Edible Herb Garden

by Rosalind Creasy

Book Overview

With Edible Herb Garden, you can reap the joys and benefits of growing herbs at home Edible Herb Garden is an all-inclusive guide to herb gardening, with several delicious herb recipes included. It... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9625932917
• ISBN13: 9789625932910
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Periplus Editions
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.6" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Great pick for the edible gardener

I'm a master gardener, and I volunteer for the Speakers' Bureau of my local Master Gardeners' Association. Lately we've been getting more requests for talks on edible gardening. Herb gardening is a logical first step in that direction, because herbs are the least demanding of the edible crops and because most herbs are attractive enough to integrate into an existing ornamental garden. In researching a recent talk on herb gardening, I came across Creasy's book at the library. It's engagingly written and quite complete. It includes clear, step-by-step instructions for planning and installing an herb garden; an encyclopedia of herbs with a photo and cultural information for each one; a collection of delicious recipes, from simple to sophisticated; and lists of additional resources. I ended up taking the book with me to my talk and recommending it to the audience. I also bought a gift copy for one of my daughters to use in planning her new patio garden. And as I write this, I'm thinking I really must buy another copy for myself!

The pefect herb gardening book.

My husband and I bought this book in the winter in preparation for our Spring/Summer garden. In this book we have found detailed descriptions of many herbs, including their common usages and most productive pairings. We were able to accurately use this book to map out and plan ahead for our spring garden and have begun the indoor sproutlings. The book also has a few recipes in back that look pretty easy and straightforward and sound great.

For The Person Who Wants to Cook with Herbs

There are many books available to spend time on all the varying uses for herbs (gardens, medicine, etc.) and nothing wrong with that. But for those of us who are into herbs for the sole purpose of the culinary zest they so wonderfully provide, this is significant resource in a small, well done fashion. Color photos, herb by herb info, as well as recipes and aids with sources, insect and disease problems, this is valuable aid to us herb growers for the table. From planning to preparing to planting to cultivating to problem cures to harvesting to recipe utilization, this is solid 105 pages of herb wisdom.

Lots of pretty photos......

What's not to like about Rosalind Creasy's garden books? Creasy is an advocate of eating your garden. For years, I went back and forth - Do I grow flowers? Do I grow vegetables? Creasy says you can grow both and she shows you how. Her books are not filled with pages and pages of tedious text on preparing soil, planting, watering weeding harvesting. Instead, she includes several photos of her hired hands doing all that tiresome stuff while she takes pages of photos of plants (a small "encyclopedia") and receipes (a small cook book). I was inspired by Creasy to try peppers in pots this past summer, and the Goddess must have smiled because all the plants behaved well and furnished a bumper crop of hot peppers for my pepper-loving Senegal parrot. So, for the first time ever - inspired by Creasy - I tried lavender in a clay pot and it worked well. Usually, my lavender plants mold from underneath because although the summers in the Washington DC area are usually hot, they are not dry like those in Provence where lavender excells. Clay pots are a good idea because the lavender plant sits above the ground away from the damp and any moisture falling from a watering can or the sky wicks away quickly. I have grown other herbs in pots - parsley, scented geraniums, basil, but never tried lavender until this year. I also grew several kinds of mint plants in both clay pots and the kind with a water well underneath, which is the only way to grow them as they are so invasive. I love Creasy's EDIBLE HERB GARDEN because in my estimation a picture is worth a thousand words, and as an experienced gardener, I don't need a lot of instruction. Creasy includes plenty of pictures that are useful to me because they give me design ideas. I can look at a garden photo, recognize plants and judge how much work is involved in realizing the scene depicted. Creasy doesn't really advise you concerning the amount of work involved to maintain a scene. She also grown herbs in a California climate. I've used other sources to help me learn how to grow herbs (Rodale in particular), and I've used Creasy's book to discover new and beautiful ideas for displaying culinary herbs in the perennial garden, as bedding plants or in pots. Creasy offers nifty vinegar, oil, and tea recipes using culinary herbs as well as items such as barbecued veggies on Rosemary skewers. Collect her series, but be warned, you will need a good "how to" book or your own personal gardener to achieve her results.

The Edible Herb Garden

As a beginner to herb gardening, this book is exactly what I needed to get me started, and motivated! It is a valuable reference book as it provides the essentials to a successful garden in a format that is consistent and easy to read. It includes a complete encyclopedia of culinary herbs with beautifully detailed photos that are good enough to eat! The photos make it easy for the beginner to learn the names of herbs and to easily identify all varieties. This book also contains sections on Planting and Maintenance, and Pest and Disease Control. It's an all-in-one tool. I highly recommend the entire Edible Garden series.