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The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Herbs: The Art and Science to Grow Your Own Herbs
With an almost alchemical power, herbs can provide flavours and scents unlike any other. Growing the source of these intense flavours can now be a reality for gardeners and food enthusiasts with any size of garden, from an acre to a window box.
Culinary herbs can be used as seeds, flowers or leaves; cooked and eaten themselves or used to infuse a dish or drink. They are now being used in artisan gin, ice cubes and cocktail syrups; in foraged dishes and kitchen gardens and often the only way to capture that elusive flavour is to have home-grown, freshly harvested herbs on your doorstep.
Find out how to develop your own herb garden and grow herbs in all situations. Comprehensive information is given on how to plant, propagate, harvest and use herbs in the most interesting ways from planting a herb roof to making herbal oils. The 75 most exciting herbs are also identified, illustrated and their uses explained.
Underpinned by the authority of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the expertise of Holly Farrell, The Kew Gardener’s Guide to Growing Herbs combines practical elements with inspiration and beauty.
Culinary herbs can be used as seeds, flowers or leaves; cooked and eaten themselves or used to infuse a dish or drink. They are now being used in artisan gin, ice cubes and cocktail syrups; in foraged dishes and kitchen gardens and often the only way to capture that elusive flavour is to have home-grown, freshly harvested herbs on your doorstep.
Find out how to develop your own herb garden and grow herbs in all situations. Comprehensive information is given on how to plant, propagate, harvest and use herbs in the most interesting ways from planting a herb roof to making herbal oils. The 75 most exciting herbs are also identified, illustrated and their uses explained.
Underpinned by the authority of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the expertise of Holly Farrell, The Kew Gardener’s Guide to Growing Herbs combines practical elements with inspiration and beauty.
144 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 5, 2019
66 people are currently reading
182 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 26, 2019
Wow! I didn’t expect this much information packed inside such a small book! I do a fair amount of container gardening and enjoy cooking with fresh herbs, so I decided to get a copy of this book. I am glad I did. This book includes information on herbs for bakers, cooks, crafters, gardeners and herbal tea drinkers. It is easy to read, informative and peppered with beautiful pictures on its pages. I plan to create my own vibrant vertical herb garden on my patio with the tips I found in this book.
March 6, 2019
Another winning guide from the experts at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew.
This one covers growing herbs and is a very comprehensive guide to getting the best out of the plants that you grow. Comprehensive and packed with useful information.
This one covers growing herbs and is a very comprehensive guide to getting the best out of the plants that you grow. Comprehensive and packed with useful information.
May 22, 2019
A book that gives me details about specific herbs. This is for me! I need to know by plants how to take care of said plant. I have a brown thumb. I do not kill plants I essentially maim plants but they live. I liked this book. I will buy this book.
April 18, 2019
I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review purposes. Thank you!
Basically what it says on the tin: a nice, accessible guide to growing a herb garden. The book contains many tips as to how to deal with various specific types of herbs, as well as some ideas for how to beautify your herb garden. Very useful for beginners, but more experienced people will also find something for themselves.
Basically what it says on the tin: a nice, accessible guide to growing a herb garden. The book contains many tips as to how to deal with various specific types of herbs, as well as some ideas for how to beautify your herb garden. Very useful for beginners, but more experienced people will also find something for themselves.
February 28, 2019
I’m very impressed with this book. It is authoritative, beautifully illustrated and extremely useful.
Pretty well everything you’d want to know about growing and using herbs is here. Holly Farrell’s text is readable and refreshingly free of waffle, so it’s accessible and tells you what you need to know concisely and clearly. There are some very interesting ideas for growing and using herbs, as well as all the necessary info about each individual herb.
It’s very nicely presented, with lovely photographs and some very beautiful botanical illustrations. (I can’t find any mention of who they’re by, but they look rather like Ehret’s 18th Century illustrations to me.)
In short, this is a very useful, readable and attractive book. Warmly recommended.
(My thanks to White Lion for an ARC via NetGalley.)
Pretty well everything you’d want to know about growing and using herbs is here. Holly Farrell’s text is readable and refreshingly free of waffle, so it’s accessible and tells you what you need to know concisely and clearly. There are some very interesting ideas for growing and using herbs, as well as all the necessary info about each individual herb.
It’s very nicely presented, with lovely photographs and some very beautiful botanical illustrations. (I can’t find any mention of who they’re by, but they look rather like Ehret’s 18th Century illustrations to me.)
In short, this is a very useful, readable and attractive book. Warmly recommended.
(My thanks to White Lion for an ARC via NetGalley.)
May 15, 2019
Would have given this a 3. A completely serviceable book about the basics of herbs oh, but not in-depth enough in any topic to really catch my interest. I liked the illustrations but some of the other design choices were questionable, like the background of some sections with an odd raindrop pattern.
However I dropped this to a one because of the section about herb lawns. I really like the idea of an herb lawn, but this book suggested using glyphosate, also known as RoundUp, to prep the area. I think it's irresponsible to recommend that glyphosate, linked to massive bee die-offs, mutations and death of frog populations, and labeled a probable human carcinogen by the WHO, be used on an edible lawn. Not to mention the early 2019 news that the re-approval process for pesticide in the EU and US was not quite independent. Please don't spray this near your home or where it'll drain into streams.
However I dropped this to a one because of the section about herb lawns. I really like the idea of an herb lawn, but this book suggested using glyphosate, also known as RoundUp, to prep the area. I think it's irresponsible to recommend that glyphosate, linked to massive bee die-offs, mutations and death of frog populations, and labeled a probable human carcinogen by the WHO, be used on an edible lawn. Not to mention the early 2019 news that the re-approval process for pesticide in the EU and US was not quite independent. Please don't spray this near your home or where it'll drain into streams.
March 2, 2019
For some time I have a wish to grow my own herbs In my back yard and this guide helped me a lot. I love the photos and descriptions altogether with the illustrations so no one will mistake one herb with another. i
Simply wonderful and useful, I just wish it was longer because I finished it in one sitting.
This guide is a wonderful thing to have in personal library and as a gift to friends and family that love plants
Simply wonderful and useful, I just wish it was longer because I finished it in one sitting.
This guide is a wonderful thing to have in personal library and as a gift to friends and family that love plants
June 12, 2024
I’m loving these books! Wonderful information and helpful to keep on hand to keep learning as I grow.
February 28, 2019
This is a brilliant short book about herbs. One of my goals for 2019 is to start a herb garden as I always think they look colourful, smell brilliant and I like that they can be more useful than flowers. I found this book immensely helpful to start my gardening adventures. It contains information on how, where and when to grow the herbs, what you can do with them, when to harvest them and general information about the herb itself. Brilliant for beginners to herbs and more experienced gardeners alike. What really sold the book for me however was all the photographs and drawings scattered throughout the pages. They were all really colourful, bright and clear and even if I was not to attempt to grow these herbs myself I would have appreciated the book for the photos. I can tell already this book is going to be used constantly as it seems great for dipping in and out of to get ideas, know what to do and of course admire the photos!
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
November 9, 2019
First, I would like to thank NetGalley and White Lion Publishing for providing me with a free PDF ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have recently been motivated to start my own herb garden since I now cook all meals at home for my family. I was excited to be chosen to review this book and eagerly jumped in, looking for herbs I was familiar with. This book provides a fantastic review of several herbs and how to grow and harvest them, and also discusses their various uses. Different types of herb gardens are presented, as well as herbs for different seasons, climates, other variables. Unfortunately, after the first day, the PDF stopped working in Adobe Digital Editions and I was not able to finish the book in its entirety, but from what I viewed, I would absolutely purchase a copy to reference once I start my garden.
I have recently been motivated to start my own herb garden since I now cook all meals at home for my family. I was excited to be chosen to review this book and eagerly jumped in, looking for herbs I was familiar with. This book provides a fantastic review of several herbs and how to grow and harvest them, and also discusses their various uses. Different types of herb gardens are presented, as well as herbs for different seasons, climates, other variables. Unfortunately, after the first day, the PDF stopped working in Adobe Digital Editions and I was not able to finish the book in its entirety, but from what I viewed, I would absolutely purchase a copy to reference once I start my garden.
May 5, 2021
This is a great resource for growing herbs! The information was concise and to the point without unnecessary fluff. Beautiful illustrations were included throughout the book. Along with tips of growing herbs, the book featured all of the major herbs along with details of how to use them, how to grow them, and how to harvest them. Definitely a book I will reference again!
March 22, 2019
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
The Kew Gardener’s Guide to Growing Herbs is a new tutorial guide to growing and using herbs in the garden by Holly Farrell. Released 21st March 2019 by Quarto on their White Lion imprint, it's 144 pages and available in ebook and paperback format.
Whenever gardeners think about inspiration and knowledge on a worldwide scale, the Kew gardens are at the very top of a very short list. They've been going strong for almost 260 years at this point. This book includes an herbal compendium of culture and care info for more than 70 individual herbs along with several attractive plantings arranged as projects.
Worth noting. This guide is written primarily with gardeners in the British Isles in mind. The hardiness zones listed in the individual herbal listings are the ones given by the RHS (not the my link textUSDA ones). Also, the ebook version has an interactive table of contents which is very handy.
Much of the photography is from stock photos, but all of the project photos are purpose made for this edition. The culture information is straightforward and peppered with good tips and tricks for encouraging the best performance from all of your plants (and taming the 'beasts' like mint and comfrey).
Four stars. Well written and full of attractive photography.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes
The Kew Gardener’s Guide to Growing Herbs is a new tutorial guide to growing and using herbs in the garden by Holly Farrell. Released 21st March 2019 by Quarto on their White Lion imprint, it's 144 pages and available in ebook and paperback format.
Whenever gardeners think about inspiration and knowledge on a worldwide scale, the Kew gardens are at the very top of a very short list. They've been going strong for almost 260 years at this point. This book includes an herbal compendium of culture and care info for more than 70 individual herbs along with several attractive plantings arranged as projects.
Worth noting. This guide is written primarily with gardeners in the British Isles in mind. The hardiness zones listed in the individual herbal listings are the ones given by the RHS (not the my link textUSDA ones). Also, the ebook version has an interactive table of contents which is very handy.
Much of the photography is from stock photos, but all of the project photos are purpose made for this edition. The culture information is straightforward and peppered with good tips and tricks for encouraging the best performance from all of your plants (and taming the 'beasts' like mint and comfrey).
Four stars. Well written and full of attractive photography.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes
April 5, 2019
I received a digital ARC from White Lion Publishing via Netflix of this book.
Hearing from the Kew Experts always gets me excited to prep a garden. This excellent book shares with us the usage and care of some of our most beloved herbs, whether you're wanting to grow them for culinary purposes, as healing tools, or just something pretty to look at in your house or around the garden.
Tips on which parts of the plants are best used are especially helpful when it comes to the recipes offered for oil infusions, pestos, and cocktails. Quotes from Nicholas Culpeper and Beatrix Potter are sprinkled throughout along with lovely botanical illustrations and photographs of each herb. You'll want to add this title to your Kew collection. What a terrific series.
Hearing from the Kew Experts always gets me excited to prep a garden. This excellent book shares with us the usage and care of some of our most beloved herbs, whether you're wanting to grow them for culinary purposes, as healing tools, or just something pretty to look at in your house or around the garden.
Tips on which parts of the plants are best used are especially helpful when it comes to the recipes offered for oil infusions, pestos, and cocktails. Quotes from Nicholas Culpeper and Beatrix Potter are sprinkled throughout along with lovely botanical illustrations and photographs of each herb. You'll want to add this title to your Kew collection. What a terrific series.
May 8, 2019
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A wonderfully practical book about growing and caring for many herbs in our garden plots or containers, inside or outside. Useful and beautifully presented.
A wonderfully practical book about growing and caring for many herbs in our garden plots or containers, inside or outside. Useful and beautifully presented.
February 5, 2021
Very informative and well-designed book. Great for beginners or more experienced gardeners who want to try something new.
June 23, 2022
A wonderfully detailed and useful book on herbs!
January 13, 2023
Det var en inspirerande bok som gav många uppslag till kommande örtaträdgård. Jag kommer använda den som uppslagsbok framöver.
June 23, 2023
Geared towards beginners. Beautiful photos and illustrations on dozens of herbs. Includes care and history of each plus easy diy crafts and projects. Simple enough to be read in one sitting
November 4, 2023
Lots of helpful information.
January 31, 2024
A beautifully illustrated and useful book. It’s inspired me to get started planning my herb garden.
April 10, 2019
The New Gardeners Guide to Growing Herbs
by Holly Farrell
If you’re a beginner in gardening and your looking to start a herb garden this is the perfect guide for you.
This book gives you detailed instructions on how to start your garden. You’ll learn about the soil and seeds and where to go from there. You will find plenty of photos, drawings and charts of all the different herbs to grow then harvesting the herbs. Included is how you can find all the different ways to use your herbs, whether drying them or using them in oils or vinegar.
I found this book to be a very good reference book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
#Netgalley
by Holly Farrell
If you’re a beginner in gardening and your looking to start a herb garden this is the perfect guide for you.
This book gives you detailed instructions on how to start your garden. You’ll learn about the soil and seeds and where to go from there. You will find plenty of photos, drawings and charts of all the different herbs to grow then harvesting the herbs. Included is how you can find all the different ways to use your herbs, whether drying them or using them in oils or vinegar.
I found this book to be a very good reference book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
#Netgalley
March 26, 2019
This was so interesting. I have a rather "wild" herb garden and I needed a little help on things. And here it was! I love herbs and using them both for foods, garden decor and health. So was excited to now have a quick and easy reference guide to growing them. I liked that the book gave heights and other facts on easy to locate charts for each herb featured in the book. It will be a great help as I now can easily check back to see what helpful information I can find about various herbs. The book also had beautiful pictures of the herbs, which will help in the organizing of them in my small garden.
I received an ebook copy from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own,
I received an ebook copy from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own,
May 8, 2019
This is a massive book, filled with gardening information, photographs and beautiful drawings. Tis book will keep any gardener, let alone a herb gardener entertained for a very long time, with lots of dipping into at various time.
There are lots of information about herbs, how to grow them and also, which I found helpful, which and how to contain the invasive one.
There are many herbs in this book that I had not heard of, and others the I have grown in every house I have lived in. Each have information on uses, growing and harvesting. This is a seriously good book.
There are lots of information about herbs, how to grow them and also, which I found helpful, which and how to contain the invasive one.
There are many herbs in this book that I had not heard of, and others the I have grown in every house I have lived in. Each have information on uses, growing and harvesting. This is a seriously good book.
March 15, 2019
With the cost of groceries these days, an adventurous cook needs an edge to keep their craft different and interesting. Add in the fact that many herbs are not only tasty and good for you, they help improve your environment by restricting pests without chemicals. The book contains many fascinating examples of what best to grow in your garden without making the experience a full time job. I really enjoyed how the author described the different herbs and how to get the most out of them.
August 21, 2019
Another how-to just in time for Spring gardening. I was busy sorting seeds this weekend, trying to find what I had and what I might want to try out instead this year.
I’ve always had better luck with herbs than I did with vegetables but that might be because I watched over them carefully in the herb garden and Brough them inside during the cold months. Even so, I still wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing, but thanks to this read, I have a better understanding of how to manage my garden!
I’ve always had better luck with herbs than I did with vegetables but that might be because I watched over them carefully in the herb garden and Brough them inside during the cold months. Even so, I still wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing, but thanks to this read, I have a better understanding of how to manage my garden!
March 14, 2019
Fantastic resource that provides planting, harvesting, and use information on many "common" herbs (mostly culinary, a few medicinal) without overwhelming the reader with too much detail. Helpful photographs, drawings and latin names make it easy to find the specific plant at the garden shop. Also includes creative planting ideas.
June 22, 2019
Not in alphabetical order of herbs or project order. A nice introduction to herbs - similar to the plant book they made. You do get an introduction and herb image of what is being talked about. Reader does get other information about how to take care of them. It is from people that know what they are talking about. You do get some troubleshooting help as well in this one.
March 30, 2019
A gorgeous book, with wonderful practical advice and photography to aid the learning. The knowledge base was exceptional with well written instructional guidance in a very easy to understand way. It was perfect timing as I am about to plant my winter vegetable and herb garden. I learnt a lot.
Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this fabulous book.
Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this fabulous book.
April 6, 2019
I am reviewing this book Growing Herbs for Holly Farrell, Quarto Publishing, and NetGalley who gave me a copy of their book for an honest review.
We are growing herbs this year, so this was a perfect book to look at beforehand. Lots of brilliant instructions and great photography. I like charts too and this included them!
We are growing herbs this year, so this was a perfect book to look at beforehand. Lots of brilliant instructions and great photography. I like charts too and this included them!
March 12, 2019
A very good book if you are interested in how growing and using herbs.
It's full of ideas, advice and information.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC
It's full of ideas, advice and information.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews