Friday 3 April 2015

The One-Pot Gourmet Gardener

I was really excited when I was asked to review The One-Pot Gourmet Gardener by Cinead McTernan. Before I had my allotment, I used to grow all my veggies in containers, so to review a book on this theme really appealed to me. The book is published by Frances Lincoln (www.franceslincoln.com , @Frances_Lincoln).


The book contains 25 carefully devised recipes which are grouped into soups and salads, main courses, picnics, quick suppers and drinks & puddings but the idea of the book is that the ingredients for each recipe can be grown all together in just one container.

Before getting in to the actual growing and cooking, there is an introduction and information on getting started. Advice is given on suitable varieties of vegetables to grow, choosing a pot, useful tools & equipment, compost, seeds & sowing, even pests & diseases amongst other things, so even a beginner will be able to use this book.


Each recipe is split up in to Grow Me and Eat Me. Grow Me, as you'd expect, concentrates on the growing aspect of the dish, whereas Eat Me is the actual cooking of it.



I have to admit that I was a little sceptical before I'd looked at the book, could you really grow all the ingredients for a dish such as ratatouille in one container, but the beautiful photos throughout the book show a variety of vegetable plants growing happily together.


I like how a variety of containers are used, what will work for one set of vegetables wouldn't necessarily work for another, and some of them look very attractive filled with their resident plants.


There's some mouth watering recipes. Some of my favourites are the simple ratatouille, chilli jam, courgette & fennel tart and honey &thyme blackberries with thyme shortbreads amongst others.


I'm tempted to give one of these container recipes a try this year, but which one, there's so many which take my fancy.

To order One-Pot Gourmet Gardener at the discounted price of £12.99 including p&p* (RRP: £16.99), telephone 01903 828503 or email mailorders@lbsltd.co.uk and quote the offer code APG311. 

*UK ONLY - Please add £2.50 if ordering from overseas.

30 comments:

  1. A good review of what appears to be an excellent book. Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's good that it offers recipes for each container planted up, and of course, you don't have to stick to just that recipe, the container should yield a big enough crop to try other things too.

      Delete
  2. Intresting book, glad you did this post, I often buy books and it's not quiet what I wanted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like to have a quick peek at a book before I buy so that I know what I'm getting. Reviews are good so that you know what other people think of it too.

      Delete
  3. Your library will be growing quite large with all the books you are reviewing lately Jo. Glad that you have had mainly good ones. Like you I think I would be sceptical about all the ingredients for ratatouille being grown in one container. Fortunately it is something we don't have to worry about.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do enjoy reviewing books so I'm always pleased when I'm asked to do so. I think the book shows that many plants can be grown together successfully, I'm tempted to give it a go myself.

      Delete
  4. Container gardening is a difficult thing to get right at the best of times, so I imagine that a book like this would be welcome in certain quarters. Some plants would just take over and swamp the rest, wouldn't they? (I'm thinking of Courgettes here...)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suppose that getting the size of the container right would be a big consideration in how well the plants do. I think it's a clever idea though and great for anyone with limited room in which to grow things.

      Delete
  5. What an ingenious idea, especially for those with small plots or only a balcony or rooftop to make use of.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's a great idea, especially if space to grow things is limited. It's surprising how well things do in containers, I had great success growing in them before I got my allotment.

      Delete
  6. Looks like a lovely book, some beautiful photos and great ideas. I love the pot with the purple basil, so pretty. CJ xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like that pot too, some of them are very ornamental as well as productive.

      Delete
  7. What an interesting idea. I love it in principle but wonder how it might work in practice :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wondered the same thing when I first heard about the book, but the photos show lots of different plants growing happily together so I'm inclined to have a go myself.

      Delete
  8. Sounds very interesting Jo. Hope we get to hear about your attempts at one and later, if it is a success.
    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm quite tempted to give one a go to see how it fares, I'll let you know if I do.

      Delete
  9. Very inspiring for new gardeners I am sure! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's great for people who don't have much space in which to grow things, it goes to show that you don't need an allotment plot to grow your own food.

      Delete
  10. Sounds like a good book, especially for those just starting out and new to growing there own....hoe you make a decision on which recipe to try first!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it will appeal to many gardeners, even those who have been growing their own for a while. It's certainly given me something to think about.

      Delete
  11. What a novel idea for a book, it certainly appeals to me!xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it will appeal to many people, especially those without enough land to create a vegetable plot.

      Delete
  12. I do like the idea of 'one pot' because one pot = less washing up!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Looks and sounds excellent.

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure that many people would enjoy this book.

      Delete
  14. Beautiful book.

    I have friends who grow veg etc in containers.
    I have been successful with tomato, strawberries, lettuce, runner beans.....beyond that well !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used to grow all my veg in containers before I got my allotment plot. I have to say, I was very successful, the best sweetcorn I've ever grown was grown in containers. I'm not sure why that would be, perhaps because everything got more of my attention with it being just outside the back door.

      Delete
  15. Oh an interesting concept for a book Jo and quite challenging too. I'm not sure sure how I would take to container gardening after an allotment but that day may well come. I will keep my eyes open to see if this appears in the library. Thanks for your review :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the natural progression is from containers to allotment, unless the plot is being given up for some reason. I have to say that I did enjoy growing in containers, the only problem was that I wanted more space.

      Delete

 
!-- Start of StatCounter Code for Blogger / Blogspot -->