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Book Reviews
1 Creating a Forest Garden by Martin Crawford
Not sure what a forest garden is? Martin Crawford who has spent 20 years in organic horticulture, explains in a colourful,
stylish book. A forest garden is, he says, one modelled on the structure of young natural woodland, using plants of direct
benefit to people –often edible plants. The point the book hammers away at quite rightly is that unlike in a conventional
garden nature does most of the work for you in a forest garden. The book has a comprehensive directory of over 450 trees,
shrubs, perennials and root crops to plant. It’s a different concept which shows a sustainable way of growing food without
compromising soil or food quality.
CG fact to remember: In a forest garden the soil is kept in peak condition by being covered by plants most of the time.
Published by Green Books Price £30 www.greenbooks.co.uk
2 1000 Garden Ideas by Stafford Cliff
This is a kaleidoscopic book! If you want some quick ideas for garden gates, walls, edging steps, pots, hedges, chairs, seats and
benches and you just want to have a look at as many options on a page as possible then this book from design consultant and
art director Stafford Cliff is for you. He has spent a lifetime designing brochures and catalogues and has visited hundreds of
gardens in 40 years. For this book he has collated as many images and ideas as possible. The book works as a collage of page
after page of images and as sure as anything as you go through them stacked with ideas you’ll find a gem that’s for you.
Published by Quadrille Publishing Ltd Price £14.99 www.quadrille.co.uk
3 Words from the Garden by Isobel Carlson
A gentle anthology of poetry and prose which will appeal to many gardeners. It has quotations from down the ages and
through the seasons and words of wisdom on everything from pergolas to potting sheds and featuring words from Andrew
Marvel to Christina Rossetti to Henry James and Charlotte Bronte.
Our favourite from the anthology: “There is no gardening without humility. Nature is constantly sending even its oldest
scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder”- Alfred Austin.
Published by Summesdale Price £6.99 www.summersdale.com
4/5 Make More of Squashes / Make More of Beans and Peas by Patricia Harbottle,
Peter Chadwick and Elizabeth Winkler
Two books which are part of a really good series of books on vegetables. What’s different about them is they combine the
secrets of how to grow the vegetables and then indulge in some spectacular recipes on how to eat them. Patricia Harbottle
provides the recipes with horticulturists Peter Chadwick and Elizabeth Winkler providing the gardening tips. He spells out
clearly anything and everything you need to know about the technical side of growing the vegetables. The 50 recipes are
original and sorted into soups, starters, main and side dishes. It’s a great little formula. Peas and Beans was the first book
followed by Squashes soon to be followed by roots, lettuce, chicory, brassica and so on.
Published by HotHive Books Price £8.99 www.thehothive.com
6 The Low Maintenance Vegetable Garden by Clare Matthews
You can have a successful and rewarding vegetable garden – even if you don’t have a lot of time or space. That’s the
premise of a book which also sets out to demystify the process of growing fruit and vegetables. Clare Matthews runs her
own very successful garden design business and some will know her from BBC’s Gardeners World which has featured her
garden. The advice is clear and practical and the author works hard at finding low maintenance choices for vegetables and
fruit. The photography is wonderful - as you would expect from top garden photographer Clive Nichols.
CG fact to remember: Be miserly with water, encourage plants to put down good roots and so become less susceptible
to drought.
Published by New Holland Publishers Price £16.99 www.newhollandpublishers.com
Country Gardener
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