The Kitchen Garden (Tp)

U.S.A.: Bantam, 1997. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Soft cover. Near Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Synopsis: The many thousands of readers of Sylvia Thompson's gardening columns in newspapers all over the country have come to trust her wise counsel on growing everything from tomatoes to purslane. Thompson begins with an organic, French Intensive Method approach - vegetables and flowers are grown together, with a special eye for creating a visually appealing garden that also works. She steers her readers carefully through the bewildering plethora of seed catalogues, explaining how to spot quality and how to choose among the hundreds and hundreds of cultivars for the best results in a given climate. But that's just for starters. This book might be called The Joy of Gardening, Thompson has such an irresistible delight in the garden, and she makes her plants so real on the page that even beginners will be inspired to try their hand. For them there are lists of the easiest, most rewarding plants and frank advice about avoiding pitfalls. For more sophisticated gardeners who've been longing to try growing exotica like Asian greens, peanuts, ancient New Mexican beans, and intriguing potherbs like alexanders and orach, Thompson is often the only source of real garden savvy. More help comes in the form of charts, source lists, nutritional information and maps. Above all Thompson is a wonderful writer, and even armchair gardeners who like to dream about gardens they might grow one day will be captivated.