Overview

This book is for vegetable gardeners and nature-lovers everywhere. It is a 'grow your own' manual, a recipe book, and a store of fascinating observations about natural history in the garden. The author writes a deeply personal account of the changing year based on his first-hand experience and a real affection for his subjects and locality. Journeying week-by-week through the vegetable and fruit growing calendar, this mix of practical advice, humour and information on and around the plot satisfies armchair gardeners and full-on nature enthusiasts alike. Thought provoking, inspiring - occasionally challenging - this is a book that can be taken to bed as an end-of-day muse; or get dogeared and dirty as an essential aid to cultivating and cooking home-grown food. Contents: Part 1:Gardening With Dirty Nails; February; Week 1: Frogs & bonfires; Cats; On disturbing a Queen wasp; Week 2: Pond Action; Cabbages for mid-summer; Week 3: Sowing strawberries; Tending broads; Week 4: Boosting winter purslane; In praise of Sycamores; March; Week 1: Preparing for potatoes; Preparing for kale; Week 2: Carrots; Spring onions; Week 3: First early potatoes; Peppers & tomatoes; Week 4: Spring cleaning; Second Early Spuds; Week 5: Tending globe artichokes; Planting figs; April; Week 1: Cabbages; Week 2: Maincrop potatoes; Ridge cucumbers; Week 3: Tending... Strawberries; Kale; Carrots; Cucumbers; Week 4: Watching & listening; May; Week 1: Earthing-up spuds; Greenhouse slug patrol; Week 2: Planting out kale; Looking after water-boatmen; Week 3: Succession sowing; Bird-watching; Week 4: Cucumbers; Beans; Feast & Fast; Apples; June; Week 1: Sunshine & showers; Weeds & tomatoes; Week 2: Cylindra beetroot; Week 3: Downy mildew; A much needed present; Week 4: Red cabbage; July; Week 1: Harvesting shallots; Potato Blight; Week 2: Harvesting garlic; Developing froglets; Working with nature; Week 3: Tending carrots; Pruning Morello cherry; Week 4: Salsify; Week 5: Tomatoes; Butterflies; Potatoes; August; Week 1: Path Clearing; Lifting & splitting globe artichokes; Week 2: Wildlife-friendly strimming; Redcurrant cordial-cum-presse; Week 3: China rose radishes; Cabbage whites; Week 4: The passing of summer; Harvesting potatoes; Week 5: Caterpillar plague; Potato scab; Bitter cucumbers; September; Week 1: Cornelian cherry jam; Week 2: Quality time in the garden; Week 3: Kale; Toads; Edible gifts; Week 4: Gathering leaves; Watching butterlies; October; Week 1: Bindweed & horsetail; Week 2: Planting spring bulbs; Week 3: Strawberries; Alpine strawberries; Week 4: Hoeing; Kestrels on the verge of winter; November; Week 1: Tending figs; Butterfly boxes; Week 2: Planting elephant garlic; Tending ice plant; Week 3: Pruning apple trees; Plannin

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9781905862221

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Reviews

'Much more than a vegetable gardeners book, it is a grow your own manual for nature lovers, food enthusiasts and anyone who loves to work with the elements.' www.ecohomeandgarden.co.uk 'Brimming with an infectious passion for the outdoors life 'Dirty Nails' awakens the reader to the year-long joys of nature and the possibilities of self sufficiency, whether they live in the country or the urban jungle.' www.funkyfogey.com 'Offers quirky tips, advice and musings that every gardener and nature-lover will appreciate.' Northern Life 'Packed with information on a weekly diary basis...Items on wildlife, recipes and just general musings on the natural world. Plenty to keep you on the right track if you are an enthusiastic vegetable gardener.' www.wildlife-gardening.co.uk 'An extremely practical and down to earth guide to being a sucessful gardener but by the road less travelled of doing everything with a profound respect for and love of nature.' Shaftesbury Contact

Author Information

'Dirty Nails' has been writing about wildlife since boyhood. His weekly gardening column has been a popular feature of the Dorset and Somerset based Blackmore Vale Magazine since February 2002. With a naturalists' eye for the world around him, and wearing his heart always on his sleeve, the author thrills to the extraordinary and the mundane in equal measure. Past life employment has included being a teacher, international photo-journalist, forester, and groundsman. He now earns a living as a wildlife consultant and writer. His first book, How to Grow Your Own Food, was published in 2007, Spring Hill (How To Books).

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