The complete book of vegetables, herbs & fruit is a stunningly nice book. This book is guaranteed to be a hit as a present for the gardener in your life. It’s perfect for a gardener as a complete reference book. It features many common garden plants and a lot of much more unusual plants too.


It’s good for the gardener who like to go from plot to plate as it includes many recipes as well as herbal remedies. This makes it so much more special than any normal gardening book as it feels like the complete deal! It really is comprehensive and informative.

The complete book of vegetables, herbs & fruit been written by Matthew Biggs, Jekka McVicar and one of my all time favourite gardener’s Bob Flowerdew. Jekka is a herb expert and Matthew is into unusual vegetables whilst Bob is an organic gardener who is into companion planting and natural ways of solving pest problems. The mix of gardener’s gives this book a much more varied and interesting book covering more diverse subjects, contributing to the unique nature of the book.

Each plant section deals with the different varieties available, their cultivation which includes useful hints and advice on dealing with common pests, to harvesting. It also mentions companion planting which is something more people get into when they realise the natural benefit of planting various plants against others for beneficial effects.

The pages are packed with photos and it’s an amazing book to start reading about more adventurous plants like okra which many people may have eaten but never seen pictures of them growing! It’s a delight to settle down with this book for a long read! It’s easy to find out vital information too with any warnings about plants being highlighted with a red icon.

The book covers an enormous range of vegetables, fruits, herbs and wild plants. It’s informative throughout and you’ll find yourself looking at garden weeds with new interest! Knowing that a type of dandelion was cultivated during the second world war for it’s latex from the root will be intriguing!

Divided up into vegetables, herb and fruit the book is arranged according to the latin names of the plants. It’s an interesting way of doing it and if you’re stuck for finding something the index is perfect. The book is finished off with a good section on practical gardening advice and suggested plans for layout out your different garden plots. This section is really useful and emphasises the experience of the gardener’s putting the book together: for instance the cook’s herb garden needs to be close to the kitchen and have all weather access, as well as being in the sun, to make the most of the herbs and encourage use. The book is full of thoughtful and imaginative gardening help for novices and more experienced gardeners and it’s glossary puts an end to confusion about gardening terms.

With a section on growing systems and explaining different gardening terms this book becomes more useful with every read! The information about weed and pest control are useful with plenty of photos to help you identify pest problems. It also manages to find room for a page or two about natural dyes as many of the plants featured within the book can be used for creating your own dyes.


This massive volume has a gardening calendar too with suggestions for each month for vegetables, herbs and fruit. The book is packed with amazing snippets of information, detailed growing guides and lots of information for you.

It’s very comprehensive covering all the plants you’re interested in and loads you didn’t know existed! The food and medicinal use hints are really nice touch and make the book so much more than any other gardening book. It is a unique book with so many excellent photographs that it’s a useful resource for all gardeners and will be regularly consulted.

The complete book of vegetables, herbs & fruit will make a brilliant gift idea for a gardener’s birthday of Christmas present! It’s ideal for people who are interested in gardening and cooking and is sure to be a delightful frequently read book!