A gardening newbie, I'm just in the process of digging a vegetable
patch, and since my land is pretty much pure clay, I've so far been
concentrating on finding out about (and applying) initial soil
conditioning. Now that the compost is fermenting nicely (lots of advice
taken from this ng, thank you all), and the sharp sand is on order, I
need to start thinking about crops.

Whilst there's a wealth of info available here and at other online
resources, I wonder if there is a good sensible book which urglers would
recommend for the vegetable gardener?

A trawl through historic posts led me to past discussions on the RHS
books, but these were geared towards availability rather than content,
and it seems the RHS books may cover a wider subject area than I need.

I already have one book in mind, but in an attempt not to lead the
discussion, will hold back from mentioning it just now (tell you later,
honest!) I'd like to be sure I'm not missing anything better :-)

So, is there a good standard text I should buy before I set to in
February?


--Neil.



--
Neil Trotter, Canewdon, UK
Edit email address to reply

"Neil wrote in message .
A gardening newbie, I'm just in the process of digging a vegetable
patch, and since my land is pretty much pure clay, I've so far been
concentrating on finding out about (and applying) initial soil
conditioning. Now that the compost is fermenting nicely (lots of advice
taken from this ng, thank you all), and the sharp sand is on order, I
need to start thinking about crops.

Whilst there's a wealth of info available here and at other online
resources, I wonder if there is a good sensible book which urglers would
recommend for the vegetable gardener?

A trawl through historic posts led me to past discussions on the RHS
books, but these were geared towards availability rather than content,
and it seems the RHS books may cover a wider subject area than I need.

I already have one book in mind, but in an attempt not to lead the
discussion, will hold back from mentioning it just now (tell you later,
honest!) I'd like to be sure I'm not missing anything better :-)

So, is there a good standard text I should buy before I set to in
February?


One I would recommend is " The complete Manual of Organic Gardening" by
Basil Caplan. ISBN 0 7472 7830 X.
Although I don't garden organically it's a very useful book full of good
advice. Includes timings, planting distances, companion planting, all the
sorts of things a beginner needs.
Does include flowers though, but then you probably want to grow some for
cutting for the house anyway.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

On Wed, 22 Jan 2003 21:22:43 +0000, Neil Trotter
wrote:

Whilst there's a wealth of info available here and at other online
resources, I wonder if there is a good sensible book which urglers would
recommend for the vegetable gardener?

I have found the Gardening Which? Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables
(Which Books, 18.99) to be very useful because it goes into the why as
well as the what and includes advice on varieties and techniques based
on trials that they and their readers have conducted.

I received the new edition of Joy Larkcom's Grow Your Own Vegetables
(Francis Lincoln Ltd., 9.99) for Christmas and it seems to be pretty
comprehensive. You get quite a thick paperback for your tenner.

The book that I have used most, if only because it is slim enough and
cheap enough to take to the allotment with me, is Dr. D.G. Hassayon's
Vegetable and Herb Expert (Transworld Publishers Ltd., 5.99), which
has something to say about most of the veg that you are likely to want
to grow. It isn't organic, though, whereas the other two that I
mention try their best to be.

I also have a number of other books and tend to browse through a pile
of them when I want to find out how best to grow something new. I
then realise that there is little consensus and end up going for
whatever technique seems easiest or suits my situation best.

Having said all that, there are much more experienced vegetable
growers around here; I have only been at it a couple of years and
still haven't got the hang of a lot of what I try to grow (spinach and
carrots in particular!).
--
Stuart Baldwin
news\at/boxatrix\dot/co\dot/uk

In article ,
said:

I have found the Gardening Which? Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables
(Which Books, 18.99) to be very useful because it goes into the why as
well as the what and includes advice on varieties and techniques based
on trials that they and their readers have conducted.

[...remainder snipped...]

Thanks, Stuart -- I'll take a look at these. Thanks too to Bob for
suggesting Caplan, which I shall also check out.

Just popped back here to say that I just found the URG Recommended
Booklist FAQ (oops) and please don't pelt me with rotten tomatoes:

http://www.tmac.clara.co.uk/urgring/faqbk00.htm

So thanks, Jill!

I'm still interested to hear views from others, especially of books
since Nov 1999, which is the date on the above FAQ.

Best wishes,


--Neil.



--
Neil Trotter, Canewdon, UK
Edit email address to reply

wrote in :

I have found the Gardening Which? Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables
(Which Books, 18.99) to be very useful because it goes into the why as
well as the what and includes advice on varieties and techniques based
on trials that they and their readers have conducted.

I wouldn't believe anything printed by 'Which?'. I reason that if their
research is sloppy and inaccurate on things I do know about, assuming that
they are any better on things I don't is a bit rash.

Victoria Clare

Victoria wrote
I wouldn't believe anything printed by 'Which?'. I reason that if their
research is sloppy and inaccurate on things I do know about, assuming that
they are any better on things I don't is a bit rash.

Hi Victoria,
What did Which? mess up ? Intrigued ....
Cheers, Diane

Stuart wrote (with some snips):
I would also suggest 'The Kitchen Garden' magazine. We've been
subscribing for a few years now and still find it interesting and
valuable

Agreed, this is very good. We have had a subscription for a couple of
years now and will certainly be renewing it when the time comes.

http://www.kitchengarden.co.uk

Yup, I'll third that. The other thing you might be interested in is a very
good mail list on yahoo groups called kitchen gardens. Here's a summary
clip from the intro email:

"Kitchengardens" is an e-mail community for vegetable Gardeners and
Allotment holders living in the UK who primarily want to discuss
Vegetable,Fruit and Herb growing and allotment related issues.

More info can be found on this web site:

http://www.kitchengardens.dial.pipex.com/kglist.htm

No affiliation other than a happy list member. All the best, Diane

The message
from contains these words:

On Wed, 22 Jan 2003 21:22:43 +0000, Neil Trotter
wrote:


I received the new edition of Joy Larkcom's Grow Your Own Vegetables
(Francis Lincoln Ltd., 9.99) for Christmas and it seems to be pretty
comprehensive. You get quite a thick paperback for your tenner.

The book that I have used most, if only because it is slim enough and
cheap enough to take to the allotment with me, is Dr. D.G. Hassayon's
Vegetable and Herb Expert (Transworld Publishers Ltd., 5.99), which
has something to say about most of the veg that you are likely to want
to grow. It isn't organic, though, whereas the other two that I
mention try their best to be.

I would agree and pick out the two boks above as an excellent pair to have.

The Hessayon is excellent for getting going, especially for sowing and
cropping times, and for spacing etc: quick and easy to refer to with
charts etc.. It would probably keep you going for your first two or
three years of growing vegetables

The newly published Joy Larkcom book is densely packed with information:
small print, not much attempt to be visually appealing or user-friendly,
but everything you could want for your next ten years of vegetable
growing!

Janet G

In article ,
(Chris French and Helen Johnson) wrote:

They don't seem to use the same sorts of
criteria as 'experts ' in that filed would use, and then seem to come
up with some 'odd' results

And that's a very good thing. I don't want an expert's opinion on (say)
whether something is easy to grow. I'd prefer th opinion of a newbie
like myself who'd tried it.

The expert who tells you a plant won't grow in the shade may be
repeating "what everyone knows". A Which researcher may actually have
*tried* it

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com

Many thanks to all for all the suggestions on this thread!

In article , Neil Trotter
said:

I already have one book in mind, but in an attempt not to lead the
discussion, will hold back from mentioning it just now (tell you later,
honest!) I'd like to be sure I'm not missing anything better :-)

The book I was considering here is D.G. Hessayon _The Vegetable and Herb
Expert_, which was endorsed by a number of folks here. I love the
"busy" pages, lots of good info & illustrations, with no waffle or
padding.

So that's the one I've gone with to get me started. Later in the year,
when I've had the chance to make a few mistakes, I'll revisit this list.

Best wishes to all,


--Neil.



--
Neil Trotter, Canewdon, UK
Edit email address to reply