Customer Reviews

Culinary Gardens: From Design to Palate

5 star:		(0)
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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a great idea, but lacks the particulars needed to actually do the gardens it outlines. Specific dimensions are missing in the individual designs. The knot garden for example gives an overall dimension ... but you just sort of have to guess how big the circles and paths are and how large the corner beds are.

There's no real indication how many plants to use, so developing a shopping list and thus a cost estimate is a nothing but a guess.

Plant locations on the design are indicated by varying shades of often similar colors. One design for example has 7 shades of greens. It's impossible to tell which green is which plant in the design.

The majority of the book is devoted to descriptions of the various plants and rambling history or other material on the different garden types. There are few tips on how to actually construct the design. Like how do you lay out a perfect circle of plants? When should you do the shaping and pruning, the harvesting, and when should the plants go in the ground for the best look of the particular garden? Most of the plant descriptions do not include light requirements or other such practical considerations. In short, a good idea, very poorly executed. Advanced and intermediate gardeners won't really need a book like this, and beginners will just be frustrated.

The best part of the book are the recipes, which salvages an otherwise mediocre book, and earns it three stars instead of one.