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How to Grow Your Food: A Guide for Complete Beginners
Perplexed by potatoes? Baffled by beans? Confused by courgettes? Home-grown food means fresh, organic, tasty meals; less money spent in the supermarket; a lower carbon footprint and, best of all, fun! But how do you do it? If you’ve never opened a seed packet before and want to grow your food but don’t know where to start, this book is for you. It gives advice on everything from planting seeds to harvesting your crops and dealing with problems – and it doesn't matter whether you have a whole garden or just a patio, a balcony or a windowsill. How to Grow Your Food features a range of vegetables, fruit and herbs that are easy for the beginner to grow.
132 pages, Paperback
First published June 29, 2011
6 people want to read
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July 29, 2011
If you're a complete gardening novice then you can make a good start with 'How to Grow Your Own Food: A guide for complete beginners'. It's small enough to fit in your bag or your pocket, and printed on 100% recycled paper.
In 128 pages it manages to explain the basics making use of whatever space you have, choosing tools and deciding whether to sow seeds or buy plants. Soil preparation, feeding and watering, weeding and composting and even crop rotation are explained - in enough detail to get you started but not enough to overwhelm.
The common and popular crop plants are then covered - first vegetables, then fruit and finally herbs. Helpful icons indicate quickly whether a crop is grown from seeds or plants, will thrive in a container or needs to be out in the garden, or even grown indoors. All of the crops chosen are described as 'easy', but as any experienced gardener will tell you, that's a matter of opinion and situation. We all have things we can grow without effort, and things we struggle with.
The only vegetable which they recommend not be grown in containers is sweetcorn, which I have successfully grown in pots; they also say you can grow purple sprouting broccoli and broad beans in pots, which you can, but they are not particularly easy or productive grown that way. But then which plants will thrive in containers is also a matter of personal preference in some cases - it depends on how large a container you can use and how committed you are to feeding and watering your plants.
Each plant gets one or two double-page spreads, with everything you need to know to sow, plant, care for and harvest your crops. There are colour pictures for each one, too.
The final two chapters include a glossary of common gardening terms you might encounter, and common problems you may come across with your plants. There's a metric/ imperial conversion table at the back.
For a complete novice this is a nice, helpful guide that you can refer to throughout your first few seasons as a gardener. It's clearly laid out and you'll have no trouble finding the information you need.
In 128 pages it manages to explain the basics making use of whatever space you have, choosing tools and deciding whether to sow seeds or buy plants. Soil preparation, feeding and watering, weeding and composting and even crop rotation are explained - in enough detail to get you started but not enough to overwhelm.
The common and popular crop plants are then covered - first vegetables, then fruit and finally herbs. Helpful icons indicate quickly whether a crop is grown from seeds or plants, will thrive in a container or needs to be out in the garden, or even grown indoors. All of the crops chosen are described as 'easy', but as any experienced gardener will tell you, that's a matter of opinion and situation. We all have things we can grow without effort, and things we struggle with.
The only vegetable which they recommend not be grown in containers is sweetcorn, which I have successfully grown in pots; they also say you can grow purple sprouting broccoli and broad beans in pots, which you can, but they are not particularly easy or productive grown that way. But then which plants will thrive in containers is also a matter of personal preference in some cases - it depends on how large a container you can use and how committed you are to feeding and watering your plants.
Each plant gets one or two double-page spreads, with everything you need to know to sow, plant, care for and harvest your crops. There are colour pictures for each one, too.
The final two chapters include a glossary of common gardening terms you might encounter, and common problems you may come across with your plants. There's a metric/ imperial conversion table at the back.
For a complete novice this is a nice, helpful guide that you can refer to throughout your first few seasons as a gardener. It's clearly laid out and you'll have no trouble finding the information you need.
Displaying 1 of 1 review