Growing Your Own Fruit and Veg For Dummies, UK Edition

by Geoff Stebbings

Save money and eat fresh with this hands-on guide to home-growing
Growing you own produce is the only way to enjoy delicious, garden-fresh fruit and veg all year round. This practical manual gives you the lowdown on everything from finding the right tools and choosing which plants to grow, to nurturing your crops and bringing in your first harvest. The easy-to-follow advice will help you get started straight away and become a confident and successful kitchen gardener.
- Get going with growing - discover which plants are best for you and how to make the most of your outdoor space
- Prepare your plot - learn how to set up and maintain healthy beds for your fruit and vegetables
- Grow tasty veg - choose your favourite veggies from asparagus and broccoli to courgettes, sweet corn and many more
- Grow your own fruit salad - get quick results from fast-growing berries and learn to nurture slow-growing tree fruit and exotic greenhouse produce

Genres: Gardening, Reference

432 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2010

Reviews

[Charlefpai · Rating 5 out of 5]

The type of book that takes you three times longer to read because you stopped every two sentences to highlight something. Or the opposite, you skip a whole chapter because you know you're going to buy the book and refer to it in the future! A great introduction book for people wanting to start to grow things, and the great tool four seasoned gardeners to expend their skills and improve.

[Taaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein Buch, das man lieber als Nachschlagewerk zuhause haben sollte, als nur auszuleihen. Ein paar Dinge würde ich mir noch wünschen, wie eine Übersicht nach Topfgröße und dafür je Pflanzpläne. Das ist es, was mir in bisher allen Ratgebern fehlt. Aber insgesamt sehr hilfreich. Nur wünschte ich, er würde nicht immer schreiben 'das gehört zu den am einfachsten anzubauenden Pflanzen', wenn er dann aufzählt, wie pingelig die Pflanze auf Bodenart achtet, wie oft sie gedüngt werden muss,....
Einfach heißt für mich: Einsetzen, ab und an Unkraut jäten, und mehr braucht es nicht, alles Andere verbessert nur die Ernte.
Aber ein Berufsgärtner hat da offenbar andere Maßstäbe.

[Vanessa Andujo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is truly the 'go to' book and should be read from front to back by anyone new to gardening. Those with a little more experience can still use this a good reference book. It covers everything from soil preparation to recommended varieties of fruits and veggies. Those not in the UK can still use this book with a little common sense as to figuring out what doesn't apply to you.

It starts with soil preparation, dealing with pests, then the rest of the book goes into how to grow certain types of plants. It does a pretty good job describing and has a few illustrations. However, for it to be a true beginner book I think it should have added more illustrations and how to encourage beneficial insects.

The non-UK specific version of this book is "Vegetable Gardening For Dummies, 2nd edition" The table of contents is similar but doesn't start logically by starting with soil preparation as the UK version does. There are other more generalized gardening books such as Gardening All-In-One, Basic Gardening, and Organic Gardening for any non UK readers. I am in the US but read this book since oddly enough this book is easier to get a hold on then the Vegetable Gardening version.

My general recommendation for this book is a must have for new gardeners, however, those with a few years of successful gardening under their belt will not get much out of this.