Arthur Nettleacre

Favourite Gardening Books

I suppose when I started this tread I was more interested in books about gardens, rather than gardening. On the gardening line, I have a book called The Vegetable Grower's Handbook by Arthur J Simons that we written during the War which I delight in dipping into. There is some good advice in it still, in amougst the chemical warfare gardeners seemed to go in for back then! 

Favourite Gardening Books

Glad to be of service! The Country of White Clover is a really magical book. I picked my copy up from a jumble sale a couple of years ago not knowing what to expect from it and was utterly captivated. Since then it has become regular 'Spring' reading.

Thanks to everyone for their comments

Favourite Gardening Books

I recently bought Monty Don's My Roots from a well know on line retailer for the grand sum of 1p. The book is a joy to read and I am rationing my reading of it to prolong the pleasure. Now, I have to say I am a real fan of Monty Don's garden writing, If truth be told, his columns are one of the reasons I still buy Gardeners World, but it got me to thinking what other books are out there that people cherish and might be worth a read. Another favourite of mine is The Country of White Colver by H.E.Bates, although this is more a book about the country side rather than purely gardening.

Overgrown back garden

One thing I would recommend, apart from sorting the lawn and I think you have had a lot of good advice on that score, is to keep a record of what areas get full sun, partial sun and stays in the shade. It looks like you have some pretty high fences around you  and this will dictate what you can grow and where. The space looks pretty compact, so I would try and plan out what type of effect you want from the garden and what you want to grow before you start to bung plants it. Have a good look at other gardens to and see if there are ideas you can 'crib'. I would also recommend the 'Garden Design Bible by Tim Newbury as a good source book of ideas. Good luck with this Martin, once gardening sucks you in your life will never be the same again, but in a good way!

COMPOST QUESTION

I had a large quantity of this too, again at least 4 years old. I dug some of this into my vegetable garden and crops grew really well. The remainder I mixed into my general compost heap. Try either of these.

Favourite Gardening Books