The Art of the Kitchen Garden

by Jan Gertley, Michael Gertley

Kitchen gardens have delighted gardeners with their beauty and fresh harvests for centuries. The Art of the Kitchen Garden, in glorious full color, makes it easy for anyone with an interest in gardening and fresh produce to enjoy a beautiful and productive kitchen garden. This elegant book celebrates the old world traditions of designing and planting a garden by emphasizing artistic design, dazzling color arrays, and the details that make each garden unique. Vivid photos and detailed color illustrations help even those with little experience succeed at kitchen gardening. The book includes helpful instructions for creating and maintaining a personalized kitchen garden, proven guidance for selecting the best plants, and expert advice for combining color, texture, and height for delightful results. It's a stunning and informative read for gardeners who grow either ornamentals or vegetables.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Food, Green

150 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1999

Reviews

[Annie Oosterwyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heavy on the color/design end. Basic plane lists and border patrol.

[Eliza Fitzgerald]

So pretty. Too ambitious for me though!

[I Like Your Spark · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best guides ive seen for ornate kitchen gardens

[Joni · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was overall very pretty, but left me wanting a lot more. It was full of photos and diagrams, and gave me inspiration for doing some beautiful things in my garden. I had two complaints though: although there are a lot of photos, they are mostly of the same few gardens. Second, there were no close-up photos of mature gardens. Everything looked very young and therefore very tidy and neat but I would have liked to seen mature plants and more filled-in garden plans, even with perennials. It did give me enough ideas to start, though.

[Kamal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, this book hasn't aged that well; the photos really show their age. Clearly, gardening styles have changed a great deal since the late 90s. Also, aside from the historical examples, almost all the the photos are pictures from the authors' own gardens, which makes the whole thing rather monotonous after a while. While its full of great ideas for topiaries and other embellishments, the whole things seems quite frivolous for modern gardeners who are more interested in food yields than creating a Celtic cross in their backyards.

[Antonya Pickard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book -its what I've been looking for: something that shows a variety of ideas for both symmetrical and adapted (assymetrical)shapes/settings, examples of a variety of border plants, and examples of progression planting -with only a short section on the tradition of potager gardens, instead a focus on implementing it in a modern setting.

[Adrianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is exactly what it is titled as. Beautiful ideas and steps on how to make a fruit and veggie garden as appealing as even the most luxurious gardens from around the world. I got this book from the library, but I wouldn't mind adding it to my gardening collection.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The details in these garden designs are amazing - truly a dream garden; although I am not sure how realistic.