With our quest for healthier lifestyle, growing your own food is becoming more and more popular. This guide, written by an expert in the field, should be a constant reference for novice and experienced growers alike. The wealth of technical information and tips, as well as step-by-step photography should make any job easy to follow. A section on design includes garden plans to either follow or use as an inspiration. Choosing the right tools, soil improvement and techniques such as thinning, harvesting and crop rotation and storing are explained in full. Nature always throws in a few problems, and these are also dealt with. Whether you want to grow shallots or squashes, chives or caraway, plums or pears, all the many varieties of vegetables, herbs and fruit are shown. With information boxes, pruning and training tips, as well as photographs of each variety both in-situ and in superb close-up photography, this complete guide should be all you need to reap the benefits of year-round flavourful produce.

Author Biography

Richard Bird has been gardening since childhood and maintains an extensive kitchen garden where his passion for fresh vegetables, herbs and fruit is evident. He has contributed to many publications and has been magazine editor for Focus on Plant, The Hardy Plant, Alpine Gardening and the Alpine Garden Society's magazine, Bulletin. He is also a full-time author on gardens and plants and has written over 25 books on many different aspects of gardening.