Grow Your Own Veg - Carol Klein

...book "Grow Your Own Veg". Grow Your Own Veg was shown on BBC 2, and is part of the Gardener's World Series. The series follows Carol Klein on her mission to start growing vegetables in her garden, the series had some wonderful moments including Carol actually hand feeding a robin that has been nesting in her garden for some years. The series showed Carol right from the beginning, planning her vegetable garden, making the soil right for ...
...you once you start to grow your own, you will hopefully never go to the supermarket for vegetables ever again.

The book is a 224 page masterpiece in my eyes. There is a small introduction from Carol telling you the advantages of growing your own, and also advice on growing the whole year round. Imagine potatoes for the Christmas dinner taken from what you grown; trust me there is nothing better.

Also if you have young ... more

Imagine real tomatoes from your garden that have not been made to artificially turn red by pumping a gas in the glasshouse, and not been grown in water only to have the nitrates it need to be added by a machine :(

This review is of the Hardback book "Grow Your Own Veg". Grow Your Own Veg was shown on BBC 2, and is part of the Gardener's World Series. The series follows Carol Klein on her mission to start growing vegetables in her garden, the series had some wonderful moments including Carol actually hand feeding a robin that has been nesting in her garden for some years. The series showed Carol right from the beginning, planning her vegetable garden, making the soil right for growing and of course the main part of the show actually producing your own vegetables.

Hopefully that covers the series, let get on with the review.

The book is of course is just one of many books from the BBC and the Royal Horticultural Society, the covers its self shows Carol with a wheelbarrow and in the background shows her wonderful garden.

The book its self is very easy on the eye, full of wonderful pictures. There is nothing better than growing your own vegetables, its far more rewarding to do your own compared to the tasteless rubbish in the supermarket. I assure you once you start to grow your own, you will hopefully never go to the supermarket for vegetables ever again.

The book is a 224 page masterpiece in my eyes. There is a small introduction from Carol telling you the advantages of growing your own, and also advice on growing the whole year round. Imagine potatoes for the Christmas dinner taken from what you grown; trust me there is nothing better.

Also if you have young children, get them involved in the garden this is the perfect time to get them to enjoy gardening and hopefully help them to eat those greens.

Ill split the book into sections and ill give it a small write up ;)

**growing in a small place

The book then goes on to cover "growing in a small place"

This section will tell you even the smallest of gardens or even people with no gardening skills can grow some kind of vegetable. I hear you ask how are we supposed to grow vegetables with no garden. Well there is on the market what they call mini-vegetables; these are fantastic for planting in containers and the cauliflowers for example will grow to the size of a large grapefruit.

This section will also let you know that everybody can grow vegetables, somehow and somewhere. It also tells you how to make raised bed, the advantage of them and the disadvantage of them, how to decide where on the site to grow your vegetables, and how to improve your soil to make it the best as possible. There is also a good piece on deciding on what to grow, its ok deciding you want to grow vegetables, but plan what you want and don't do what I did in the first year, grow vegetables you don't really like. There is also a piece on making a container garden.

** knowing your plot

Next it goes on to knowing your plot; this section covers your soil.
It advices you to test the soil for acid or alkaline soil, which can be done by buying a soil testing kit, and what can be done to improve the soil. Also covered is other types of soil which include clay, sandy, loam and silt soils, and again how to improve them. General things covered include the weather and how it can damage the soil if not protected.

**Preparing the plot

This section of the book covers tackling the weeds, how and where to position your plot, and also if you want an informal or a relaxed plot. How to make compost, is also covered and how again to improve the soil and basically how to prepare for the coming growing season.

**All about growing

Where do we start? Do we cheat and get plug plants or do we grow from seed? I personally love to grow from seed, it gives you and the family something to and there is nothing better than watching the seedling growing into a plant one day you are going to eat. There is a section on how to germinate your seeds, the best soil and the best place for them, and also what to do with the seedling once they have grown large enough to handle. How to sow seeds outside, and when to seed them is a great section for the people who are new to vegetable growing. There is also a section on crop rotation, which is very important in the vegetable plot.

**Extending the season

Extending the season covers how to get a step ahead of Mother Nature; this includes how to sow that little bit early so we get vegetables like tomatoes that little bit early. Also greenhouses and cold frames get a mention.

**Coping with problems

This part advices you to try to encourage wildlife to the garden, like the hedgehog who loves slugs and snails. What about pests? There is a section all about pests and diseases.

**Planning what to grow

Since you can't really grow everything this section asks what you want to grow and advices you on how to get the best of what you are going to grow. Thing like where to buy your seeds and plug plants, the section has a page each dedicated to each growing season, starting from early spring, late spring, early summer, late summer, autumn and of course what can be done in the winter.
It tells you what can be done in nice sections from weeding to feeding to extra seeding and diseases.

**Growing you own

The best section I think in the book, it covers the growing of vegetable and how to plants them, where to plant them and general upkeep and how to spot pests.

The section covers Garlic, leeks, onions, shallots, cabbage family, Beans and peas, Perennial vegetables, Root and stem vegetables, salads, spinach and chard, squashes, marrows, pumpkins, sweetcorn and also a very good section on growing tender vegetables.

This really is a very good section, as I mentioned it covers where and how to grow the above, and how to look after them, and how to keep an eye out for diseases.

There is a section on one of my favourite types of garden, the herb growing garden.

The entire book has lots and lots of information, all with great photo evidence. The book covers everything you will probably ever need to know about growing your own vegetables. The index at the back is also a very helpful section.

I paid £10 from Amazon.co.uk and I think it was money well spent!

Thanks for reading my reviews, and thankyou for rating them.

Tashi Delek (May everything be well)

the_enlightened_one © 2007  

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