seeing he had been subjected to some hate and racism on Twitter not long ago. I don't know anything about botany, didn't have any expectations for this book, didn't know what was really in it, so I was curious to see what this was all about.
Wong breaks down into layperson's terms on how to make the harvest from your garden more tasty. Some of the tips and tricks might seem unusual (aspirin sprays?) but if you have the time and access (the book also notes that it is UK-specific and the plants, etc. may not be available easily or at all elsewhere) it seems like a useful guide for a gardener.
That's really it. There are some great pictures, some recipes, etc. but the book is very much focused on the "beginning" parts (ie when you're trying to grow what you wish to harvest). So don't go into this thinking it is specifically a cookbook or that there are many recipes to be found.
Overall I'd say it's not really for me (can't really garden in an apartment) but for someone who has the time and ability to garden, this might not be a bad gift or purchase.
Bargain buy and that was fine for me to read on my own schedule.
Wong breaks down into layperson's terms on how to make the harvest from your garden more tasty. Some of the tips and tricks might seem unusual (aspirin sprays?) but if you have the time and access (the book also notes that it is UK-specific and the plants, etc. may not be available easily or at all elsewhere) it seems like a useful guide for a gardener.
That's really it. There are some great pictures, some recipes, etc. but the book is very much focused on the "beginning" parts (ie when you're trying to grow what you wish to harvest). So don't go into this thinking it is specifically a cookbook or that there are many recipes to be found.
Overall I'd say it's not really for me (can't really garden in an apartment) but for someone who has the time and ability to garden, this might not be a bad gift or purchase.
Bargain buy and that was fine for me to read on my own schedule.
January 13, 2021
Some interesting tips that I'd not heard elsewhere (though I am beginner!). I plan on putting a few of these techniques into practice this year.
The (relatively few) principles are described at the start, and then tailored to fit each vegetable, alongside advice on which varieties taste best and grow well in the UK.
I like that the advice is drawn from recent scientific research. I just wish the studies were better referenced in the text. He has a habit of quoting only the maximum gains too (e.g. "up to five times more sugar!"), when what I really want is the median so I know what to expect.
The whole book is delivered with the breathless intensity of your average YouTube video and I found it got tiring after a while. It does get you excited to grow a few unusual crops or varieties, but it's probably best read in small doses.
The (relatively few) principles are described at the start, and then tailored to fit each vegetable, alongside advice on which varieties taste best and grow well in the UK.
I like that the advice is drawn from recent scientific research. I just wish the studies were better referenced in the text. He has a habit of quoting only the maximum gains too (e.g. "up to five times more sugar!"), when what I really want is the median so I know what to expect.
The whole book is delivered with the breathless intensity of your average YouTube video and I found it got tiring after a while. It does get you excited to grow a few unusual crops or varieties, but it's probably best read in small doses.
February 10, 2018
Book written by English scientist that turns the books on old-time gardening advice for growing selected fruits and vegetables in home gardens. The writer takes current scientific studies and translates the findings from geek-speak to common everyday language to tips to improve the flavor of fruits and vegetables. Beyond this, he actually tests the findings on a fairly large scale to draw his own conclusions whether the results bear out the findings. His results are in this book.
Despite using scientific studies to base his conclusions, the book is not heavily scientific; on the contrary, it is organized by selected vegetable/fruit variety and written on a layman's language making it easy to pick up and read what you want beyond the general introductory information.
Despite using scientific studies to base his conclusions, the book is not heavily scientific; on the contrary, it is organized by selected vegetable/fruit variety and written on a layman's language making it easy to pick up and read what you want beyond the general introductory information.
January 4, 2020
There are so many low-quality gardening books so I rarely buy any at all but since there are so few books about growing for flavor, I bought this one at Half Price Books. I’m so glad I took the gamble. This book has information I have never seen in any other vegetable gardening book.
I’m American so IDK if the varieties mentioned in this UK-published book are available here (or if they bear the same names) but even if I couldn’t buy seeds for any of these things, the book would still be worth it because it has great information on what environmental factors and what chemicals make plants taste the way they do. Also this book is so well illustrated! It’s almost like the whole book is an info graphic or magazine spread. The designers involved deserve a raise.
I’m American so IDK if the varieties mentioned in this UK-published book are available here (or if they bear the same names) but even if I couldn’t buy seeds for any of these things, the book would still be worth it because it has great information on what environmental factors and what chemicals make plants taste the way they do. Also this book is so well illustrated! It’s almost like the whole book is an info graphic or magazine spread. The designers involved deserve a raise.
October 7, 2020
This book was awesome in one sense and less awesome in another. So the awesome sense is that it wasn’t written like a typical book with pages of paragraphs, but rather there were blocks here and there with small paragraphs and pieces of information. So many beautiful colored photos!!
The less awesome sense was that it’s intense information! There’s a lot going on and I think you’ve got to be a committed or experimental gardener, not a newbie like me!
It did have some recipes in it, which was cool!
The less awesome sense was that it’s intense information! There’s a lot going on and I think you’ve got to be a committed or experimental gardener, not a newbie like me!
It did have some recipes in it, which was cool!
August 1, 2017
What a fun book! I enjoyed reading through this and appreciated the refreshing take on old topics. Since I'm gardening in a hot climate, some of the advice in this book didn't translate directly to my backyard, but some of it did. I appreciated the pictures and diagrams but some of the font was a bit light which would make it difficult to read for some folks (and for me in low-light).
January 15, 2019
Incredible gardening tips! This book has blown my mind!
February 25, 2019
I'm excited to try some of these when the snow finally quits.
March 14, 2019
Fascinating and fun
July 20, 2019
The only downside is my climate doesn't match his. Otherwise very useful information backed up by science and easy to employ in a home garden
May 31, 2016
I received this book from GoodReads giveaways. This book has some great ideas.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews