John Yeoman's books

[alan refail]

I have been looking through some of my old HDRA magazines (2004) and came across adverts which I smiled at when I first saw them, but which now I really wish I'd seen (not bought).

Does anyone own or has anyone seen either of these?



Larger versionHERE




Larger version HERE

[Primrose]

Sounds like that book which tells you how to do 1000 different things with vinegar. Wonder how much money he made trying to persuade people they could grow vegetables by being lazy or not getting back-ache.

I'd certainly be intrigued to know how you make a delicious meal from baking grass. (perhaps it was aimed at cows?). If the economy gets much worse we'll all be out there cutting the meadows and producing our own manure in the process.

[alan refail]

Primrose

I've been trying hard to imagine some of the lost secrets, starting at the beginning. How do you "Foil slugs and snails using old laundry"
Ideas anyone

[Primrose]

Well, my grubby old trainers might put them off! Failing that, some very stinky ripe Gorgonzola perhaps?

[alan refail]

Well, it doesn't look as though anyone has ever seen these books, so I'll just have to carry on imagining

I'm putting my mind to what might have been included in:

69 proven tips to enjoy big harvests despite bad, weed-infested, diseased or hard-panned soil (even if you have no garden!)

[richard p]

i have a vague idea that someone gave me a copy of the first one years ago, ive had a scout round the book shelves but cant see it, but ive a feeling it was mainly about cutting the bottoms off plastic milk containers and using them as plant pots screwed to any convienient wall.... mind you i could be totally wrong ..

[John Yeoman]

Hi folks. I'm John Yeoman. I've just stumbled on this thread by chance. I'm delighted to see so many people have read my books - even though some folk are wondering if the books exist.

Verily, they do! Or did. To answer some questions posed in the thread, I closed my little publishing busiess in 2006, being weary of packing up books all day. I went off to get a PhD. As one does.

Yea, you may now call me 'doctor'! (Though I'm useless with veruccas.)

Finding a PhD rather pointless at age 63, I re-launched the Gardening Guild this year as a web forum. It has some 16,000 threads already (though some, I confess, were transferred across from the old GG site). Please take a look at http://www.gardeningguild.org

(Uh, please, nice forum moderator, may I cite that web address? I'd hate to be toaded off upon the very day I arrive. To be toaded is even nastier than being mollusced.)

The books referred to in the thread are now out of print, all but a few of the Lazy Vegetable Grower, whereof I have a small stock. Last time I looked, Abebooks was listing The Lazy Kitchen Gardener in Bombay for £60.

Thanks for your patience. I hope to be making a lot of contributions here. And I promise never to be (too) self-promotional

[alan refail]

Hi Doctor John and a warm welcome to the forum

I for one look forward to your contributions.

Alan

[John Yeoman]

Thanks, Alan. So do I!

[oldherbaceous]

Evening John, a very warm welcome from me too.

May i just ask, do you grow many vegetables?

[John Yeoman]

Hi, oldherbaceous! Thanks for your question.

Time was, I grew 660 heirloom tomato plants in a 1/4 acre paddock, representing some 40+ rare varieties. The next year, I grew as many different varieties of heirloom beans in the same place, around 700 plants, strung on trellises.

It took a truck load of canes and nearly a mile of degradeable jute thread.

Why did I do it? To save the seeds to share with the members of my seed-share club, then called the Village Guild, now termed the Gardening Guild.

Alas, what goes in, has to come out. Each year, autumn was purgatory. (Have you ever tried fermenting tomato pulp from some 40+ different tomato varieties to produce disease-free seed? All in cut-down cola bottles? Or hanging bean vines all around your house to dry them for seed? One's wife collides with them at midnight, I find. And she screams pitifully...)

I resolved never to do it again.

Now I content myself with growing a few choice varieties in YeoPods around the patio. Just for their seed. (Ho, what is a YeoPod, I hear you ask? If you're interested, I'll tell you.)

So yes, I still grow a few rare tomatoes and vegetables. Do we eat them? Ask my wife. (She prefers to buy vegetables at Tesco. The vegetables are 'cleaner' there, she says )

[oldherbaceous]

Oh go on then John, what is a YeoPod?

Very interesting about the seed saving venture.

[John Yeoman]

Ah, well, as it's you...

I've just put up a web page, just for you, that reveals the ineffable beauty of YeoPods, and how to make them:

http://www.gardeningguild.org/m-yeopod-basics2.php

Funnily enough, the darned things work...

[oldherbaceous]

Thanks for posting the reply and link, John.

[alan refail]

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