Order and Profusion: The Kitchen Garden

The New Kitchen Garden by Anna Pavord

A Complete Practical Guide to Designing,

Planting, and Cultivating

a Decorative and Productive Garden

Published by DK Publishing - 1996

It's that time of year. Poring over garden catalogs, you've made your selections, now the actual planning of the garden's layout is the task at hand. This is a book you will refer to again and again in the planning stages of the garden of your dreams. "The New Kitchen Garden" by Anna Pavord truly waters the seeds of the gardener's imagination. The first part of the book is devoted to innovative and beautiful original planting designs of various kitchen garden styles including "Formal Fruit Garden," "Vegetable Patchwork," "Cottage Garden," "Salad and Herb Garden," as well as clever designs that maximize growing spaces for smaller yards and urban balconies. Here you will find inspiring designs that emphasize the unexpected beauty of each plant, like "chiseled artichokes" and "handsome leeks." The combination of vegetables and fruits with flowers both decorative and useful is amazing.

The growing section includes information on vegetables, fruits, nuts, herbs and edible flowers. Each plant is illustrated by a stunning detailed photo and is accompanied by directions for its cultivation, recommendations for best cultivars, and a simple, elegant recipe plus helpful culinary notes. A gardening book and a cookbook all in one - my kind of reading!

A thorough section on planting and cultivation techniques discusses topics like types of soil, creating garden structures, crop rotation, feeding and watering, greenhouses, cold frames, training and pruning trees, harvesting and storing, and of course, pests, weeds and diseases. This section has been very helpful to us in caring for our own gardens; the photos are clear and treatments for the problems are practical and effective.

This book is as inspiring and timeless as it was when published in 1996. "The New Kitchen Garden" is easily found online through Amazon and other booksellers; treat yourself to some new yet classic ideas for your own garden. I wish you order and profusion in the months to come!