Joyous garden mash-up
I personally find that straight rows hold their own alluring charm, but since discovering Joy Larkcom’s brilliant book, Creative Vegetable Gardening, even a stalwart straight-line gardener like myself has been lured into the magic methods of creative vegetable growing.
Like Joy, I am now of the firm belief that every kitchen garden has the potential to be pretty and productive all year round.
Every page and colour photograph in this book is inspiring and it charmingly compiles Joy’s learnings, influences and inspirations from her own gardens and visits to decorative gardens all around the British Isles, France and North America.
Originally published in 1997, this year sees a revised edition of Creative Vegetable Gardening, in which Joy illustrates how the principles of good design are not only pertinent to flower gardens, but are also applicable to vegetable gardens.
Decorative gardens intermingling fruit, herbs, vegetables, and flowers are more often than not referred to as a ‘potager’, which is the French word for a kitchen garden — gleaned from its earliest role in supplying ‘pot herbs’ for soup (potage).
From these humble beginnings evolved today’s potager, which is simply the place where all household fruit, flowers, herbs and vegetables mingle together.
However, the word also has more formal connotations thanks to the famous renaissance ‘potager’ at Chateau Villandry in France, renowned for its patterned squares defined by box hedging and filled with a tapestry of colourful fruit and veg.
The Jardins de Villandry are a must for all enthusiastic and creative vegetable gardeners.
In Creative Vegetable Gardening, Joy clearly outlines all the stages in building up a vegetable garden that is as beautiful as a conventional flower and shrub bed, irrespective of size.
Taking the reader through all the steps, from assessing the site to sowing seeds, this book is bursting with a barrow-full of practical information on planning formal, informal, urban, low maintenance and winter potagers and looks at every aspect of the work involved, from design, installation, cultivation, through to harvest. All techniques are described meticulously and are accompanied by colourful artwork.
This book not only informs the reader on how to cultivate healthy plants, but also advises on blending vibrant textures, colours and forms of vegetables, herbs and fruit to create fascinating patterns and glorious effects — but without compromising yields.
A useful A-Z directory includes more than 150 edible plants with key details on cultivation, as well as ideas on how to grow them to maximum ornamental effect.
From edible flowers, living edges, inter-cropping, frameworks of fruit, focal garden features, vegetables in flower beds to drama from seed heads and flowering vegetables and much more, this book will captivate and inspire beginners and experienced gardeners alike.
Remember that creative gardening is not only for beds — and in this book Joy provides loads of vibrant ideas for containers, be those in beautiful pots or in upcycled gems.
Creative Vegetable Gardening is certainly my favourite gardening book of all time, as the photos alone are enough to transcend me into garden heaven.
So if you are feeling the need to up your gardening game, or are simply a little uninspired by your plot, this is the book to re-light your verve for vegetables.
* To purchase Creative Vegetable Gardening, ask your local bookstore to stock it or go to www.amazon.com
* Birds such as pigeons, crows and magpies can wreak havoc with your garden and your nerves.
* Scarecrow making is always a fun project but maybe not the most reliable bird deterrent. Covering brassica beds, peas, beans and onion sets with nets is essential if your local birds are busy.
* Transplant all those vegetables sown last month into well prepared beds. Continue sucessional sowings of salads and scallions.
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