Fruit and Vegetable Books

I bought the earlier edition of this book for someone else...had no intention of reading it (or keeping it) but started to browse and got hooked!

This book reads like a novel--all the characters are my near and dear friends, the garden fruits and veggies. Mouth-watering detail sets the stage for getting your imagination started. What would you like to grow that you haven't seen in the seed catalogues? A watermellon that can ripen in your northern climate? Greens that won't be mowed down by slugs in your wet, costal garden? Perhaps a juicy, sweet tomato just like your favorite slicer, but in a convenient cherry size?

Just when you have all these images of the yummy possibilities dancing through your head, the story turns dark...Unfortunately, the professional plant breeders are not looking for the same things you are. Professional plant breeders want thick-skinned tomatoes that can be machine harvested, that ripen all at once, and that store and ship easily. (at this point, I want to yell, NOOO!!! Not THAT tomato!!!)

But sadly, past market forces have inadvertantly destroyed so much of the lovely work of our ancestors to produce flavor, long harvest periods, plants that survive organically, open pollination, and most of all, variety.

But wait! All is not lost! Remember how all those wonderful things came to be in the first place? Amateur plant breeders! And guess what? It doesn't have to take a lot of time, or even much space, to start tweaking and experimenting with what you can get to grow in your own garden. You don't even need experience, let alone a degree. And she's got lots of stories and examples to prove it.

Then she starts throwing out possibilities I never would have thought of...why stick to things we already grow as vegetables? Why not domesticate one of the thousands of edible plants that no one else is even working on? Or how about experimenting with ways to use food that weren't available when it all started, like developing something that microwaves conveniently?

I think Carol Deppe is a creative genius with the rare ability to communicate her passion and knowlege for her favorite subject. After reading this book, really after reading just the first few chapters, I felt like this is something that I really could do, and can't believe I hadn't thought of it before. People have been saving seed for thousands of years, it's not rocket science.

For an idea of Deppe's writing style, she's written an interesting article about parching corn that you can find if you google "carol deppe and parching corn."

The author has a PhD from Harvard in biology and is a geneticist. Yet she has written her easy-to-understand book as if she has a teaching degree from Ashland University. Her premise is that all our major food crops were originally developed by amateurs. Until recently, all gardeners and farmers saved their own seed and hence, all gardeners and farmers were automatically amateur plant breeders - and amateur plant breeding was the only kind of plant breeding there was.

Deppe's book has two major purposes: 1) to encourage all of us gardeners and farmers to rediscover the excitement and rewards of developing your very own vegetable variety, and 2) to show amateurs how to breed plants more easily. As Deppe says "Any gardener can do them". This book is for all gardeners everywhere. It's for the gardener who has been told that "you can't grow that here", but who wants to anyway (such as artichokes in Ohio). This book is for growers who like white and purple carrots, and other crosses. This book is for seed savers, which is the first step in plant breeding. This book is for organic gardeners who want to develop powdery mildew-resistant varieties, by breeding them yourself.

Deppe's chapters cover amateur vegetable breeding, space and time; roles and goals such as breeding for flavor, size, shape, earliness, cold or heat resistance, disease resistance, or yield; finding germplasm where she explains about the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System; evaluating germplasm and conducting and evaluating garden trials; genetics and plant parenthood; sex and the single gene; modern genes; hybrids; plant-breeding stories; breeding with established polyploids; fun with wide crosses; happy accidental crosses; domesticating wild plants; and expanding horizons along with many appendices that list plants, vegetables, germplasm collections, seed saver organizations, supplies, and how-to information sources.

This is the best introduction to seed saving and breeding your own vegetable varieties you'll find and invaluable to those interested in creating a unique vegetable variety.

I was looking for a book on seed saving. This book sounded like it had information on that topic, plus the topic of breeding your own plant varieties; a 2 for 1!. I was a little disappointed that there weren't any pictures in the book. I would have liked to have seen some visual examples of hand breeding, different flower types, pictures of plant parents and their offspring, and of course a few concerning seed saving. But the vast amounts of information in this book more than make up for the lack of a few pictures. Overall a good book and a great resource for the home gardener.

I'm a gardener but not a seed saver; I'd like to, but it's a
somewhat confusing and overwelming subject. This book really
explained the issues of cross breeding and pollination, so I
could see why those seed saving instructions are so inconsistent.
And it is very inspiring about why I'd want to save seeds and
improved the variety, and why local seeds are so valuable,
and a number of great ideas on the mechanics both that I can use
(spacing isn't so important when you're testing for flavor) and
not so useful to me (I'll probably not get forceps and remove
the stamens from unopened tomato flowers)

She is a plant genetists applying techiques to her own garden
for her own food, and I really liked how she describes her
though processes as well as what she does and how she does it.

The author does a great job of explaining both the scientific and the practical aspects of breeding your own vegetable varieties. After reading this I felt I had the knowledge I needed to get started. Both motivating and inspiring.

Everything else I've read on desert garneding is junk. George actually lived here. He actually answered the phone at the extension service, etc. I've grown stuff I never would have tried. When something dies unexpectedly, I usually find out what I should have done in this book. Buy it first.

The most practical and helpful garden book I have found for planting in the desert. The calendar for planting and caring for the garden is also very helpful.

This book fooled me at first glance. I browsed the bookstore and purchased several other books on gardening for hot, arid climates and passed on this book. The lack of color and the obviously amateur photographs in this book led me to believe that the text would be amateur too. This assumption was complete in error! After reading the other books I still didn't feel satisfied that I had received the knowledge I was seeking so I took a chance on this book. This book is very detailed and is really the only book I should have purchased. The author is conversational in his writing style which makes it easy to understand and to the point.

If you have tried gardening in Phoenix or other hot places you know that, with our very short growing seasons, the timing and preperation is critical. This book addresses both these issues and more. It tells you exactly how to prepare our basically "crappy" soil and goes week by week on the gardening activities such as planting, fertilizing, pruning, etc... Buy this book and you will soon realize that it is all you need to get started. The only other thing you need is your own practical experience.

I am so glad I found Desert Gardening. I have tried for years to grow vegetables organically here in Decatur, Texas (about eighty miles northwest of Dallas, Texas). Firstly let me tell you that Desert Gardening is not an organic gardening book, but it has helped me anyway--I'll explain more on that later. I began trying to garden here by looking at the "standard gardening advice" in books I found at the local public library and bookstores, asking for help at the local gardening centers, and reading the backs of seed packages for instructions on how to plant them. At the gardening centers, I found that they wanted to load me up with chemicals, and if I didn't want chemicals they would offer me some weird, expensive organic soil amendments but they couldn't tell me the first thing about what they were for or how to use them. They also never seemed to have seeds, seedlings and trees for sale at the time of year I needed them. The books at my public library and bookstores were completely inappropriate for Texas. They had tips on gardening that were supposed to work anywhere in the U.S.--what a laugh that is! There seems to be a consensus among "U.S. gardening experts" that the Southwest doesn't even exist. It was when I tested my soil pH that I found out I couldn't trust these books at all: they all said to add lime to the soil to raise the pH, and my soil already had a pH of 8.5! I realized that if I wasn't careful what kind of soil improvement advice I followed, I could permanently ruin my soil.
Next, I tried looking for books on gardening specifically for Texas. There weren't many of them out there, but I found two. I bought Neil Sperry's "Texas Gardening" and Howard Garrett's "Basic Organic Program". Sperry's "Texas Gardening" is great for selecting the right varieties to plant in Texas--in fact, for Texas it's an even better source for selecting varieties than Desert Gardening is; but it gives inadequate information on all the other aspects of gardening. Howard Garrett is into using expensive organic soil amendments, the few of which I tried didn't work, and his bug-zapping recipies don't seem to work either.
So, for a couple of years I stopped reading gardening books and didn't add anything to my soil at all except compost. I was able to grow squash, green onions, peaches, and banana peppers, but everything else either didn't grow or else it grew but didn't fruit very well.
Then, last year, I got the idea of searching Amazon for a gardening book for Texas. I was surprised when my search pulled up books on desert gardening. I never thought of myself as being in the desert here. We've got grass, scattered clumps of trees, black dirt, temperatures that stay between 90 and 110F in the summertime, occasionally-adequate rainfalls, and a few streams and lakes. Still, when I read the reviews for Desert Gardening it sounded like a great book, so I decided to give it a try.
When I opened up the book I went straight to the section on soil and how to improve it. I was amazed when I saw that they were describing my soil to a T! Alkaline, white caliche rocks, heavy clay or sand, solid layer of caliche which makes it hard for trees to grow. Some of the photos looked exactly like the soil at my house, with grass growing on the surface. I was still leery of adding soil amendments so I decided to test the soil improvement advice in a few small areas first. In those areas, I planted about six kinds of vegetables which had never grown before. The results were great! Everything grew and produced.
I looked through the book more and more and I realized that this is about the best gardening book I've ever seen. Everytime I have a gardening question, I look in the book and the answer is right there. The advice is all just perfect for my area; I think it would work anywhere in Texas. Soil preparation, fertilizing, watering, water conservation, insects and diseases, pest barriers, variety selection, planting times, seasonal changes, frost and heat protection, growing seedlings, care and harvest of vegetables and fruits (many fruits and vegetables have their own chapters), planting and pruning fruit trees and grapevines, and fall and winter gardening are all discussed in great detail. There's also a chapters on hydroponics and container gardening, for places where there's not enough soil to grow anything in. And unlike other sources, it not only tells you what to do but how you're supposed to go about doing it. For instance, Neil Sperry's book tells you you need to keep strawberries alive and growing all summer and winter--but it doesn't say how to do it. Desert Gardening tells you how! What I like best is this book tells you how to do things in the most practical, affordable, and easy way possible--unlike some people/books who want you to spend to the max and knock yourself out with unnecessary work.
The only problem I can see myself having with Desert Gardening is that sometimes the winters here in north Texas are a bit too cold to carry plants through the wintertime like the book recommends. We have an advantage though, in that the summers here are not quite as hot as they are in Arizona (where Desert Gardening was written), so I'm able to use heavy shade from the west and create a longer summer growing season than the what the book says is possible--some plants can even grow all summer. Another thing is that, since I'm trying to grow organically, I've had to manipulate the soil improvement advice. In the book, chemicals are recommended along with compost, manure, and other organic soil amendments as an overall soil-improvement and fertilizing program. What I do is, I take the chemical soil amendment recommendations and convert them to something organic. For instance, if they say to use ammonium phosphate, I look for an organic fertilizer which contains lots of nitrogen and phosphorus. The bug-killing advice in the book is already mostly organic or poison-free.
If you're not sure that where you live would be a good place to use Desert Gardening, ask yourself these questions: 1) Do you live in Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas? 2) Do you live below 3500 feet elevation? 3) Is your soil alkaline? Is it either sand or heavy clay? In some areas, you may not have any soil at all, just rocks. If you have soil, you may hit a solid layer of white, crumbly rocks called caliche rocks when you dig, anywhere from 6" to 5' deep. 4) Do daytime high temperatures usually stay above 95F in the summertime? 5) Do you have frequent droughts? Is soil being saturated by excessive rainfall usually not a problem? If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, then you're in the low desert and Desert Gardening is a good book for you to get.





.

Why does everyone who uses this book live near me?

I bought this book for my father, a very experienced gardener and landscaper who recently moved to the desert. Although he is not a big book reader I see him using this book repeatedly.

The book is easy to follow, gives a number of great tips, and presents ideas that even a seasoned professional like my father hasn't thought of.

Great book, especially for anyone who shops at the Greenmarket at Union Square in NYC. I've taken several classes from Chef Richard, who teaches recreational greenmarket cooking classes at ICE, and they're even better than the book.

There's so many things that I can say about this book, it combines great recipies with a great style of writing to get the reader really interested in his/her cooking. But I don't want to review the book on how good the food is or how great the writing is because that's already been done. I would just like to congratulate my Uncle on a great book even though he put my Aunt and Cousin's full names in the book and only my families last. For anyone who loves food this is a great book and a great gift.

My self and many others think that The Farmers Market cook book by one of the greatest cookbook authors Richard Ruben is a MUST have. Myself and many others also think that this book is one of if not the best cookbook that has come out this year and one of the best cookbooks of all time. If you like Healthy, fun, GREAT food you must go out and buy this AMAZING book.

This cookbook is magnificent! Fun, wittily written, simple to follow, Richard Ruben focuses on enjoying the fresh goodness the earth offers us in each season. It's about tasting and exploring what's in front of us, presented by the growers themselves. Easy-to-follow recipes, ideas, charts, seasonal suggestions....it's great. I'm not much of a cook and I used this book to wow a dinner party with pheasant, curried brussel sprouts, & individual squashes stuffed with fennel, apples, & carrots. It's a valuable, exciting, DELICIOUS standout in a crowded field.

This is a cookbook that people who really love food in it's purest form must have. Richard Ruben translates his enthusiasm for the farmer's (or ethnic) market into simple recipes with sophisticated flavors that sing. His appoarch to food re-affirms that old adage, simple is better. As you read through his personal collection of recipes, you want to make every one. But must do so season by season to get the best results. In this day and age of hundreds of cookbooks, Ruben distinguishes himself quietly and with authority, reminiscent of the early days of Alice Waters when passion for food and the best ingrendients were the only motivators. If I could only have one cookbook and a market, it would certainly be this one. BUY THIS BOOK FOR THE SUMMER and continue to use it through fall and winter...

I predict that this book will become a collectors item for every gardener. It is beautifully written and matched with equal illustrations. I noticed that Jack Staub has recently authored a new book "75 Remarkable Fruits For Your Garden" and I just received it. It is another winner.

I quickly read this book cover to cover and enjoyed it thoroughly. The history of vegetables was interesting and left me wanting more information.

Food lovers and gardeners alike should seek out this delightful book. He tells how 75 of our edible plants came into use, what's special about certain varieties and how to easily prepare them. Staub's genuine love of unusual vegetables and melons shines through in this beautiful little book. The water color illustrations are exacting and lovely. Suspect it is a book that will one day become a collector's favorite.

I love this book and its illustrations by Ellen Sheppard Buchert that could be used for decorative framed pictures throughout your house. Jack Staub's stylish and elegant writing is eminently readable, a real page turner about the evolution and history of vegetables. Recipes included are simply delicious and deliciously simple.

I do not have a green thumb. Over the years of failing to keep even the most hardy houseplants alive, I've figured out why with my husband's help. He is an avid gardener, green thumb extraordinaire. It's not that much of a mystery, really, why his plants thrive and mine dry up and shrink to nothing. It's just that plants and gardens take work, plain and simple. I've just been too lazy because gardening doesn't excite me.

Well, I think I may have found a way to keep myself in the garden! Not long ago I was reading a children's magazine which talked about planting a completely purple garden, and I thought, yeah, that's the ticket! How fun! Well, this book is the grown-up version of that idea. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are gorgeous, and each of the 75 physically beautiful vegetables featured includes a couple pages detailing its interesting history, nutritional content, and growing instructions. What a way to make gardening fun!

This book isn't just for amateurish types like myself looking for external incentives to get out into the garden. My husband, an experienced gardener, learned a few things, too. How do these unique vegetables sound? Artichoke "Violetto de Romagna," Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale, Giant Red Celery, Purple Calabash Tomato, Sunburst Squash, and Zebra Hybrid Eggplant, just to name a few! Definitely a book worth adding to your collection.

This is a really interesting cookbook. Unfortunately our local farmer's market isn't quite as extensive as this one so I have had had a hard time finding all of the ingrediants. In fact I've sometimes found myself having to look up what certain ingrediants actually ARE. That being said, all of the recipes I've actually made out of this cookbook were wonderful, and the pictures are absolutely fantastic.

An inviting, beautifully designed book about the Union Square Greenmarket, New York City's oldest and biggest farmers' market.

The author gives you the inside scoop on what goes on behind the scenes at a farmers' market. I loved the anecdotes about the farmers, chefs and the assorted characters that populate the place (some of which I know as a shopper).

The book is separated by season, and contains detailed charts on the different varieties of produce available, such as tomatoes (varieties include banana legs, green zebra, and purple calabash), peppers, apples, herbs, etc., as well as when and where to find them, and how to prepare them.

There are lots of unusual recipes by local chefs who frequent the market, assorted food writers, etc., which are quite creative.

The author's wife did the photography, which is stunning. You really get a sense of some of the characters of the market and the lushness and bounty of the products available. The book is very nicely designed - it could be a keepsake, coffee-table type book, or a well-thumbed addition to a collection of cookbooks.

As someone who regularly relies on this market, I think the book is a great practical guide to it, as well as providing background on its history and stories on the individual farmers.

A very complete and informative book on when,and what to buy during each of the four seasons, along with some great recipes.
Also some wonderful photography and stories of some of the vendors at the market. I cannot say enough good things about this book. I found it very hard to put down once I started reading it.Forget the Supermarkets and learn about buying FRESH from the growers themselves.Very educational and would highly recommend this book to anyone who cooks, be it on the amateur or professional level.

This is a fun introduction to a little piece of New York's history, the famous Urban Farmers' Market, as well as a handy guide to cooking with produce that is in season. If you use fresh fruits and vegetables in your cooking, you are undoubtedly aware that, while some foods may be available 365 days a year, they are usually most flavorful when they are grown and ripened naturally. Charts help make sense of the many varieties of produce available, and recipes are organized around the calendar, so you may find 'Red & Green Fresh Vegetables with Pasta' for summer, and 'Bread and Cabbage Soup' for winter. Each of four seasonal chapters lists the produce, flowers, dairy and meat available during that season. In general these are basic recipes that can be made by the beginner cook.

My only complaint is that, with all the gorgeous photographs of the people and the market, there are no pictures of the finished dishes, a feature that I appreciate in a cookbook. Otherwise this is a great, and fun, cookbook with good recipes.

At first glance this book is beautifully laid out with sections divided by the seasonal produce that you can obtain at the greenmarket and recipes to go along. Incredibly handy for someone who has been lured by a cookbook's recipes only to find that the ingredients are out of season. Not only do you get the recipes, but also a wonderful history lesson on the greenmarket and mini interviews with the "market people." Straight forward, uncomplicated, with the accent on fresh delicious produce right from the farm. But if you are unable to make it to the market many of the ingredients are also available in your local grocery store. A great addition to any cooks library.

I've had this book since it first came out 20 years ago, and, although there are many good references out there, this is the first book I turn to when I need this kind of information, and it hasn't failed me yet. I've even tried some of the many recipes he includes, and they're good! I really think every home should have a copy of it. In fact, I just bought a copy for my sister for $.01 plus shipping from Amazon Marketplace. I paid a lot more, but I don't regret it. It has definitely been worth it.

Heinerman is a medical anthropologist, and he is one of my favorite author's on the subject of natural remedies.

This book contains hundreds of remedies using fruits, vegetables & herbs. And yes, they do work-not a 100% on everything, but what is?

The only thing that is missing in his book is safety issues.

It really gives fantastic information of heeling and getting rid of the diseases of the millenium thru the herbs and vergetables available at cheap source and giving you a wonderful and happy life.

Heinerman explained the healing powers of over 100 different kinds fruits, vegetables, & herbs. There's too much back-sliding of taking today's medicines. If you want to save your money of seeing doctors. Buy this book now!!

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to save a doctors visit for minor ailments. I have used several of his suggestions and they have worked...every time. It's age old advice even my grandmother agrees with.

This is a very useful book. It is not meant to be read, but to be used as a reference guide. It is just packed with useful growing information. Information can be looked up easily.

I have taught agriculture and worked in agriculture my entire life. This book encapsulates the growing information for crops very well.

Experienced growers would fare well to have this book on your desk of resource material. New growers will be milestones ahead to familiarize yourself with the information in this book.

This book covers every aspect, from starting from seed, soils, greenhouse and field production. Want to know how long it takes a particular crop to mature to harvest? Its here, along with hundreds of other useful tidbits.

Don't expect everything to be written in paragraphs. You have to be able to read and interpret simple charts and graphs.

If you put into practice even one tenth of the information contain in this book you will grow your garden or crops much better. You fare well to buy this book over many of the others with glossy nice to look at pictures. This is a book of facts with an abundance of information.

I recommend this book to anyone growing vegetables for gardening, hydroponic gardeners, or crop production.

Some years ago I used this book to build a very large farming company. I had no experience and little money but in 5 years I was farming 6000 acres of row crop. This book is fantastic. Eventually I had lots of AG engineers on staff, but this was the book that taught me how to monitor them. I recommend it to anyone, from a gardener to a an agribusinessman. It is wonderful and the current edition is great.

Very comprehensive but somewhat esoteric. This handbook is not for casual reading, but yields results for specific research. The more the book is consulted, one has a better understanding of how the information is presented. The handbook contains a wealth of material.

I give it five stars. This book, which contains a variety of information from a wide number of sources, is not a "how-to" book. Its information is mostly in table form, so the book's main use is as a reference. Some chapters, such as the one on water and irrigation, contain information I've never seen anywhere else, except in technical publications. The chapter contains line illustrations and descriptions that are accessible to the layman. The chapter on vegetable pests also contains (black and white) line illustrations of the insects. Rather than try to list all the information this book contains, I list the table of contents:

Preface

Part 1: Vegetables and the Vegetable Industry
Botanical Names of Vegetables
Names of Vegetables in Nine Languages
Vegetable Production Statistics
Consumption of Vegetables
Nutritional Composition of Vegetables
Selection of Vegetable Varieties

Part 2: Plant Growing and Greenhouse Vegetable Production
Transplant Production
Plant Growing Containers
Seeds and Seeding
Temperature and Time Requirements
Plant Growing Mixes
Soil Sterilization
Fertilizing Transplants
Plant Growing Problems
Hardening Transplants

Crop Production
Cultural Management
Carbon Dioxide Enrichment
Soilless Culture
Nutrient Solutions
Tissue Composition

Part 3: Field Planting
Temperatures for Vegetables
Scheduling Successive Plantings
Time Required for Seedling Emergence
Seed Requirements
Planting Rates for Large Seeds
Spacing of Vegetables
Precision Seeding
Seed Priming
Vegetative Propagation
Polyethylene Mulches
Row Covers
Windbreaks

Part 4: Soils and Fertilizers
Organic Matter
Soil-Improving Crops
Manures
Soil Texture
Soil Reaction
Salinity
Fertilizers
Fertilizer Conversion Factors
Nutrient Deficiencies
Micronutrients
Fertilizer Distributors

Part 5: Water and Irrigation
Water and Irrigation
Rooting of Vegetables
Soil Moisture
Surface Irrigation
Overhead irrigation
Drip or Trickle Irrigation
Water Quality

Part 6: Vegetable Pests and Problems
Air Pollution
Integrated Pest Management
Pesticide-Use Precautions
Equipment and Application
Nematodes
Diseases
Insects
Wildlife Control
Herbicides
Equipment and Application
Weed-Control Practices
Effectiveness and Longevity of Herbicides

Part 8: Harvesting and Storage
Predicting Harvest Dates and Yields
Cooling Vegetables
Storage Conditions
Chilling and Ethylene Injury
Vegetable Quality
U.S. Standards for Vegetables
Storage Sprout Inhibitors
Containers for Vegetables
Vegetable Marketing

Part 9: Seed Production and Storage
Seed Labels
Seed Germination Tests
Seed Purity and Germination Standards
Seed Production
Seed Yields
Seed Storage

Part 10: Appendix
Sources of Vegetable Information
Sources of Vegetable Seeds
Periodicals for Vegetable Growers
U.S. Units of Measurement
Conversion Factors for U.S. Units
Metric Units of Measurement
Conversion Factors for U.S. and Metric Units
Conversions for Rates of Application
Water and Soil Solution Conversion Factors
Heat and Energy Equivalents and Definitions

Index

First published in 1956, this handbook is an indispensable, up-to-date companion both in the field and in the marketplace. Topics include the vegetable industry, greenhouse vegetable production, soils and fertilizers, water, pests, weed control, harvesting, storage, and seed production. Packed with quick-access graphs, tables, charts, and line drawings, the 4th edition offers new information on drip irrigation, seed germination, plant tissue and sap testing, windbreaks, and weed management. It also gives advice on allowable pesticide and herbicide use and on the latest worker protection standards. The appendix contains sources of vegetable information, providers of vegetable seeds, periodicals for vegetable growers, and U.S. units of measurement and the metric conversion factors. A change from the spiral-bound 3rd edition is a sturdy, flexible cover to help hold pages flat.

This cookbook and its first one EASY BEANS are the 2 best cookbooks that I have ever used!!

Who knew beans were so versatile? This lively cookbook also provides a wealth of information on bean nutrition, varieties, preparation and availability. I consult it for exciting potluck appetizer recipes like creamy frijole dip and black bean tarts, exotic salads like white bean crab salad and adzuki fruit salad as well as everyday main courses such as chili (for which there are five variations) and wraps.

The recipes are usually quick, the directions are straightforward and the results are tasty and nutritious. This would be a great gift for the health conscious and vegetarians on your gift list!

I have never been a bean lover but am a vegetarian. So when I discovered More Easy Beans and found so many great recipes, especially for appetizers, I was hooked. I truly believe this is the best bean book I have ever used. Some recipes call for meat, but of course, everyone has a friend who likes red meat. What I really found helpful was the recipes all use a can of beans or allow you to make the beans from scratch. All the recipes I have tried are right on with the cooking times. Other books I have used produce bean mush at the end. I highly recommend More Easy Beans.

I loved this book, I am on the weight watchers core plan and the recipes in this book are so easy to manipulate to fit into my diet as free food. I never go hungry and the recipes are so awesome. I recommend this book to everyone who loves beans and looking for a little variety on how to cook them. FANTASTIC! LOVE IT!

This is probably my favorite cookbook so far. The recipes are tasty, healthy and not too complicated. I already loved black beans and was happy to see many recipes which included them. The Lentil Mung Bean Soup has become a favorite at my house.
Definitly worth adding to your library!

I received this book as a gift several years ago and I look at it for information and ideas every year. I have two other kitchen garden books but this one is the best. It is a gorgeous book full color with fantastic photos and ideas for every kind of space including tiny city balconies (perhaps the previous reviewer missed this chapter). Most importantly I have created some fantastic vegetable gardens using some of the ideas in this book over the years. My neighbors come over and take pictures.

I ordered this book from the library and after reading it, felt this was one I simply had to buy. Out of the seven "kitchen garden" books I've read or browsed recently, this one not only inspires with photos and drawings, but also provides extensive information on the variety of vegetables available today by seed and how to grow and harvest them. Then it goes one step further and provides suggestions on how to prepare them. As a seasoned flower gardener just now dipping my toes into the world of vegetable gardening, I found this particular book does the best job of guiding the new kitchen gardener from start (planning the garden) to finish (eating your results).

Anna Pavord is a celebrated Great Britain gardening author and editor. I share her philosophy that order coupled with profusion, is the hallmark of the best kitchen gardens. She believes that there is no reason for vegetables and fruits to provide any less drama in the garden than flowers.

This book offers advice on basic cultivation techniques, including sowing and thinning, crop rotation, and growing in greenhouses. The book presents more than 450 attractive color photographs, along with very well illustrated planting designs from a sophisticated potager to a rustic mixed hedge.

Colorists will find the excellent photographs are a font of inspiration, and will take note of her adroit ability to control shape, form, color, and textures to produce stunningly decorative kitchen gardens. One example is a large formal herb garden in Kinoith, Ireland. Massive buttresses of purple-leaved sage prop up a showy cardoon, and mounds of nasturtiums cavort at the feet of a monumental stand of lovage.

She displays designs that are not only decorative, but are indispensable to the avid cook. This was a discount table find for which I am greatly pleased to own and recommend to others as a valuable source of inspiration. It is a most delightful book.

The pictures and information in this book are gorgeous & informative. The only issue I had was that though vegetable gardens are meant to be useful & practical, in many instances the attractive aspects of her gardens neccessitated the plants going to seed, therefore becoming inedible. The gardens were also often quite larger than the average person might want to manage; but I enjoyed dreaming about having the energy & space to implement her designs.

This is my favorite gardening book. I put in a vegetable garden this year and THIS book was the basis of my handiwork. Beauty and bountiful harvests are the result of hard work. This book was an inspiration for me.

I gave this to my brother who is a chef as a gift and he absolutely loves it. It has a ton of interesting facts including recipes for the foods.

PRO

- Extensive coverage of fruit, vegetable and herbs.
The book says it covers 100 fruits, 70 vegetables and 100 herbs.
Each subject has Cultivation, Companion planting, and Culinary sections. If it's a herb, it also has Medicinal section.

One day I bought a bag of Macadamias nuts from my local grocery store. The label said they were grown in Australia, Hawaii and Africa. I wanted to know more about them. I opened this book to page 555 and voila! I found all the interesting information about them. There were 3 beautiful photos of the nuts, the tree and the dish made from the nuts. It's informative and mouth watering.

- Very well illustrated.
Each fruit, tree, or vegetable has at least 3 pictures. They're beautiful. The Culianry section always has a picture of the dish made with the fruit, herb or vegetable. It's so colorful and lively that it makes me hungry!

- It's hard covered. So, it will last a long time.

CONS

- It uses the term "Long", "Short", "Medium" to describe the life span of the trees without giving a range in years. This is frustrating because I am not sure approximate how long they live. But I can easily find this information from somewhere else. No book is perfect.

In short, it's definitely worth buying. I use it almost daily for cooking recipes and for general information. Together with Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/, it makes a complete reference. You can find any information on these subject with these 2 resources.

I didn't really know what shape I expected, even though the description said good condition. 3 days later! Yes, literally 3 days later I got it in the mail and the condition was PERFECT! I was so happy!

This book is wonderful! Every section gives you a in-depth overview of the vegetable, herb or fruit; detailing different varieties and how they rank in terms of taste and/or hardiness, how to propagate, grow, maintain, harvest and store. Plus gives tips of typical pests/diseases and how to avoid them. Very helpful are the "companion planting" paragraphs, explaining which plants do best next to each other. And to top it all off, each section includes a "culinary" and "medicinal" section, informing you of the best ways to use your crops once harvested. The pictures are beautiful and the wording is easy to understand and to the point. This is a great book for any gardener's reference shelf. Fun to read cover-to-cover, but set up so that you can dip in and out as you choose.

This book has the most readable practicle information on every vegetable, herb or fruit I would ever grow plus many others. It covers some history of origin, varieties, cultivation, propagation, container and garden growing, harvesting & storage as well as uses both medicinal and culinary and also some recipies. I have not come across a more extensive book. My son & daughter both in their early 20's and just starting vege gardening use this as their bible. Well worth owning.