Eat What You Grow: How to Have an Undemanding Edible Garden That Is Both Beautiful and Productive

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Split into three main sections, the book takes a holistic approach by building from the basics, which are edible perennials in a variety of sizes and growth habits, up to fillers that self-seed, through to toppings, which are annual plants that will thrive in this mixed system. Eat What You Grow contains fewer lifestyle pictures, more focus on plants and more focus on science, which I'm sure all comes from a decade more of horticulture and more editorial influence with her publisher.

I love all of her books including her novel and this was a splurge, whilst the paper is gorgeous and the pictures are delightful this is a coffee table book or possibly a seed catalog rather than an actual gardening book. A gardener, author and journalist, Alys Fowler is a regular contributor to the Guardian and Gardener’s World and is the author of books on gardening, food and nature, including: The Edible Garden, The Thrifty Gardener, Plant Love and Hidden Nature. She also suggests effective design techniques for ensuring that your garden looks as good as it smells and tastes! In Eat What You Grow , Alys shows you how to create a rich, biodiverse garden that feeds not only you, but supports a wide range of pollinators, bees and butterflies, as well as other wildlife.Among the many possibilities, there are familiar faces such as fig trees, rocket and beetroot, as well as less commonplace plants and varieties such as Korean celery (Dystaenia takesimana) and mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum), a flowering plant from the Andes with edible tubers. Alys Fowler trained at the Horticultural Society, the New York Botanical Garden and the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. However, the book does work as a concept with its own focus and I think if you haven't read Fowler's earlier work then this is actually the best place to start. It suggests building a garden out of three components, "basics" (perennials), "fillers" (self-seeders that look after themselves) and "toppings" (more labour-intensive annuals).

The whole thing feels rushed and low-budget, without the care, grace, and commitment of The Edible Garden, which is a jewel of a book.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. By comparison, there are far fewer photos, and the ones that are present are grainy and most frustratingly unlabelled! I bought this book alongside “The Edible Garden”, (which i had been watching on the television), thinking it would be a food addition to my gardening library.