DOWNTOOLS

THE VEGETABLE GROWER’S HANDBOOK: UNEARTH YOUR GARDEN’S FULL POTENTIAL

by Huw Richards

Dorling Kindersley Ltd, £16.99 ISBN 978-0241481325

This latest offering from wunderkind veg grower Huw Richards is filled with thoughtful advice designed to bring abundance to your veg patch.

Reviewer Claire Ratinon is an author and organic food grower.

The grow-your-own book market has become a somewhat saturated space (I should know, as I added to it in 2020), so it can be a challenge to come up with an innovative take that stands out on a crowded bookshelf. Yet The Vegetable’s Grower’s Handbook manages this, woven through as it is with thoughtful guidance and novel advice aimed at encouraging the reader to consider how they might develop their own growing style.

By opening the book with the all-important question, ‘why do you garden?’, Huw Richards suggests that our approach in the garden ought to reflect our intentions and objectives – whether we garden because we find it relaxing or we want to harvest as much as possible. From this starting point, the book offers a varied range of suggestions as to how to proceed on your gardening journey, supported by a wealth of information and instructions – covering subjects from composting methods, seed sowing and plant raising, to caring for your soil and managing weeds, pests and diseases – that delve into the whys as well as the hows.

This book is a very rich resource, but the volumehas a lot to offer.