The Beginners Guide to Edible Herbs

Description

Food gardens are springing up in backyards across the country. Organic, home grown tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers are being enjoyed at more family dinner tables than ever, bringing serious nutrition and delicious tastes to homemade meals. But why stop with vegetables? Herbs are perfect companions in the garden, and their bright flavours elevate the taste of nearly every vegetable. A handful of basil added to a tomato salad or a bit of chopped dill sprinkled on butter-sauteed carrots creates new layers of flavour and complexity. "The Beginner's Guide to Edible Herbs" helps every vegetable gardener realize the pleasures of becoming an herb gardener. Readers will find complete information on growing, harvesting, preserving, and using 26 of the most popular kitchen herbs, from basil to thyme. There are also food-pairing tips, simple recipes, and basic information on medicinal uses, all enhanced by beautiful, full-colour photographs of every plant and many kitchen recipes and projects. Whether they complement rows of asparagus and cauliflower or grow in a garden all their own, edible herbs are versatile, undemanding, and abundant. They're winners in every garden.

A former horticulturalist for White Flower Farm, Charles W.G. Smith has also been an instructor of vocational agriculture. He has written about gardening and environmental issues for more than a decade. He is the author of The Beginner's Guide to Edible Herbs, The Weather-Resilient Garden, and Raptor! Saxon Holt has combined his career as a photographer with a lifelong love of gardening. His work has appeared in dozens of books and gardening magazines. He is a member of the American Society of Media Photographers, the American Society of Picture Professionals, and the Garden Writers of America Association, from which he has received three awards for his photography. Edward C. Smith is the best-selling author of The Vegetable Gardener's Bible and The Vegetable Gardener's Container Bible. For more than 30 years he and his wife, Sylvia, have lived off the grid in Vermont, in a house they built on land they cleared by hand. Together, the grow more than 100 varieties of vegetables, fruits, and herbs in their 2,000 square feet of gardens and containers.