It’s great what you can find in the street. The other morning while on a walk we found this excellent book which was as good as new condition-wise which was plonked alongside other books in a cardboard box with “Please help yourself” on the front.

And what a book, The Kew Gardeners guide to growing Vegetables by Helena Dove is a mine of useful information on how to grow vegetables and is one to buy if you want some great guidance and some nice reference material on this veg gardening lark.

The Introduction including info on microclimates, soil, perennials, annuals and biennials, your essential gardening kit, crop rotation, hardening off and loads more interesting subjects. Then follows a comprehensive run down of the plants (from Okra to Sweetcorn) and interspersed throughout this section are some interesting projects including seed saving, windowsill salads and growing sweet potatoes from slips.

It’s the same with music, you think you know quite a bit and then a tune comes along and makes you rethink what you know. This book is a bit like that with the subject of gardening, it mentions American groundnut (aka potato bean), we’ve never heard of it. Peanuts are a type of legume, never knew that. All radishes have edible seed pods but some varieties are grown especially for them, no idea. If you see this book in the street lying in a box with “Please help yourself” on the front, it’s a mad coincidence or you’re in a multidimensional universe so stop and pick it up. Failing that, buy it online.

Also the other day we visited Deptford Poundland, this 6 in 1 seed collection above was a quid. It’s a nice mixture of seeds and one for starting off next year. We’ve never grown Cinnamon Basil before perhaps it’s time we did.

This post was written with the other week’s On The Wire on. Some excellent across the board selections as ever.