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