Book review-Geoff Hamilton's "The Organic Gardener"

Maybe I've lost the plot........

When it comes to gardening nothing is new. Well almost nothing-there are of course new plants bred each year and new products launched but when it comes to gardening, the act of actually doing it, nothing is new.

Over and again I am asked to recommend books to new gardeners and this is the book I always recommend because it’s the book I go back to again and again. Yes it was published in 1987 so it looks a bit aged, but in terms of advice it is all you need. And there are others that effectively offer the same advice written by other celebrity gardeners like Alan Titchmarsh and Monty Don but effectively there is very little difference between them, other than individual focuses from the individual writer.

But there is another reason I recommend this book, or one similar, and that is that if you are a new gardener you can pick them up for a couple of quid in a charity shop, or online as a second hand book. Gardening tomes are expensive and when many young people are starting to grow food with their friends and neighbours to try to at least supply some of their own food in a cost of living crisis, a book that costs as much as a year’s seeds is often unaffordable, and yet I have just looked online and this is easily available.

Now of course lots of folk will like to buy the newest book from the latest gardening celeb or influencer, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but if what you’re looking for is a book written by someone trustworthy, organic and a bloody good gardener, this is all you need!