Favourite new gardening books

[alan refail]

Rather than revive this old topic, which is still well worth a browse if you are looking for books which people have found most useful, I thought it might be worth putting together a list of recently published books, which we have found particularly useful/informative/inspirational.

To kick off – I recently found in our local library

Charles Dowding, Salad Leaves for All Seasons, Green Books, 2008.

At first I hesitated about getting it out as I thought I knew all I needed to about salad growing since being converted by Joy Larckom back in 1984. (Joy Larckom, The Salad Garden, Frances Lincoln, 1984 (since reprinted as The Organic Salad Garden). But I did give it a go, and was inspired all over again. Every type of salad leaf you could wish for, from the obvious to the little known; everywhere you might want to grow, indoor, outdoor, containers, bed etc. Even if you don’t want to take on board the author’s organic ethos and practices and ideas on lunar planting, it looks a good read for anyone aiming to grow salads all year round

Since reading Joy Larckom I have never had a day without some salad to pick – now I’ll just have a bigger selection .