Why is it that a ruck of desirable books turn up at more or less all at once just like buses? There's a handful of books that are must reads for me at the moment but I am trying to be restrained in my buying. The one that I could not simply resist arrived in the post on Friday morning and I am looking forward to having a linger over its pages in the next few days. My favourite gardening activity has always been propagating plants, whether it be from seed, division or cuttings etc. so I just had to buy Carol Klein's 'Grow Your Own Garden'. I have only had a quick peek so far but I think that I will be making good use of this book. There are chapters on seeds, stem cuttings, stem cuttings, leaves, root cuttings, bulbs, tubers and rhizomes, layering, division, offsets, ferns and aftercare. The book concludes with a section on matching plants to techniques. Carol's enthusiastic personality seems to come shining out of the pages and her passion for the subject is evident.
Other books on my must read list include Steven Anderton's biography 'Christopher Lloyd: His Life at Great Dixter'. Then there's Matthew Wilson's 'Landscape Man: Making A Garden' (television series due to start later this week). I am hoping that I might be able to procure these from my local library which has already recently come good with Alys Fowler's 'The Edible Garden'.
The only downside at the moment is there just does not seem to be enough hours in the day to fit everything in so reading tends to take somewhat of a back seat. Oh well perhaps it is just as well that the last book on my list does not come out until almost November! If I dare mention the C word without being cast out into the outer edges of blogland, Anna Pavord's book 'The Curious Gardener: A Gardener's Year' looks as if it will be the perfect seasonal present to myself. Meanwhile have I missed any other new gardening books this spring? All suggestions welcome.
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