The Vegetable Grower's Handbook: Unearth Your Garden's Full Potential

by Huw Richards

Garden efficiently and grow more food - Huw Richards shows you how.

Following the success of Veg in One Bed and Grow Food for Free, in The Vegetable Grower's Handbook Huw shares his tried-and-tested approaches from his own garden so you can unearth your garden's potential.

With simple yet effective methods, such as nurturing healthy soil, optimizing space, and following a planting plan, anyone can be a productive vegetable grower while working in harmony with nature. As well as Huw's recommendations on good planning and infrastructure, he has tips for plenty of quick wins too, such as how to attract beneficial pollinators.

You'll be amazed at what you can achieve by setting goals, planning ahead, and trialling new ideas. Every successful business has a strategy. Why not apply one to your vegetable patch?

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference, Agriculture

224 pages, Paperback

Published May 17, 2022

About the author

Huw Richards is the rugby correspondent of the Financial Times.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richards did a fantastic job in describing his methods and techniques for creating sustainable garden spaces that are truly a work of art. I loved this book so much and I’d recommend it for anyone interested in turning their outdoor spaces, no matter how big or small, into gardening spaces. Plenty of techniques and strategies are reviewed and shared such as composting, creating homemade feeds for plants, picking the right staple plants catered to personal needs and desires, helping pollinator populations, and how to effectively work together in community garden projects.

Richards also shares his method for designing planting planners so that each month of the year is easily broken down into what should be sowed, transplanted, and harvested according to the growing space. There’s an excellent chart included that highlights the time of year for planting and harvesting a variety of essential crops. After reading the contents of this book, I feel a lot more confident in turning even my balcony space into a diverse polyculture. So excited to start experimenting this year!!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to get into growing their own food or folks already growing their food who want to revise their ways or habits, or just grow more. Huw Richards did a wonderful job of explaining different aspects of gardening in simple terms that didn't complicate the process. I absolutely loved his tips on streamlining processes, saving yourself time and avoiding overwhelm -- incredibly helpful and some areas of gardening that I've not seen many write much about in this way. I have already made a garden mission statement, which I think will help me focus my garden goals this season, and I plan on implementing the 5-minute task idea as well as his monthly-planning method. Richards also gave some great general garden tips; one of which I am excited to implement -- using a plank to help some seeds (carrots!) germinate better.

[Danny Hodge · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would maybe recommend this to somebody who's completely new to gardening, but that's about it. Very surface level in content, I was hoping for more of a deeper dive into some topics.

For anyone considering buying this, I felt that the RHS Complete Gardeners Manual did a much better job at what this book was aiming to do.

[cellomerl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super little book with a congenial author, terrific gardening tips and the wonderful photos that are a feature of all DK books. There’s a million garden books out there but this is quite a special one - easy to follow, nothing intimidating, lots of information (although not overwhelming) and of course, it’s back again to the delicious photos. The author is a very thorough guy, extremely well organized and willing to make a foray into broader topics.
Living in Wales, the author definitely has a different definition of winter than I do (I’m always amused by Brits writing about “winter gardening”, which in my climate is strictly an indoor sport). This book is mostly annuals with a sprinkle of perennials, but very slim on nightshades (except potatoes) and no berries or fruit trees. But his garden is just lovely.
The book has some weird copyediting: American spelling combined with British verbiage. But if you’re a gardening buff, just read it, you won’t be disappointed. You might call this book a light touch, but it’s a good reference anyway.

[Kate Cunningham Gross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good (not great)

I was hoping this would hold my hand and talk me through how to start my garden. This is better for having a garden and opening it to get a concise overview of something specific - a pest I see, a seeding question.

I anticipate I will open this up for topical questions in the future, or leave it in a decorative spot (it is very beautiful), but it is not a reread for me.

The pictures and layout of this book are BEAUTIFUL and well thought out.

I am inter sets to read other books by Richard’s.

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great ideas and visuals; it's like a series of very helpful articles, mostly in bite-sized two-page section spreads on a wide variety of topics, mostly fairly advanced. Still, I learned a lot, especially about holistic gardening and soil health.

[Nicole Amaranta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pratico e accessibile, anche se non credo sia adatto ai principianti assoluti. Mi piace l'importanza che dà alla agricoltura sostenibile a basso costo e al valore della comunità. Penso che la permacultura possa creare una società migliore.

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for Beginners

I think this would be great for someone just starting out. It covers a wide range of topics and introduces lots of ideas. It’s not as in depth or well organized as I’d hoped, but I’d happily give this to a new gardener.

[Marco Briceño · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great layout, solid info, easy to understand, fantastic resource.

[Nick Escobar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to all the things you can do in the garden.

[David Ronan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️
I don't know how else to rate this or the other one I recently read so I'm going to copy and paste this review. It's going to be helpful when I need it.

[Jo Newman-Bosak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic garden planning book for a beginner. Can’t wait to order my seeds & draw up a garden plan!

[Zarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really excellent beginner's guide to growing edible crops, covering key areas such as composting, seed starring, pest control, etc.

[Adéla Pavlišová · Rating 5 out of 5]

hezká, praktická kniha. Hrozný překlad, zdálo se mi, ze čtu z Google překladače. příště v originále :)

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very good ideas.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read, well laid out, great descriptive gardening book. Relevant even to someone in different zone to author’s garden.