New Kitchen Garden (DK Living) [Paperback]

Anna Pavord (Author)

Book Description

Series: DK Living | Publication Date: June 1, 1999

The New Kitchen Garden -- a fully illustrated guide to creating fruit and vegetable gardens that are both decorative and productive.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"To Vanessa," runs the dedication to Anna Pavord's yardstick manual of creative kitchen gardening, "who planted a weed garden." None of your boring rows of antediluvian cabbages here, then: Pavord's vision of a "new kitchen garden" is a flexible contemporary version of that long-vanished institution, the potager, a garden where special vegetables were grown with flowering plants in arrangements that were both productive and pleasing to the eye. Pavord's contemporary spins on the theme include an alcoholic hedge and a city larder, but traditional designs get a look-in, too; even the oh-so-precious formal herb garden receives a much-needed fillip of imagination and color.

Pavord traces the historical accidents that set vegetables off from flowering plants, to the detriment of both, in an introduction full of the "buttery bonus" of artichokes and the "elegiac performance of a mature pear." Past the verbiage lie row upon row of well-tended plant lists; instructions on planting, growing, harvesting, and storing; recommended cultivars; and homely recipes to feed that Laura Ashley moment. DK Living's surgical house layout has set many a set of teeth on edge in the past, but there's no denying its clarity and usefulness in a book so rich in information and advice.

For Pavord, growing food is our last and best connection to the earth. Evoking the paradisal gardens of a time when growing food meant survival, Pavord assures the reader that "there is no reason why you too should not be in that same state of delicious fluctuation." And you can't say anything fairer than that. --Simon Ings, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Pavord writes on gardening from England's milder shores, but from the expert counsel she provides here on the popular topic of kitchen gardens to a final suppliers' list, this work is clearly aimed at U.S. gardeners. Overall, the focus is on how to plan and care for a garden that will delight the eyes and perhaps eventually fortify the larder with rations of delectable produce. Pavord offers plenty of ideas for combining herbs, flowers, fruiting trees and bushes, and appealing varieties of annual and perennial flowers. The colorfully illustrated designs include traditional, formal styles along with more accessible, basic mixed plantings. Pavord's inspirational sourcebook is also a handsome bet for dreamy imaginings by gardeners with limited resources and little space. Alice Joyce --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT; 1st Pbk. Ed edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789441195
• ISBN-13: 978-0789441195
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #900,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful ideas for designing vegetable gardens, January 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Kitchen Garden (Hardcover)

The pictures and information in this book are gorgeous & informative. The only issue I had was that though vegetable gardens are meant to be useful & practical, in many instances the attractive aspects of her gardens neccessitated the plants going to seed, therefore becoming inedible. The gardens were also often quite larger than the average person might want to manage; but I enjoyed dreaming about having the energy & space to implement her designs.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book, June 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: New Kitchen Garden (DK Living) (Paperback)

This is my favorite gardening book. I put in a vegetable garden this year and THIS book was the basis of my handiwork. Beauty and bountiful harvests are the result of hard work. This book was an inspiration for me.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical information abounds, July 4, 2007

By 

Constance Rae "Connie" (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Kitchen Garden (Hardcover)

I ordered this book from the library and after reading it, felt this was one I simply had to buy. Out of the seven "kitchen garden" books I've read or browsed recently, this one not only inspires with photos and drawings, but also provides extensive information on the variety of vegetables available today by seed and how to grow and harvest them. Then it goes one step further and provides suggestions on how to prepare them. As a seasoned flower gardener just now dipping my toes into the world of vegetable gardening, I found this particular book does the best job of guiding the new kitchen gardener from start (planning the garden) to finish (eating your results).