“The new complete book of self-sufficiency”
John Seymour (Dorling Kindersley)

On Friday lunchtime I popped into Holborn Library to get my weekly fix of gardening books. I regularly flick through “The new complete book of self-sufficiency” from the late John Seymour and was well suprised to see it in the library’s book sale for a quid. What a bargain, so I got it there and then!

I’m not ready for “the good life” just yet (it covers everything from keeping livestock and poultry, weaving your own wooly jumper to making your own bricks) but it’s the gardening related pages I laid out all the readies for (and it’s all from the view of being resourceful and doing it on the cheap!). It has informative sections on how to grow food from your garden, a comprehensive guide to vegetables, fruit and herbs, composting and soil preparation and even has sections on home brewing & wine-making to getting food from the wild all explained in lay person’s terms and straight to the point. My favourite illustration from the book is above from the “pests and diseases” section. It could easily be retitled “every gardener’s nightmare” or “the last thing I saw before I turned…” and (below) a great worm composting idea from the book.

A book to get from your local library and keep on renewing until you can renew no more!