Kitchen Gardening for Beginners: A Simple Guide to Growing Fruit and Vegetables

by Simon Akeroyd

Overview

Learn how to grow more than seventy types of fruits and vegetables, while finding tips for dealing with weeds, pests, and diseases in this all-in-one gardening guide for growing tastier and healthier fruits and vegetables.

Kitchen Gardening for Beginners takes readers through ten steps to preparing a garden plot, providing need-to-know techniques, such as sowing, planting, feeding, mulching, watering, and weeding, as well as easy projects including making a compost bin and planting a fruit tree.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781465409614
Publisher:	DK
Publication date:	04/15/2013
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	452,799
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Simon Akeroyd was brought up in a family of professional cooks but discovered at an early age that he preferred growing food to cooking it. He has written for numerous gardening magazines, including the monthly "Allotment Gardener" pages for Grow Your Own magazine. He was previously a garden manager for the Royal Horticultural Society, and has worked at both RHS Wisley and Harlow Carr. He also worked for the BBC as a horticultural researcher and producer. He has an allotment in Surrey and is an avid beekeeper. His books include Shrubs and Small Trees, Lawns and Ground Cover, and Grow Your Own Fruit.

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

About this book 8

Step 1-10 to Preparing you plot

Step 1 Assessing your site

Assessing your site 14

Different types of sites 16

Step 2 Preparing your soil

Know your soil 20

Improving your soil 22

Project: Double digging 24

Step 3 Creating your space

Beds & borders 28

Choosing your paths 30

Project: Paths

Mark out the area 32

Prepare the edges 34

Prepare the surface 36

Raised beds 38

Step 4 Protecting crops

Protection from wind, frost & pests 42

Project: Rabbit-proof fencing 44

Greenhouses & cold frames 48

Project: Cold frame 50

Cloches 52

Project: Hanging basket cloche 53

Step 5 Feeding & mulching

Fertilizers & mulch 56

Project: Liquid comfrey 58

Composting & compost bins 60

Project: Compost bin 62

Step 6 Watering & weeding

Watering methods 66

Weeds & weeding 68

Step 7 What to grow

Which plants will suit your soil & exposure 72

Choosing crops 74

Flowers 76

Step 8 Creating a style

Your style 80

Seating & socializing 82

Project: Bench 82

Herbs & the kitchen garden 84

Children 85

Project: Herb parterre 86

Chickens 88

Bees 89

Step 9 Crop rotation

Crop rotation 92

Catch crops & interplanting 94

Project: Planting sweet corn 94

Step 10 Sowing & planting

Starting plants inside 98

Starting plants outside 100

Planting methods 102

Vegetables? Growing & storing

Leafy crops

Cabbage & Asian brassicas 110

Brussels sprouts 112

Spinach & Chard 114

Lettuce & Salad greens 116

Chicory & Endive 118

Kale 119

Fruiting & flowering

Tomatoes 122

Cucumbers 124

Eggplant 125

Broccoli & Cauliflower 126

Zucchini & Summer squash 128

Pumpkins 130

Squash 132

Bell peppers & Chiles 134

Sweet corn 136

Globe artichokes 138

Beans & pods

Green & String beans 142

Project: String bean support 144

Fava beans 146

Peas & Snow peas 148

Bulbs & roots

Potatoes 152

Carrots 154

Sweet potatoes 156

Onions & Shallots 158

Garlic 160

Green onions 161

Project: Onion drying rack 162

Florence fennel & Kohlrabi 164

Celery root & Parsnips 166

Rutabagas & Turnips 168

Beets 170

Radishes 172

Jerusalem artichokes 173

Stems

Leeks 176

Celery 177

Rhubarb 178

Asparagus 179

Herbs

Annual & Perennial herbs 182

Shrubby herbs 184

Fruit-Growing & storing

Soft fruit

Strawberries 190

Project: Fruit cage 192

Raspberries 194

Project: Raspberry cane support 196

Blueberries & Cranberries 198

Project: Sunken blueberry bed 200

Blackberries & Hybrids 202

Gooseberries 204

Currants 205

Trees & vines

Apples 208

Pears 210

Plums Gages & Damsons 212

Project: Planting a fruit tree 214

Cherries 216

Peaches & Nectarines 218

Apricots 219

Citrus & Medlars 220

Figs 221

Quinces 222

Mulberries 223

Grapes 224

Melons 226

Help- Troubleshooting guide

Dealing-with problems 230

Gallery of pests 232

Gallery of diseases 234

Gallery of deficiencies 237

Gallery of weeds 238

Pruning 240

Pruning fruit bushes 243

Propagating: plants 244

Glossary 246

Index & Acknowledgments 249

Editorial Reviews

"Novice vegetables gardeners have a friend in author Simon Akeroyd." – Better Homes and Garden Magazine

From the Publisher