Ortho's Complete Guide to Vegetables

In the true tradition of do it yourself books created by Ortho this has to be its best. The book is geared for both beginners in gardening and the handy do it yourselfer types. Chapters progress you through the steps from site selection and plant selection to harvesting, crop rotating and soil conditioning over winter and indoor greenhouse seed starting. Its an A-Z book and should be the the only reference book (excluding seed catalogs) you really need. The book also contains references to various cultivars within vegtable species and handy suggested cooking guides, so a beginner gardener could not only successfully select and grow well know vegtables, but could also grow and use the odd often hard to find fresh herbs.

Beautifully illistrated the book starts with a complete garden guide that includes specifics on everything from choosing a garden site to the correct amount of light and water. Also covered in this section is data concerning soil, seasons, weeds, pests and problems. It then continues with a very comprehensive catalog of vegetables and herbs, each one containing precise straightforward details on planting, harvesting and cooking along with recipes and nutritional facts. Even if you're not interested in growing a garden, every cook should have this book. I use it as a resource when I am trying to choose the correct type of vegetable according to my recipe and taste buds or when looking up unfamiliar herbs that certain recipes may call for. A wealth of information, I use it to quickly and easly find answers to all my questions.