Gardening Books

Recommended books on gardening.

Fruity Goings On

Posted on October 25, 2010 | Leave a comment

quince

In the hope of gluts I’ve invested in a lovely little recipe book called Realm of Fig and Quince: An Anthology of Recipes by Ria Loohuizen. The figs never achieved anything remotely like a glut, but my wonderfully reliable quince is laden so I’m looking forward to extending my repertoire beyond quince jelly and quince vodka. Pilaf with quinces, pumpkin and chestnuts sounds delicious. A word of advice – life’s too short to make membrillo, however delicious it may be!

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Posted in Gardening Books

Tagged Cooking quince, quince, Ria Loohuizen

A Welcome Glut

Posted on September 4, 2010 | 2 Comments

The tomatoes are really kicking in now and I’m able to pick them a trug at a time. While we are still enthusiastically eating them fresh with garlic, olive oil and basil, I’m also roasting them with shallots, garlic, basil, sugar and olive oil using the River Cottage Handbook No.2 recipe for Roasted Tomato Passata so that I can preserve some of that delicious intense flavour for winter. I keep the passata in a Kilner jar in the fridge with a layer of olive oil to preserve it. It lasts for months and I can dip into it whenever I need to add a touch of summer to my cooking.

Big Tom!

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Posted in Gardening Books

Tagged passata, tomato recipe, tomatoes

Chas and His Rock ‘N’ Roll Allotment

Posted on August 21, 2010 | 2 Comments

It’s midday on Saturday and Chas, formerly of Chas and Dave, is currently being interviewed on Radio 2 about his latest gardening book. We’d be interested to hear from anyone who has read Chas and His Rock ‘N’ Roll Allotment

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Posted in Gardening Books

Tagged allotment book, chas and dave gardening, chas gardening book, rock and roll allotment

Queen of the Herbs

Posted on August 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

Queen of the Herbs, Jekka McVicar, has taken her expert knowledge further to include recipes in her new book Jekka’s Herb Cookbook. She has selected her 50 favourite herbs and devotes a chapter each, telling you how to grow, harvest and cook them. The book has gorgeous illustrations by her daughter Hannah whose work is increasingly in demand.