Growing Herbs by Holly Farrell
Growing Herbs by Holly Farrell or The Kew Gardener’s Guide to Growing Herbs: The Art and Science to Grow Your Own Herbs* is a fascinating book on how to grow your own herbs. I am a beginner when it comes to gardening and I love growing my own herbs and some fruits. Because it’s easier, I grow everything in either pots indoors, like these in the conservatory, or in pots outdoors. This offers me flexibility as I can replace plants when they die and it also controls their spread.
She mentions glyphosate as a weed killer, which is linked to cancer in humans and it is a bee killer. I wouldn’t use it, but it is [for now] legal to sell and widely used by farmers. I don’t use weed killer nor slug killer because I’m not growing commercially and I don’t care if I lose a crop to “pests”. While controversial, I didn’t take any stars off for glyphosate because, as I said, it’s legal and she is talking about a well known weed killer to prepare a garden. I think we all should read a bit before using something with “kill” on its label and decide for ourselves if we are happy to use it or not.
The book shows what can be done with herbs, from adding to cocktails to making infused oil with them. She includes some funny stories too, like what people believed that happened with the parsley seeds and who was stealing them. This makes the book good for novices, like me, and also for people with experience who might enjoy a funny story and some details on herbs they might not have grown before. The book is beautifully illustrated and something I will consult again and again, before (or after) I buy a new plant, and for the plants I already have and I need to refresh my memory on how to care for them.
Growing Herbs by Holly Farrell
Details about the picture: between my herbs, with a cup of apple mint tisane (why this is not tea and also how to prepare it is included in the book)
My rating: 5/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Frances Lioncoln
Year it was published: 2019
Format: Hardcover
Genre(s): Gardening. Food&Drink
Pages: 144
About the author: Holly Farrell trained at RHS Garden Wisley. She authored books on gardening such as The Jam Maker’s Garden, RHS Plants from Pips. She also contributes to The Garden and Kitchen Garden magazines.
Website & Social Media Links: Quarto
*I was sent a copy of Growing Herbs by Holly Farrell for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.
This is just the type of book I have been looking for! I have many books about herbs and always adding to my collection, I’ve just purchased this, thank you!
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It sounds like this book has lots of great information in it. I normally grow herbs in pots outside (from plants bought at the nursery), but I might try planting some basil seeds and see if I can grow a plant or two indoors this winter.
Do try it. I grow basil only indoors, from plants bought at the supermarket, with a bit of soil and meant to last for a few days. I replant them quickly in compost in a pot and they keep for a long time, they grow fast and I harvest often. I haven’t tried basil seeds yet.
Hi Anca,
I do use herbs in quite a lot in my cooking, but have to come clean and admit to mostly using the dried variety, which definitely don’t have as much flavour.
We have quite a few small spaces to fill in our garden and I really have no excuse for not adding a small herb garden somewhere. This books sounds like a good place for a novice to begin learning, so maybe a project for next year!
As I also use a lot of infused oils, I guess this could be a win, win situation.
Thanks for sharing and enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend 🙂
Yvonne xx
I’m glad that I’ve inspired you to grow a few herbs. xx
Lovely post, Anca! I would love to grow herbs at some point especially for making homemade tea. The book sounds interesting and beautifully presented. 🙂 xx
Helen
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Yes, it is lovely. I think you should try with something easy, like mint from the supermarket, which you need to replant in a bigger pot on the same day you buy it. It should keep for a few years. And, if not, you can always buy another one. x