The Cook's Garden [Hardcover]

Shepherd and Ellen Ogden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1993

Illustrates the rewards of growing vegetables, salad greens, and herbs at home, offers advice on ordering plants by mail, planting, and choosing the best time for harvesting the vegetables, and contains recipes using the finished products.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Even gardening is buffeted by the winds of fashion, and this compact guide to growing and cooking vegetable varieties in demand today successfully harnesses the current breezes. For example, the Ogdens discuss types of slender filet beans, weeds and lettuces suitable for mesclun salads. Also attentive to garden mainstays, they single out the tastiest kinds of carrots, corn and cabbage. Their goal throughout is superior flavor, which varies with the fate--fresh, cooked or stored--of the vegetable. Pursuing that end, the Ogdens provide instruction in how to germinate seeds and raise and harvest crops, solving the mysteries of floating row covers, many-celled seed germinating trays and other up-to-date methods. Intensively written--the yield per page of practical information is high--the book includes charts comparing varieties of each crop and dozens of inventive and uncomplicated recipes. Information is geared to gardening in New England, where the authors operate a mail-order seed company. Illustrations not seen by PW. Organic Gardening Book Club main selection.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Basic gardening techniques for those who want to obtain fresh, flavorful produce quite unlike the varieties grown by commercial farms. The Ogdens discuss the major vegetables and herbs, using an alphabetical arrangement. They explain how to grow and harvest each type and give suggestions on the best-tasting varieties. They include over 50 recipes for soups, salads, appetizers, and main dishes, and also provide a useful varietal comparison chart that gives sources for seeds and offers comments on the different recommended varieties.
- Peter C. Leonard, Mt. Lebanon. P.L., Pa.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Outlet; First Printing edition (March 1993)
• ISBN-10: 0878577610
• ISBN-13: 978-0878577613
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,599,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You deserve the best!, February 22, 2001

By 

Dolores Bauer (Cincinnati, OH, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cook's Garden (Hardcover)

The Cook's Garden tells how to grow and use the best-tasting vegetables and herbs. It covers history, best growing methods, timetables for planting, growing and harvesting, how a vegetable should look when picked, and best varieties to plant for over 22 kinds of vegetables. Included are beans, beets, broccoli, cabbages and carrots, corn and cucumbers, leeks, lettuces, melons, onions, peas and peppers, potatoes and tomatoes, squash and various root crops. There is a special section on herbs. What kind of fertilizers? What to do about pests? All are answered in the 214 pages of this easy to read book. Wonderful recipes for your wonderful harvest are included! Thirty-five sellers of seeds are listed.

Even though the publication date is 1993, there are only a few recommendations for new vegetables each year, and many of the best are the tried-and-true from generations ago. so the information is indeed timely.

If you want to grow not just tomatoes, but the best-tasting ones, and different varieties for different uses, and get the most enjoyment for your efforts, this is the book for you!