The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Vegetables: The Art and Science to Grow Your Own Vegetables

The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Vegetables is a new volume in the series of plant/culture books from Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. Due out 3rd March 2020 by Quarto on their White Lion imprint, it's 144 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

Whenever gardeners think about inspiration and knowledge on a worldwide scale, the Kew gardens are at the very top of a very short list. They've been going strong for almost 260 years at this point. This book includes an herbal compendium for the culture and care info of the most commonly cultivated vegetables arranged around projects to grow and maintain them in good condition. The projects are varied, practical, and do-able(raised beds, perennial beds, wildlife friendly plantings, windowsill plantings (fresh greens in winter and early spring are the best thing I know), trellis and supports for vining and sprawling plants and more).

The graphic layout is appealing (see cover) and contains many charming retro botanical print inspired artworks. The photographs are clear, lush, plentiful, and really well done. Leafing through the book in midwinter is guaranteed to get any gardener's fingers itching to dig in the dirt. It's bursting with colorful plants in rude good health in beautiful display. Individual plant profiles also include information about lesser known cultivars along with good tips for culture, harvest, and use. There's quite a lot of good information here for gardeners from beginner to expert. Tips and tricks are highlighted in sidebars or bubble graphics throughout the text and include small projects like forcing rhubarb, extending harvest seasons, succeeding starting from seed, and more. Small historical tidbits on the plants and uses throughout time are included in the profiles for individual vegetables.

This would be a nice addition to the gardener's repertoire. Worth noting for readers in North America that most of the culture advice in this series is slanted toward growing conditions in the UK. It will translate perfectly well to the areas of the rest of the world which have similar conditions but adjustments might need to be made for readers outside those areas.

Four stars. I especially liked the inclusion of more unusual vegetable varieties which deserve more popularity, like celeriac, groundnuts, artichokes, sweet potatoes, jerusalem artichokes, and more.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes