The book is laid out in a logical format with an introduction covering garden siting, some basic culture information, how to (and why to) grow herbs, and some region specific info. There's a sidebar with links to hardiness maps for the USA, Canada, and Europe.
The introduction is followed by chapters on growing, harvesting/preserving, and using herbs. There are some useful recipes included for infusions (syrups and vinegars), pestos, and herb butters. These are very basic suggestions and don't require any specialized equipment.
The bulk of the content is taken up by an herbal which includes 40 culinary herb entries. Each listing provides photographs, botanical names, culture and propagation information, and other uses.
This is a capably written, well photographed book which includes a standard grouping of the most common herbs. The descriptions and culture information are not overwhelmingly detailed, but in some cases, a word of warning to the inexperienced gardener could have been added. There isn't, for example, any mention of planning for containment when planting mint, which can be quite thuggish and invasive. The authors have, however, done a fair job of including some interesting varieties of several families (mint, thyme, parsley, etc etc).
This is a good basic book for the beginning gardener looking for some advice on planning and executing an herb garden to enhance their cooking or for pure sensory pleasure.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment