The Art of the Kitchen Garden by Ethne Clarke

The Art of the Kitchen Garden Reviews

• 
  Frankie

  This little-known book is a real treat for history and gardening, and history of horticulture fans like me. Clarke covers a wealth of garden vegetables, flowers, and herbs, some common and some obscure. She begins with a brief history of each. Sections are peppered with lavish historical botanical illustrations and woodcuts, or modern botanicals and photographs. She then covers basic cultivation and both modern and traditional use of the plants. Spiced with juicy and entertaining info ("According to the Greeks, basil must be sown while shouting harsh words of abuse or it will not flourish"), the histories are anything but dry. Finally, many plants include a selection of antique recipies which may be useful to modern cooks. While not exhaustive, this is about as lively as a botanical history gets.
• 
  gina

  This is a pretty awesome book and I'm sad to see it pass from my cookbook collection. Hopefully it will make someone else super happy and get more use in their shelves than mine!
• 
  Chrome

  A real gem of a garden book to read on a snowy February. The history and lore of the English kitchen garden from Roman times. Beautiful original illustrations , photo graphs, instructions and recipes
  from history.