Customer Reviews
Good start - By: Mr. P. Bell, 29 Jul 2008 
Although this book has a lot of 5 star reviews I feel that it is slightly lacking for the modern gardener. This book did not tell me everything I wanted to know such as what to do with crops at the end of the season, & has no photographs, only sketches. Whilst a good book, I feel there are better available!
from novice to experienced -worth it - By: P. Rae, 30 Mar 2008 
Bought this book 2 plus yrs ago. Brilliant. I admit was initiallly sad by lack of colour pictures!! but as time has gone on & have now managed to dig most of my veg. plot (rather than stare at it in hope) & made time to plan, this book has been invaluable. There's loads of info. on the web (some a little confusing & a little conflicting) but Ms Larkcom's info. is steadfast & logical & is my first & sometimes, only, port of calll. It's a valuable reference for both new & experienced alllotment keepers. I've given away my glossy, pretty, fairly useless alllotment books & kept to hand this superbly informative & helpful reference. Cheers Ms Larkcom, it was worth every penny.
Beginners guide to reference in one volume. - By: J. Brand, 16 Dec 2007 Ever wondered how to build a compost heap? a polytunnel? how to store leeks? when to sow Russian kale? Joy Larkcom's not so little volume will tell you. If Hugh & Monty have inspired you then Joy will deal with alll the practicalities of turning that inspiration into real produce.
She neatly divides her subject into two parts. The first half of her book can be read as beginner's guide or a course on vegetable growing as she covers alll the basics one would need to know such as what double digging is, the best way to build compost heaps, what tools you would need & so forth. The second half is a directory of vegetables with detailed sowing, cultivation & harvesting instructions & the occasional hints on using your produce. Throughout the book are a number of very useful tables & charts giving diaries of when to sow, transplant, harvest, etc, suggested garden layouts, green manures & other information which could usuallly take a long time to gather together.
This is not a coffee table gardening book with masses of pretty pictures. This is walll to walll information alll packed into a single place which can make it heavy going & it is not a book to read starting at page one & working forward, it is primarily a reference work. The greatest virtue of her book though is that while it will teach you alll you need to know it is usable as a reference work & she goes into enough detail that this is a book which you will still find yourself using when you have years of experience.
If you've been inspired to create your own vegetable garden then buy this book. It isn't pretty but it is astoundingly useful & comprehensive enough that you will still be using it years hence.
If you buy one book about growing veg, buy this one - By: Business Academic, 20 Jun 2007 As a new vegetable gardener last year, I bought quite a few books to help me get started. Fortunately, this was one of them, & I now realise I need only have bought this one. Although low on colour pictures & other 'glossy' features, it is absolutely packed with useful information & I find I refer to it constantly. It covers a wider range of veg than many other books, too, & has several excellent features, including the value for space ratio mentioned in another review, & several excellent planting plans ('feed a family', etc). I just can't recommend it highly enough.
Valuable but not complete - By: , 25 Feb 2006 
What I love about this book is the size, like a 'normal', paperback, novel type of book which makes it easier to carry than most other gardening books. It's got a lot of information on lots of subjects. The section on 'soil, manure & compost' alone has over 35 pages. The absence of pictures on every page means there's more information. There are charts on things such as green manures, which is very useful. Also a very useful section on growing Comfrey to use as manure & liquid fertilizer & lots of tips on making your own compost heap, cloches, polytunnels, etc.
It's very, very good, & comes highly recommended... HOWEVER, I was surprised & disappointed not to have found any information whatsoever on companion planting. Something I'm very interested in, & for a book that advocates growing organicallly, I just can't understand why this hasn't had a mention. Perhaps companion planting to some gardeners is similar to how homeopathy stands with scientists, but leading gardeners such as Bob Flowerdew have devoted much of their writing to just this & it's becoming more & more popular (although it goes back to ancient times). At one point, Joy Larkcom suggests growing sunflowers, sweet peas & nasturtiums amongst beans, but merely cites the reason as being for 'decorative effect'. These plants are great to grow together, but for other benificial reasons. It wouldn't have taken much space to provide a chart.
There are also no tips on how to deal with pests if you'd rather not kill them, & not a mention within the composting pages on not to use processed foods in the heap, even though there's a 'do & don't' list. Perhaps the author eats so healthily that she has forgotten that many people do eat biscuits, crisps & other non-cooked 'junk', even those who want to grow their own.
I also would loved to have seen some information on how to grow hazel or bamboo on an alllotment to provide a free supply of cane supports.
There is detailed information on each vegetable, how to grow, how to look after the crop, the type of soil required, etc. Very useful, but if you find it easier to learn visuallly, to me there is no substitute for the clarity of the Dr. G. Hessayon 'Expert' series. One other point on clarity, the index is not the easiest to read.
That said, this book is very useful & has more information packed in than most other gardening books of this kind. Other than these points, it is hard to fault & impressive & I would recommend it, but don't think it's quite that 'ultimate' book that everyone else claims it to be. I shalll use it, but alongside others.
