Customer Reviews

75 Exciting Vegetables for Your Garden

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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 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.

I have watched Jack's gardens for over the decades and he is a master. I am so happy to have this book to follow an expert.

Jack Staub features the 75 exciting vegetables based on aesthetic and practicality, vegetables both beautiful to look at and good to eat. The author introduces his text as having a model for the approach: Lytton Strachy's _Eminent Victorians_. I actually bought this book for the watercolors and history, but as it turns out, I would like to eat these as much as look at them. There's instruction for how to grow them in your garden. I find it's rare to see a resource book that uses paintings instead of photographs, and this makes for a real treat for one of your senses not tastebud-related.

The watercolor paintings by Ellen Sheppard Buchert are beautiful and reminiscent of an old book from the early nineteenth century. The colors are true to nature and detailed. The hardcover book itself is for collectors of any treasure or for those appreciative of the unique approach. To give an example so you see how the words also pack a poetic punch, here is from page 182 on the Royal Oakleaf Lettuce:
"The tales of lettuce's soporific qualities are as legendary as they are far-flung. We know, for instance, that the ancient Greeks served lettuce soup at the end of the meal in order to better guide their guests along the path to dreamland." The author keeps going and concludes with the recommendation for this lettuce: a Salad Nicoise. "Scatter portions of freshly seared tuna, steamed haricots verts and tiny potatoes, a handful of Nicoise olives, and a few anchovies over the top, then dress nicely with a tangy vinaigrette."

Be warned: much of his history and etymology is absolute garbage, either his own casual guesswork or gleaned uncritically and superficially from other uncritical gleaners, ad infinitum--there are so many howlers that I wouldn't trust anything he writes in that area.

If you enjoy reading about that sort of thing, as I do, read Waverly Root (especially his encyclopedic _Food_) and Raymond Sokolov, among others, to see how it's done right.

His writing makes good reading in many passages, but often enough goes beyond a sometimes tedious gushing mannerism into misspelling and simple illiteracy--he does not know the meaning of some of the words he uses, and apparently can't be troubled to use a dictionary.

I read the book through, but it was a relief to be done with it. He should drop his scholarly and literary pretensions, and stick to the equally important fields of gardening and cooking, where he has a great deal to offer.

On the horticultural and culinary side, as far as I am any judge, the book deserves its praise. It's a fresh look at the resources available to gardeners. His attention to the aesthetics of the plant in the garden is stimulating, and as far as I can tell does not come at any cost to the culinary quality of the vegetables.

As for the design of the book--an area in which I can claim professional knowledge--I'd tend to gush a bit myself in its praise. It's a pleasure to look at--not just the fine paintings, but every aspect of the book.

Jack Staub's series of books on vegetables, herbs, and fruits, are lovely books. The botanical drawings, the witty text and the 19th-century style cover make them charming additions to your collection of gardening books.

This book is filled with interesting tidbits of information about these vegetables in history. It also has excellent illustrations. Good companion to books on herbs and fruits by the same author. Great book to put on your kitchen shelf and share with others from time to time. Your kids may be interested in knowing some of this information, too.