James Wong's Homegrown Revolution

Love this book. Some really useful information. I am always dipping into this book when it comes to growing my own herbs or need information about what plants can be used in recipes. A refreshing book with useful pictures that is simply written. A great resource for anyone.

I've read a lot of vegetable gardening books. I might not be very experience, just been growing for four years on a very small plot, but I enjoy learning about this topic.Someone recommended James Wong's book to me, even though I live in the States. I was skeptical at first. What can they grow on the Island anyways!Quite of bit, as it turns out.For one thing, I love Wong's philosophy of, "If you can buy it in the store, why waste your time growing it yourself. The economies of growing your own food are often hard to ignore. I can buy lettuce, for example, for far less effort and cost to grow it myself. The solution is simply this, grow things that are exotic and not readily available to diversify your pallet and make your cooking more interesting. Makes total sense!Funny thing is that many of the plants I already grow, hostas, dalias, day lilies, are actually edible-- and Wong offers preparation advice to get me started. So right off the bat, there's value from what I've read.Probably the coolest lesson I got was how to not water so much...by planting a soda bottle in the soil to create a cistern. You've got to see the illustration for this. Not only are my beds better watered, but I'm spending half the time maintaining them.Get this book even if you live in the states!

Bought this for a special friend & took a look at it.So much content & lots (in my opinion) of brand new ideas,for things I never dreamt could be edible.Canna roots for example,but follow his instructions carefully.There are many more plants & shrubs to choose from & always clever waysto deal with them.Had to have my own copy & it's a revolution well worth joining.If you haven't got his "Grow for Flavour" then add that to your collection as well.It is a mine of information & not to be missed.Both books are written in his own endearing style & his enthusiasm is infectious.And his "Grow Your Own Drugs" will help to ward off & to treat infections & theremedies are all made from plants in our gardens or in the countryside.It takes foraging to a new level..All three books are readable & so useful in so many ways that I cannot recommend them highly enough.

mi interessa il fai da te e la conoscenza delle piante e del loro impiego non solo culinario ma ache terapeutico

James Wong's 'Homegrown Revolution' is the ideal book/gift for anyone with an interest or passion for gardening and an interest in food.James' aim is to inspire and hopefully change the way we look at, not just homegrown crop gardening, but what we eat. Less of the common everyday fruit and veg (potatoes, carrots, cabbages, cauliflowers etc) many of which are hard to grow, provide little yield, and are readily available and cheap to buy. More of new tastes and flavours from growing unusual, edible plants; some of which may already be in your garden (daylilies, dahlias, fiddlehead fern). Plus more unusual and exciting foods (goji berries, inca berries, electric daisies, cucamelons), which are often rare and/or expensive to buy. These unbelievably, can be grown at minimal cost, in our UK climate with a high yield. They are easy, if not easier, to grow and maintain as any tomato plant, whilst keeping your garden pretty and functional.The book concentrates on 80 unusual edible plants from the 120 trialled by James in his small UK garden over the past 2 years. All the plants were grown, harvested and eaten by him so he has truly provided first hand knowledge.However this book is much more than that, it's an invaluable guide and confidence booster to any newbie gardener, allotmenteer or dejected gardener who has tried, failed and is unsure of what went wrong and what to do next.James starts with his '10 Commandments' and 'Tips and Tricks' - basically a guide of all you need to know to successfully create, grow and maintain your plants/garden. This section in particular has lots of 'I can do that', 'that makes sense' and 'I did not know that' moments, instantly making you say "Yes I do know a bit about gardening after all" and making you eager to get out there and do some gardening.The next section belongs to the 80 exciting new edibles. Each plant is introduced, followed by a 'how to grow them' guide and a 'harvesting and eating' guide covering their texture, taste, how to cook them and what to eat them with, accompanied by an illustration and photo of each plant, many also with a related recipe.To end, is a section dealing with 'Garden Essentials' containing a 'Geek Speak Glossary', 'List of places to inspire' and a 'Suppliers Directory'.What I love most about this book is the engaging and flowing way it is written, it's full of useful information which is easily absorbed and retained and rather than scare you it excites and inspires you to be adventurous, to get out there and grow these new unusual edible plants.Even if it is still your intention to grow your normal fruit and veg, why not make space for a few of these new edible plants, you may be surprised where it leads!