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  • Veg Patch Handbook Reviews

For More Reviews, or to add your own, click here

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Community  Moderator Review

I have just sat down to do this review, and found the book missing. Having dug about everywhere, I eventually discovered my wife reading it, and she was obviously unwilling to part with it. I somehow managed to extract it from her, and have become absorbed with it myself, such is the easy style of writing and knowledge imparted.

The layout is simple to follow, and the charts and photographs link well into the text. One of the obvious themes is to grow what you like to eat. That is so simple to say, but difficult to do when often faced with people advising you what you ought to be growing in a bewildering array of methods. It is a brilliant book for the beginner, but there is much for the more experienced gardener to learn, so much so that I am quite excited about trying some of the tips and ideas.

The book layout starts with an introduction from Hugh, the story of a fishing trip together possibly explaining why Mark became such an enthusiastic gardener……

The fruit and veg are covered in alphabetical order, and the recipes at the back are brilliant, I for one will be using these for excuses to try and squeeze just one more pumpkin plant etc. into my own veg patch. Squash risotto with crispy sage is already on my Autumn wish list, just as well I will not have to wait as long to try the roasted beetroot pizza. And that is the wonderful thing about this book, it really does impart the adventure of getting the best of what you grow, when in the ground, and on your plate.

Altogether a brilliant book, a good size, colourful, and a perfect addition to the growing set of River Cottage handbooks.

 

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Bookbag Review

At a time when the climate is changing and the economy appears to be heading south the thought of being able to produce your own vegetables is very tempting. Forget about food miles and consider instead how few minutes there can be between harvesting your vegetables and the cooking process. Don't worry about pesticides and residues as you'll know exactly what's been fed to your food. Mark Diacono, head gardener on the hallowed ground of River Cottage HQ, run by the sainted Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, tells you exactly how to go about it in this, the fourth of the River Cottage Handbooks.

If you have some ground available – a reasonable patch in the garden or even an allotment and you're enthusiastic to get started on a life free of supermarket vegetables then you'll find this book invaluable. It's free of confusing jargon, expensive equipment and the insistence that you have to break you back by double digging trenches.

Most gardening books begin with instructions about preparing the plot but Mark takes the approach that it's best to think in terms of what you want to eat, what you can be tempted into trying and then seeing how this can be incorporated into a plot. You'll learn all about the benefits of rotating your crops and maximising the yield that you can achieve, but before you get to that stage you can work your way through an A to Z of vegetables and see what it's going to be feasible to grow. It's only when you've got this far that you're going to be led through the processes of planning, creating and maintaining your vegetable patch.

And what are you to do with all this produce? Well, at the end of the book you'll find a selection of recipes. Diacono is open in saying that they come from the staff at River Cottage HQ but they're nevertheless fresh, tasty and reasonably uncomplicated. Try the curried root soup – on a cold winter's day it's very welcome. At the end of the book you'll find a directory of suppliers and useful organisations.

I enjoyed the book but I was conscious that it was primarily aimed at the gardener who has a reasonable amount of ground to devote to vegetables. If you haven't then you will find it interesting but less useful. For various reasons just about all my vegetable production has to be done in pots and in the past I've been greatly reassured by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his 'food acquisition continuum'. At one end of the scale you could have a pot of herbs on the kitchen window sill. At the other you could be aiming for self-sufficient living, but wherever you were on that scale you were aiming to produce at least some of your own food. Wonderful! It was the principle which got me started and which has kept me trying to move further along the continuum ever since. I was hoping that this book would help.

I knew that I was going to have a problem early on when Mark insisted that everyone should grow something they've never eaten before or even something which they don't like just so that they can challenge their taste buds. I struggle to find the space – and capacity to water – all those vegetables which I know we love. I have not got the capacity to move in this direction on the land we have and I was put in mind of the Victorian gardening book which insisted that however little land one had at least an acre should be put aside for trees.

This is not a book which is of much help if you are a container gardener. Yes, there is a nod to this type of gardening, but I had been hoping for a section given over to it. Instead you have to know where to look in the index and even then you won't be able to locate all the references. In an otherwise good book this would seem to be an opportunity missed.

 

River Cottage note : If you feel you need more space to grow veg then why not sign up to Landshare at http://www.landshare.net/

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Customer Review

I got your 'Veg Patch' handbook a week or so ago and have to say that
I'm really impressed. I've been growing veg for 3 years now with
limited success and have never been anywhere close to the holy grail
of veg self sufficiency.

I really like the simple way that you explain plant grouping and the 4
year cycle. I've read several books on the subject and have frankly
been left a bit confused.
For the first time I am really confident that I can make this work,
and perhaps more importantly keep it working all year round.

Thanks very much, I know that there's loads of people in the same boat
as me who will find this a breath of fresh air.

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Customer Review

Veg Patch, by Mark Diacono. Just BRILLIANT. BUY IT
 
I'm going now, I'm off to order my seeds from the websites in the directory. Let's hope their delivery times are as good as yours, I'm a wee bit behind. But my new rather large greenhouse is being built on monday - re-using the old bits of course, so it'll all work out in the end. And it's all because I got so 'in to' River Cottage that I had a row with the other half about the size of the previous greenhouse and have now had the concrete poured for a base for the new one so if I didn't get one we would just have this huge concrete pad in the back garden, which the dog would have objected to, so really he had to just give in! And when he tastes the results he won't mind at all. I've not mentioned how much digging he has to do yet though...
Looking forward to the new series.

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Customer Review

Being a great fan of the River Cottage Handbook series and a regular reader of the authors' excellent blogs at http://community.rivercottage.net/users/MarkD , I knew this latest read from the Fearnley-Whittingstall stable would be a gem.

With an allotment sized back garden sporting a vast collection of weeds and having nonexistent horticultural skills I was grateful when this missing link arrived on my doormat.

As mentioned by a previous reviewer, Diaconos writing style makes you want to get out and start planting, written with humour and great knowledge this excellent book takes you from planning to planting to plate.

I've bought a variety of books that try and achieve what Diacono has, many are twice the size and twice the price, but this one will take pride of place in my armoury as go forth into battle against my impenetrable weed patch.

Wish me luck, now where are my wellies!!

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Interested in reviewing this book? Please send you review to orders@rivercottage.net