Gardening is something my mum's always been interested in; when I was a little girl she would spend two Sundays a month looking after her plants and our neighbours' too. I've never been too fussed about plants and gardening - the only thing I know for sure about the subject is that sunflowers are my favourite plant and that if I could, I'd love to grow strawberries in my imaginary backyard. When I came across with James Wong's Homegrown Revolution, I decided to give the whole gardening world a go; as I was sure it wasn't as boring as I pictured it in my head.
The popularity of "growing your own" has never been higher, but strangely the actual production seems to be stuck in time; with spuds, swedes and sprouts as the classic choices. None of the gardening books or allotment starter kits suggest growing much that isn't available in the same quality and at a far cheaper price in the supermarkets. James Wong suggests us to grow and fill our gardens with exciting things, such as fruit and veg that cost a fortune in the shops but that we can grow easily and in our unpredictable English climate.
James Wong has spent the last two years growing 120 edibles in his own garden, without the help of greenhouses or propagators. The experiment took place during two of the poorest summers and harshest winters on record, yet most of the crops were far easier to grow and gave much higher yields than traditional fare. All the edibles tested in the book have been double-tested personally by James and can be grown in any garden with great success.
James Wong's Homegrown Revolution features instructions on planting, care, harvesting and eating. It also contains Jame's 10 Commandments for the maximum yield with the minimum work recipe ideas for many of the fruit and veg featured. At The Amazing Blog we've enjoyed very much James Wong's book - gardening lovers will love it and people like me who don't really mind about it will find it interesting for sure.
James Wong's Homegrown Revolution is published in hardback by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and it retails at £20, the ebook at £10.99.