Description
Book SynopsisThis book is ideal for beginners, improvers and those serious about growing tasty, healthy organic fruit and vegetables. It will empower readers to grow food for a family, and help work out how to get the best results. Many books give sowing and growing instructions for a multitude of crops, but few give space to the techniques and tips that make gardening easier and that help anyone to grow healthy, sustainable food.
Some of the techniques are developed from Joyce’s own trials and observations; others are classic techniques that are still useful now. With a bit more detail, and a step-by-step project, a technique becomes much easier to follow and understand.
There’s something here for everyone: whether you grow in a small back yard and want to know how to raise salad in buckets, or if you have a large allotment where you want to improve pollination, or make your own liquid feeds.
The book makes several promises to its readers. Firstly, by following its advice you will grow great fruit and vegetables. Next, the knowledge you gain will save you time as well as money. Third, you'll enjoy the gardening journey and the discoveries made along the way. Fourth, you'll find greener and cleaner ways of doing things, and you'll improve your skills, methods and habits.
Find out how to rotate your vegetables so they stay healthy and well-fed, to preserve choice crops for the freshest taste, to improve the soil organically and sustainably, and to produce home made fertiliser from the leaves of your comfrey crop.
Trade Review'A hugely useful, hands-on guide to creating a properly productive, sustainably-managed kitchen garden.' * Irish Times *
'If you're planning on growing your own food for 2020, this book is a great investment. Russell's advice based on decades of experience, covers all the basics from preparing the soil to storing crops. I am a DIY dunce, but the projects here are straightforward enough that even I want to give them a go.' * Financial Times *
'A supremely practical, user-friendly guide to creating a properly productive, sustainably-managed kitchen garden, handsomely illustrated with over 400 photographs by her husband Ben Russell.' * Irish Times - Best Gardening Books *
'The best guide for the keen beginner that I've seen in a while. Terrifically practical and full of money and time-saving methods, it's also attractively laid out with with exceptionally helpful photographs making it easy to follow.' * Morning Star - Best Gardening Books of 2019 *
Table of Contents01 INTRODUCTION
02 GETTING STARTED
Introduction
Double digging/single digging
Lazy-beds
Pots
Propagation
Potting on and planting out
03 BETTER SOIL
Introduction
Compost
Manures
Comfrey
Leaves
Mulch
Humus
pH (soil acidity/alkalinity)
Using available resources
04 BETTER PRODUCE
Introduction;
Crop rotation
Crop protection
Crop supports
Pollination
Companion planting
Liquid Feeds
05 STORE YOUR HARVEST
Introduction
Bags, bins and boxes
Making a carrot clamp
Stringing/plaiting onions and garlic
Storing in the ground
Freezing and drying
Preserves & pickles
06 AND MORE…
Make your own potting mixes
Saving Seed
