The Easy Fruit Garden by Clare Matthews, hardback published by New Holland. ISBN 978-1-84773-858-5, price 16.99 available from www.newhollandpublishers.com

This book has a sound philosophy – anyone can grow fruit. Clare even states that growing apple trees is easy and I have it on good authority that the pruning and care can be quite demanding. It’s wonderful to be encouraging and I love the idea that everything is easy to grow, but gardening often is not that simple. In planning your fruit garden, Clare gives you a list to consider and lists for fruit that grows in certain conditions and areas. Ample space is given to designing your fruit garden but there are no actual design plans as such. I like Clare’s simple and easy approach, she gives detailed information on growing all types of fruit. This is an excellent book for the beginner, those that feel daunted, those that have tried and failed. Clare has her own pick of the fruit, so you don’t have to do the hard work trying to figure out what to grow. She gives approximate yield, how many years something takes to fruit and lots of growing information. Includes tree fruit, soft fruit, nuts and more.

Now Is The Season by Laura Faire, softback published by New Holland. ISBN 978-1-86966-316-2, price 16.99 available from www.newhollandpublishers.com

Common sense gardening and cooking combined. Grow, cook in season and eat simple and honest fayre for the table. Each season presents a gardening calendar and a menu. The simple gardening calendar gives what to plant, when to harvest and how to care for your crops. The recipes sound delicious and are easy to cook. I like the sausage and fennel pie for winter and would cook this with my home-made vegetarian sausages. Grapefruit marmalade creme brulee also looks too good to be true. I’m also dying to try Vanilla and Blueberry Tennis Cake. Whilst I like the ‘garden’ angle of this book, many recipes include meat and fish and I thought it had not gone far enough to using what you grow in the garden as a basis for the recipes. However, I did love the concept and many of the recipes I would try. Photography and layout are great.

Year Round Vegetable Gardener by Niki Jabbour, softback published by Storey. ISBN 978-1-60342-568-1, price 19.55 in the Uk, available from www.storey.com

I have long extolled the virtues of sowing seed year round. I have long extolled the virtues of vegetable growing. So I welcomed this book with open arms. Niki looks at how to extend the season and grow vegetables all year round. Whilst northern gardeners in short season areas will easily think this a god send, Niki states that the book is for gardeners no matter where they live. The first chapter deals with extending the season. I love the harvest pages – cool, cold, warm season. The photography is great and there are some fab ideas for veg gardeners here. Some of it is specific to the USA and Canada, like frost dates, but most of this information can be adapted to where you live. Chapter 2 deals with continuous crops, soil amendment and interplanting to make the most of your site. Chapter 3 deals with growing into winter when most of us have stopped. It looks at all sorts of protection and more. Chapter 4 is all about designing productive gardens. Part 2 of the book is about the right crops. It’s an A-Z of veg and herbs to grow covered in two chapters with Niki’s picks, hints and tips. Wait, there’s even more , you get instructions for building a cold frame and useful charts. Best garden book I’ve seen for a while.

Foliage Plants by Christopher Lloyd, softback published by Frances Lincoln. ISBN 978-0-71112-3243-3, price 12.99available from www.franceslincoln.com

Originally published in 1973, this edition of this gardener’s garden book comes with an introduction by Fergus Garrett, who himself needs no introduction to lovers of Great Dixter, the garden of the the late Christopher Lloyd. This small volume stands the test of time and is testimony to Lloyd’s ‘I’m going to tell you how it is’ sound gardening advice. That the book is still as useful now as it was then (Fergus has brought plant names up to current nomenclature), is also testimony to how slowly things move along in gardening. In fact, Lloyd talks about Melianthus major and grasses,which took until the 90’s to gain widespread fame. Inimitable, to the point, with excellent plant choices. It’s wonderful to read a garden book that can improve your garden through wise plant choices. You won’t agree with everything he says, but you know deep down inside, he’s making sense. I find once I pick the book up I cannot put it down. Same thing happened when reading one of Lloyd’s books one day and I missed my bus stop, went sailing down the hill lost in the joy of plants and Lloyd’s fine writing. The irreplaceable Lloyd still provides the ultimate garden pleasure – knowledge, know how and plant selection. There are no photos in this book, which does not detract from its pleasure for me, but might for some.

Herbs and Spices by Linda Gray, softback published by New Holland Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84773-775-5, price 7.99 available from www.newhollandpublishers.com

This is a compact book full of information on growing herbs and spices. It concentrates on providing the information you need rather than dazzling you with images of things that you know you can never get to look just like the one in the picture. Practical and useful. I do believe everyone should grow herbs and spices as near to the door as possible. How much this contributes to self-sufficiency as splashed across the front cover I’m not sure – man cannot live by herbs and spices alone. Includes all the herbs and spices you could ever want to grow including fennel, chilli, saffron and more with detailed information on each. Also has brief information on designing a herb garden.

Salads Year-Round by Dennis Greville, softback published by New Holland Publishing. ISBN 978-1-8696-6328-5, price 12.99 available from www.newhollandpublishers.com

Hats off to Dennis, his photography should win prizes if it hasn’t already. Of the numerous garden books I have read, this has some of the best photography. I also love the fact that, like me, Dennis encourages people to grow year round. The book is divided into seasons with all you can grow in each one. You’ll find characteristics, when to plant and growing requirements for each plant. Compact, straight to the point and downright useful. Increase the productivity of your allotment, backyard or windowsill with this handy book.A great growing book for any gardener.

Great Gardens of Spain by Anneli Bojstad, hardback published by Frances Lincoln, ISBN 978-0-7112-2671-5, price 30.00 available from www.franceslincoln.com

I am a lover of beautiful gardens. I also lived in Spain for some time and know quite a few of its gardens well. For anyone who loves Spain, its gardens or wants to get to know them better, this is a great book to own, read and then visit the gardens. It is a coffee table book with coffee table photos but the sumptuous photography and descriptions go beyond coffee table. Big tomes are rather difficult to carry around and equally difficult to take to bed. This one has therefore stayed on my work desk, where I cast furtive glances of longing. I can feel the heat burning the pages, days in Sevilla at 46°C. I know I belong in quiet courtyards with tricking water and peace. I can touch the history, the lush growth, the aristocratic nature that belongs to many of these gardens. Spanish gardens are far too overlooked. So I was so pleased to wallow in 40 Spanish gardens and to be able to keep a small piece of each of them, lovingly on my work desk. The photographer is Eduardo Mencos, whose book Hidden Gardens of Spain should be familiar to anyone looking at Spanish gardens. This book made me long to visit each garden, even the ones I knew well, to re-discover them. If that is not possible, I’m grateful to the author and photographer for bringing Spanish gardens into my home. The publisher has done an excellent job with this.

Dream Gardens Across America, softback published by Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-87843-9, price 13.99 available from www.wiley.com

This Better Homes & Gardens Book is full of sumptuous pictures of fabulous gardens or at least they look fabulous captured in that moment of time. It’s another thing to maintain an immaculate garden. However, for those who can’t or don’t travel or who love looking at pics of gardens, and why not, here are 45 gardens looking their very best and let’s face it no-one would want to see them any other way, so enjoy. No matter what your preferred style, it’s covered. There are several photos of each garden showing areas of the garden, key plants, key features. Therefore this is a good ideas book. You’ll no doubt find things that can be used in your own garden or see plants and plant combinations you would like to try. The photos are fantastic and there is abundant planting with accessories that only Americans know how to do. This is a great book for people who love plants, colour and are searching for ideas on how to ‘decorate’ their garden. The text is decorative, well written grammatically speaking, also punchy but not always that accurate. The book opens with a Pennsylvania garden of 8000 tulips (think about planting those) with incredible photos yet the text says ‘tulips must be planted in fall’ when it would be far better to advise planting in November – any earlier and your bulbs might succumb to tulip fire. I like this book for its photos. I’d like it even better if the gardens were to visit, but this is not possible as other than giving the US State where the gardens are, sadly it gives no further information.

The Self Sufficiency Manual by Alison Candlin, softback published by Bloomsbury/Quantum Publishing/AC Black. ISBN 978-1-4081-5665-1, price 14.99 available from www.bloomsbury.com

If you have ever been tempted by The Good Life, here’s your chance to find out what it’s all about and go and live your dream. This book will help you establish a successful smallholding or realise the true potential of your existing garden plot. Used efficiently, this book claims that even a well-maintained tiny back yard can produce enough food to see you self-sufficient. I wholeheartedly agree with that as I have done it myself at one time. All the essentials are here for planning your small garden, no matter what the size. Planning, preparation and cultivation are dealt with in detail. Keeping animals and foraging too. This is a lovely book for anyone who wants to escape the rat race and really grow and rear their own food. I like it.

The Book of Leaves by Allen J Coombes, hardback published by New Holland. ISBN 978-1-78009-059-7, price 24.99 available from www.newhollandpublishers.com

It’s what it says it is – a visual guide of six hundred leaves representing some of the world’s most beautiful trees. It can be used for identification, knowledge, as a treasury of leaves. Each leaf is beautifully photographed, in addition there is a small line drawing of the tree showing height and form, information about the tree and similar species. Also on the page each page is a map of the world and key facts. It’s fascinating to see the subtle differences between species. This is a book that many people would pay ten times the asking price. As an author of gardening books myself that involve much research, I really admire the detail and research that have gone into making this book. It is a triumph. Recommended for anyone who loves trees.