Some people might say I already have too many books. That’s not true. I don’t think it’s possible to have too many, especially gardening books. I pick them up everywhere: second hand book shops, library book sales, the recycling centre at the dump (which is where the gem above came from*), and occasionally I even get brand new ones.
I’m doubly lucky in that firstly, I had a birthday recently, and secondly, my brother is happy to buy me books without saying things like “But don’t you already have thirty books about growing vegetables?”
I told you. Lucky.
So, after Sharon Astyk’s review I asked for Carol Deppe’s The Resilient Gardener : Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times, and I’m so glad I did. I haven’t read much but it’s great. I think the best way to describe it would be dense. I was also lucky enough to get a copy of John Seymour’s classic The New Self-Sufficient Gardener, which I love for it’s retro illustrations and clear diagrams which show you how to actually do things like stringing onions and building a potato clamp.
I’m still looking for a book** that will give me a ready-drawn design for a productive food garden on an odd-shaped, steeply shaped section though. It would be so much easier if I had a flat 1/4 acre…
*It was published in 1953, and should I ever want to know how much DDT to spray on my cauliflowers, or how to sterilise my greenhouse soil with chloropicrin, I’m set. If I ignore the chemical bits though, it’s still a really useful guide.
**Actually, I think the best book I’ve read that tells me how to design this myself is Gaia’s Garden : A Guide to Home Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway. If only I’d put three books on my birthday wish list…
Sad Little Garden 