The Kitchen Garden (Tp)

Thompson's companion books, "The Kitchen Garden" and "The Kitchen Garden Cookbook" explain how to choose vegetables, herbs, and a few fruits for the garden and how to cook them once they been harvested.The Kitchen Garden categorizes vegetables and herbs alphabetically and includes items and varieties not generally found in the produce section of the grocery store, from runner beans and ordinary broccoli to potherbs and currant tomatoes. The entries discuss nutrition and garden design as well as growing and harvesting tips and each concludes with descriptions of the author's recommended varieties.After the plant listing comes the "Gardener's Notebook," a compendium of advice also listed in alphabetical order and covering everything from autumn clean-up to cold-frames, dogs, solarizing soil and, of course, compost. Also included are planting charts and an extensive list of seed choices. A book any adventurous gardener will treasure.

"The Kitchen Garden" is devoted, as author Sylvia Thompson tells us forthrightly in the introduction, to the "unusual and rare" greens that most of us cannot find at the average American market. The book is divided into sections highlighting Asian greens, mustard greens, potherbs, and salad greens, with other entries being more descriptive: "Beans for Frying," "Cooking and Slicing Onions," and so forth. Each entry gives not only the most typical gardener's name for a plant, but the Latin name and any other monikers as well. What follows each is her description of both the plant and her own experience with it; these miniature essays are the book's greatest pleasure, each being a deft weave of history, fact, and Thompson's own opinionated tips. If your particular corner of God's green earth is too dry, too shady, or too anything, you will still be able to find some sort of solution for your problem in the graphically beautiful and informative pages of "The Kitchen Garden."

I love this book! This is the second off-season that I've been lugging it around with me in my briefcase, along with the catalogues that are starting to show up in my mail -- it's only December, but they're popping up already! As I see something that looks interesting in a catalogue, I check it against Sylvia Thompson before I make a decision to buy. I've had nothing but success in following her clear, concise & literate directions. If you're a foodie, this book's for you! If you love to garden, this book's for you! If you just started to garden (as I have) this book's not at all intimidating, & doesn't assume any knowledge on your part (without talking down to you). If you're even thinking of buying this book, buy it!