Beautiful, Inspiring Book
By Alys Fowler
Viva Editions, $19.95, 255 pages
Alys Fowler has written a beautiful book focused on planning, creating and preserving an edible garden. She proposes not an exclusively edible garden, but instead to mix your traditional garden with items that can be consumed also. The book is littered with line drawings and gorgeous close-up photography.
The Edible Gardenis divided into three parts: Things to Know, Things to Grow and Reaping Your Harvest. In the section “Things to Know” Fowler shares insight on the basics to enhance growth and abundance in your garden plot. I love how she promoted mixing edibles with trees and flowers. She gives hints on maximizing your space and setting realistic expectations on what you can harvest – aka it’s harder than you think to be self-sufficient with just what you grow! A recipe for homemade compost is included and directions for liquid feeds.
“Nature moves, gardens evolve, everything changes.”
The “Things to Grow” section is robust with information on growing for color, contrast, size and of course, eating! There is such a wealth of information in this section; this reviewer read the section twice. In the “Harvesting” segment, Fowler offers many recipes for canning, pickling, drying, freezing and cooking your harvest. There is even a tea section. The book closes with resources.
The beauty of this book is that it offers the readers so many options and insights to create an edible garden. This reviewer began the thought of creating an edible garden in a very narrow way, but now realizes the possibilities are endless. The book has several easy-to-read charts that break down the important information and colorful photos to inspire the reader.
Reviewed by Seniye Groff
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