The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Herbs

Wow! I didn’t expect this much information packed inside such a small book! I do a fair amount of container gardening and enjoy cooking with fresh herbs, so I decided to get a copy of this book. I am glad I did. This book includes information on herbs for bakers, cooks, crafters, gardeners and herbal tea drinkers. It is easy to read, informative and peppered with beautiful pictures on its pages. I plan to create my own vibrant vertical herb garden on my patio with the tips I found in this book.

This is a brilliant short book about herbs. One of my goals for 2019 is to start a herb garden as I always think they look colourful, smell brilliant and I like that they can be more useful than flowers. I found this book immensely helpful to start my gardening adventures. It contains information on how, where and when to grow the herbs, what you can do with them, when to harvest them and general information about the herb itself. Brilliant for beginners to herbs and more experienced gardeners alike. What really sold the book for me however was all the photographs and drawings scattered throughout the pages. They were all really colourful, bright and clear and even if I was not to attempt to grow these herbs myself I would have appreciated the book for the photos. I can tell already this book is going to be used constantly as it seems great for dipping in and out of to get ideas, know what to do and of course admire the photos!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m very impressed with this book. It is authoritative, beautifully illustrated and extremely useful.

Pretty well everything you’d want to know about growing and using herbs is here. Holly Farrell’s text is readable and refreshingly free of waffle, so it’s accessible and tells you what you need to know concisely and clearly. There are some very interesting ideas for growing and using herbs, as well as all the necessary info about each individual herb.

It’s very nicely presented, with lovely photographs and some very beautiful botanical illustrations. (I can’t find any mention of who they’re by, but they look rather like Ehret’s 18th Century illustrations to me.)

In short, this is a very useful, readable and attractive book. Warmly recommended.

(My thanks to White Lion for an ARC via NetGalley.)

I received a free digital copy of this book for an honest review after I put it on my wishlist for books on NetGalley.  Luckily, the company came through and this gem was on my NetGalley shelf!

I love plants; I mentioned this a few times in the previous book review.  As someone who does has this affection and is pretty good and growing things, I have always loved growing herbs.  I feel like I always have some sort of herb growing around.  My favorite is rosemary because, for some reason, growing rosemary just gives me such a sense of fulfillment.

The first thing that I noticed about this book is that it is aimed for someone who does either love herbs and wants to grow them for real.  I appreciated the little lists of necessary herbs for five different sets of people or subjects, including bakers and drinks and places like windowsills or large containers.  It's nice because if you get kinda lost about herbs and what you may need or want to get started, these lists have stuff that is pretty easy to find either as plants, seeds, or seedlings.

I also love how helpful this book is when it comes to buying plants and selecting them from the store or nursery you buy them at.  If you've been plant shopping, it can be a little intimidating when you are faced with a huge selection of plants and you see other people carefully selecting which plants they want and you have no idea!  Regardless, this book is a nice one to read beforehand to get ready.  Along with this, this book gives instruction on keeping plants in shape and doing maintenance.  With herbs, especially if you are going to harvest herbs and use them regularly, you have to also take special care of them to encourage certain types of growth.

Once again, the photography for this book is gorgeous!  I love how bright they illustrate the topics perfectly.  So many of these would be perfect for prints and art.  It makes me so jealous and inspires me to plan some outdoor planting when I have space and maybe up my own photography game!

Like the houseplant book, this book also goes through several different types of herbs that are either really beneficial and/or easy to grow or find.  And, it includes peppers!  I also like how for certain varieties of herbs that grow well, it provides different types of garden styles, such as a vertical garden for chives and green roofs.  Along with this, it goes over different ways to use herbs such as in oils and alcohol and as tisanes.  Also, with the basics about herbs, this book also goes over when to plant herbs and how to care for them through the seasons, dealing with pests and infestations, and even how herbs are named.  I really appreciate non-fiction books that go into depth for their subject and seem to try to teach their readers something.

A small problem I had with this book specifically is that the types of herbs are not alphabetically arranged.  I am sure that the author had some sort of ulterior motive for the arrangement, but I feel like as a reference book it would have been easier to use if it was alphabetical.  But, it does have a well-done index to help with that.  Overall, I am going to give this one four stars, mainly because of the issue or order and because the ending feels really abrupt.  Otherwise, this was a fantastic book for a beginner or even a seasoned herb grower.

Kew Royal Botanic Gardens are world-leaders in gardening and plant science, so any book published under their auspices is a useful book to have. The Kew Gardeners Guide to Growing Herbs is a very good introduction to growing and using more than 70 herbs. For those who might be daunted by the comprehensive listing, there is a useful selection of must-have herbs for cooks, bakers, drinks, florists and wildlife. In a further section a list of easy-care herbs would be a great starting point for a novice gardener.

The format of the book makes for interesting reading, and for follow-up reference. The initial chapter covers choosing herbs, sowing, buying and growing herbs indoors, outdoors, or in containers. This is not a detailed guide, but would serve as an initial introduction for anyone interested in setting up a herb garden. It includes useful suggestions such as ways of controlling the spread of invasive herbs such as mint and horseradish – too many authors skip this critical point!

The largest section covers the details on the specific herbs. I thought the order of the herbs in this chapter was unfortunate and would be confusing to readers as the common name heads the chapter, whilst the order is alphabetically according to their Latin name. However, the content and layout of the information on each herb is excellent. Easy to read layout includes: Latin name, short introduction, table giving plant family name, height, spread and hardiness. Then: how to use, how to grow, how to harvest. The information is concise and valuable. I enjoyed the useful snippets of information or fun facts at the end of each herb section. Another useful addition was the heading classifying each herb as herbaceous perennial, annual, biennial etc. Each herb is well illustrated for easy identification.

Interspersed within these pages are twelve projects with instructions and good photographs ranging from creating a vertical herb garden, to harvesting seed and fennel pollen, to creating herbal wreaths. There is also a very useful note on the naming of herbs – including a warning that common names vary widely, so it is good to know the botanical Latin name when selecting herbs.

The final chapters cover troubleshooting pests and diseases and disorders and “What to do when”, seasonal guidelines for work to do in the herb garden. I found these chapters a little skimpy, but it does provide a starting point for someone interested in creating a herb garden.

For some time I have a wish to grow my own herbs In my back yard and this guide helped me a lot. I love the photos and descriptions altogether with the illustrations so no one will mistake one herb with another. i
Simply wonderful and useful, I just wish it was longer because I finished it in one sitting.
This guide is a wonderful thing to have in personal library and as a gift to friends and family that love plants

Another winning guide from the experts at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew.
This one covers growing herbs and is a very comprehensive guide to getting the best out of the plants that you grow. Comprehensive and packed with useful information.

I just want to get my hands in some dirt!
The Kew Gardener’s Guide to Growing Herbs was so informative - breaking down all the types of herbs. Culinary, medicinal, etc.
The photos were excellent and really aided in the desire to get out and garden!

This title would be a welcome addition to any gardeners’ library.

A very good book if you are interested in how growing and using herbs.
It's full of ideas, advice and information.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

This is a great resource for growing herbs! The information was concise and to the point without unnecessary fluff. Beautiful illustrations were included throughout the book. Along with tips of growing herbs, the book featured all of the major herbs along with details of how to use them, how to grow them, and how to harvest them. Definitely a book I will reference again!

With the cost of groceries these days, an adventurous cook needs an edge to keep their craft different and interesting. Add in the fact that many herbs are not only tasty and good for you, they help improve your environment by restricting pests without chemicals. The book contains many fascinating examples of what best to grow in your garden without making the experience a full time job. I really enjoyed how the author described the different herbs and how to get the most out of them.

Fantastic resource that provides planting, harvesting, and use information on many "common" herbs (mostly culinary, a few medicinal) without overwhelming the reader with too much detail. Helpful photographs, drawings and latin names make it easy to find the specific plant at the garden shop. Also includes creative planting ideas.

This was so interesting. I have a rather "wild" herb garden and I needed a little help on things. And here it was! I love herbs and using them both for foods, garden decor and health. So was excited to now have a quick and easy reference guide to growing them. I liked that the book gave heights and other facts on easy to locate charts for each herb featured in the book. It will be a great help as I now can easily check back to see what helpful information I can find about various herbs. The book also had beautiful pictures of the herbs, which will help in the organizing of them in my small garden.

I received an ebook copy from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own,

The Kew Gardener’s Guide to Growing Herbs is a new tutorial guide to growing and using herbs in the garden by Holly Farrell. Released 21st March 2019 by Quarto on their White Lion imprint, it's 144 pages and available in ebook and paperback format.

Whenever gardeners think about inspiration and knowledge on a worldwide scale, the Kew gardens are at the very top of a very short list. They've been going strong for almost 260 years at this point. This book includes an herbal compendium of culture and care info for more than 70 individual herbs along with several attractive plantings arranged as projects.

Worth noting. This guide is written primarily with gardeners in the British Isles in mind. The hardiness zones listed in the individual herbal listings are the ones given by the RHS (not the my link textUSDA ones). Also, the ebook version has an interactive table of contents which is very handy.

Much of the photography is from stock photos, but all of the project photos are purpose made for this edition. The culture information is straightforward and peppered with good tips and tricks for encouraging the best performance from all of your plants (and taming the 'beasts' like mint and comfrey).

Four stars. Well written and full of attractive photography.

A gorgeous book, with wonderful practical advice and photography to aid the learning. The knowledge base was exceptional with well written instructional guidance in a very easy to understand way. It was perfect timing as I am about to plant my winter vegetable and herb garden. I learnt a lot.
Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this fabulous book.

Written by one of the stalwarts of gardening knowledge, Kew Gardens have always been at the forefront of providing advice to UK gardeners. This book gives lots of useful information about growing herbs. Although the terminology and hardiness scales are UK based they can be interpreted for elsewhere.
It is an easy to read reference, with lots of illustrations. Definitely a book that will be opened many a time.

I am new to gardening and wanted to know more about growing herbs. This book was ideal to learn from and wonderful projects to try.

I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review purposes. Thank you!

Basically what it says on the tin: a nice, accessible guide to growing a herb garden. The book contains many tips as to how to deal with various specific types of herbs, as well as some ideas for how to beautify your herb garden. Very useful for beginners, but more experienced people will also find something for themselves.

Approachable, colorful guide to planting, caring for, and harvesting herbs at home. Includes descriptions and illustrations for each variety, organized alphabetically, as well as "projects" for using the various herbs, from pesto with basil to herbal wreaths.

Gosh, the illustrations! Useful guide to herbs and their growth, use, and care. Would have been nice to have a full breakdown of what the RHS hardiness ratings are, though.

The New Gardeners Guide to Growing Herbs
by Holly Farrell

If you’re a beginner in gardening and your looking to start a herb garden this is the perfect guide for you.

This book gives you detailed instructions on how to start your garden. You’ll learn about the soil and seeds and where to go from there. You will find plenty of photos, drawings and charts of all the different herbs to grow then harvesting the herbs. Included is how you can find all the different ways to use your herbs, whether drying them or using them in oils or vinegar.

I found this book to be a very good reference book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#Netgalley

This is a compact, but still very comprehensive guide to growing and using herbs. Lots of practical tips and beautiful illustrations.

This was a fairly typical, yet interesting look at the care and growing of herbs. I liked the list given of herbs to grow, and that both care instructions and potential uses for the herbs were listed. You may find a herb you haven't considered growing before, or rediscover an old favourite. If you read several herb growing books, I don't think this guide really stands out from the rest, but you can still comfortably read only this book and not be steered wrong. While it doesn't stand out in a crowd, this was still informative, and of good use to a new herb grower.

Das Buch hat alles, was man zum Thema wissen sollte inklusive wunderschöner Fotos und Gestaltung. Hilfreich für Anfänger und auch für Fortgeschrittene.

Zum selberlesen und verschenken geeignet.

A book that gives me details about specific herbs. This is for me! I need to know by plants how to take care of said plant. I have a brown thumb. I do not kill plants I essentially maim plants but they live. I liked this book. I will buy this book.

This is a really gorgeous and informative book that would be a great addition to any gardener’s library. The text is clear and easy to read, and the photographs and overall design are lovely.

First, I would like to thank NetGalley and White Lion Publishing for providing me with a free PDF ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have recently been motivated to start my own herb garden since I now cook all meals at home for my family. I was excited to be chosen to review this book and eagerly jumped in, looking for herbs I was familiar with. This book provides a fantastic review of several herbs and how to grow and harvest them, and also discusses their various uses. Different types of herb gardens are presented, as well as herbs for different seasons, climates, other variables. Unfortunately, after the first day, the PDF stopped working in Adobe Digital Editions and I was not able to finish the book in its entirety, but from what I viewed, I would absolutely purchase a copy to reference once I start my garden.

A wonderfully practical book about growing and caring for many herbs in our garden plots or containers, inside or outside. Useful and beautifully presented.

This is a massive book, filled with gardening information, photographs and beautiful drawings. Tis book will keep any gardener, let alone a herb gardener entertained for a very long time, with lots of dipping into at various time.
There are lots of information about herbs, how to grow them and also, which I found helpful, which and how to contain the invasive one.
There are many herbs in this book that I had not heard of, and others the I have grown in every house I have lived in. Each have information on uses, growing and harvesting. This is a seriously good book.