Expect the Unexpected

Flange Member Mark Diacono’s new book “A Taste of the Unexpected” was published last Friday.

Those, lucky enough to get their mitts on advance copies, seem wholly enamoured with it as reviews here, here and here attest.

I’ve still to have a fulsome dekko myself , but I was quite amused at the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall quote on the cover “This book will change what you grow, cook and eat forever”. I suspect Mark was too.

But it did raise in my mind the questions “Do garden books change peoples’ lives? And if so which ones? And why?”
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Book Review - The Alternative Kitchen Garden an A-Z - Emma Cooper

Another proud moment as Flange member Emma C's book came out last month.

Many thanks to Frankie for the review and to Emma herself for organising the review copy and apologies for my tartdiness in posting it:

The Alternative Kitchen Garden an A-Z

Emma Cooper

As a not particularly successful food grower myself, I was really keen to get my hands on this book. I was not disappointed. Emma’s encouraging, have-a-go approach to gardening is evident on every page, encouraging the reader to follow suit. The introduction gives a short background on how her kitchen garden evolved from a neglected, urban Oxfordshire back garden into a productive plot and media HQ.

The A-Z itself is an eclectic collection of Emma’s interests and crops, including both her triumphs and failures, which will endear her to many other real gardeners. I could sympathise with Emma’s saffron trials and after reading her book, will never attempt to grow any Tiger Nuts! I also found a surprising amount of useful information and a desire to find out more about unusual vegetables. If nothing else, the Real Seeds Company will be added to my list of suppliers next year.

My one niggle is reserved for the publisher’s lay out. For a ‘green’ book there are far too many half empty pages, which could have been filled. I often found myself wondering if there could have been a kale or dolmades recipe to fill the blank space at the end of an entry.

With stiff competition this autumn from the likes of Nigel Slater, The RHS and Bob Flowerdew all bringing out books timed for the Christmas market. I hope that this neat little book will find a space on the bookshelves.

Veg Plot Frankie

Out Soon - The Alternative Kitchen Garden - An A -Z

This new book by Flange member Emma Cooper is out very soon - 18th August.

And this is what the promo has to say:

THE ALTERNATIVE KITCHEN GARDEN

An A-Z By Emma Cooper

“An indispensable compendium for a new generation of eco-conscious kitchengardeners.” Elspeth Thompson, The Sunday Telegraph gardening columnist

The Alternative Kitchen Garden is an evolving idea of what a kitchen garden could be inthe twenty first century – organic, environmentally sustainable, resilient and aboutrelocalising at least some of our food production. Its also a place not only for learning andpractising growing skills but for enjoying ourselves and having fun. Both an idealcompanion for anyone getting dirt under their fingernails for the first time and fullfascinating ideas and experiments for the adventurous gardener.

A self confessed ‘cyber geek’, Emma began to document the transformation of her ‘ropeyold lawn with potholes and brambles’ into a fertile and abundant permaculture plot viainternet radio and a popular blog site. Eight years on her postings and stories have beencollected in here, illustrated with beautiful colour photographs and arranged into easilyaccessible alphabetical order. Covering subjects as diverse as growing achocha (a lostInca crop) to zucchinis, and forest gardening to xeriscaping, Emma’s style is light andfriendly yet at the same time informative and based on personal experience – you feel youcould actually be sitting in the garden chatting face to face as she shares her knowledgeand experience, especially when she veers off into non directly garden related tangentssuch as osteopathy and freecycling. A concise and valuable practical guide, and a lovelyread that you can also dip in and out of on the deck chair or hammock!

“Emma Cooper is an unstoppable force, one of life’s positive people, and The AlternativeKitchen Garden sets out her inspiring personal vision of how to grow own.” Emma Townshend, The Independent on Sunday gardening columnist

I hope to have a review of it up soon - GMx

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