The Art of the Kitchen Garden

Rating:
Summary: A gorgeous fantasy of formal vegetables
Review: A gorgeous fantasy for the gardener who wants everything. Replete with color photographs, charts and plans, the Gertleys' combinations of flowers and vegetables in formal designs satisfy the desire for beauty, productivity and the urge to impress the neighbors.

Beginning with an overview of gardens of the past, the authors proceed to design, discussing elements of color, texture and space and offering specific and detailed photos and plans for gardens inspired by anything from quilts to honeycombs to a scaled down version of the kitchen garden at the Chateau de Villandry in France.

In addition to detailed designs, the Gertleys offer guidelines and advice for drawing on your own inspiration, from mixing colors and adding elements of texture (organic or artificial) to plant height and arrangement. On the less creative side of things, they discuss planting timing and harvesting, growing from seed and buying seedlings and garden preparation and maintenance.

The practical advice is basic; useful but almost an afterthought. Weeds, for instance, don't get mentioned until page 134. The designs, however, are well illustrated - from flourishing result back to graph paper plot and plant placement. This is a book for gardeners with time and ambition and dreamers who just love to look.

Rating:
Summary: A gorgeous fantasy of formal vegetables
Review: A gorgeous fantasy for the gardener who wants everything. Replete with color photographs, charts and plans, the Gertleys' combinations of flowers and vegetables in formal designs satisfy the desire for beauty, productivity and the urge to impress the neighbors.

Beginning with an overview of gardens of the past, the authors proceed to design, discussing elements of color, texture and space and offering specific and detailed photos and plans for gardens inspired by anything from quilts to honeycombs to a scaled down version of the kitchen garden at the Chateau de Villandry in France.

In addition to detailed designs, the Gertleys offer guidelines and advice for drawing on your own inspiration, from mixing colors and adding elements of texture (organic or artificial) to plant height and arrangement. On the less creative side of things, they discuss planting timing and harvesting, growing from seed and buying seedlings and garden preparation and maintenance.

The practical advice is basic; useful but almost an afterthought. Weeds, for instance, don't get mentioned until page 134. The designs, however, are well illustrated - from flourishing result back to graph paper plot and plant placement. This is a book for gardeners with time and ambition and dreamers who just love to look.

Rating:
Summary: Vegies never looked so good!
Review: I love it. It's beautiful to look at. It is creative and has lots of pictures of techniques and colours etc. You can buy a practicle vegie growing book on when to plant tomatoes and avoiding pests anywhere. This book is about how to grow it to look good. It discusses height of plants, border plants, colour (green and texture leaf), styles for different gardens. You will also love anything you can find on Chateau Villandry - The French Kithcen Garden is amazing. They have a great website too.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I wanted
Review: I really wanted a useful book that would help to develop a kitchen garden, but this book is really just a beautiful coffee table book with pictures of lovely gardens.

If you want a book that tells you how to go about GROWING things, skip this one.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I wanted
Review: I thouroughly enjoyed this book! I found it full of creative and do-able ideas for the avid gardner who wants more than an ordinary vegetable garden. I love the art and color this book brings to the garden. The Gertleys help you through the entire process of garden design, from where to look for inspiration to layout to plant selection. Full of color pictures and diagrams, I was delighted with this book.