James Wong's Homegrown Revolution
James Wong's Homegrown Revolution book cover

James Wong's Homegrown Revolution

Hardcover – November 6, 2012

Price
$17.87
Format
Hardcover
Pages
272
Publisher
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0297867128
Dimensions
7.75 x 1.25 x 10 inches
Weight
2.7 pounds

Description

a kitchen garden packed full of James Wong's recommendations would make a refreshing change.. packed full of encouragement to take a new look at not just the contents of our vegetable plot but at our gardens as a whole.― Francine Raymond , GARDENS ILLUSTRATED James Wong shows how simple it is to grow unusual greens, veg and herbs at home.. And, most importantly, a great set of recipes is included too.― SIMPLE THINGS I will certainly be trying a few new ideas next year.. The individual crop entries in the book are full of useful advice on growing the many and varied edible plants.― THE ORGANIC WAY crops.. such as Vietnamese fish mint and the New Zealand yam are still hardly household names. Thanks to Wong, and his mission to widen our repertoire, this may all soon change.― CAROLINE DONALD , SUNDAY TIMES you'll be inspired by his alternatives to broccoli and kale― Jane Shilling , DAILY MAIL James Wong includes recipes as well as advice on how to grow these plants, making Homegrown Revolution a must for anyone who is tired of wartime rations and wants to try a 21st century garden.― EDEN MAGAZINE (EDEN PROJECT) This year's most original gardening book is James Wong's Homegrown Revolution in which he urges us to try growing unusual vegetables such as asparagus peas and dahlia yams.― Constance Craig Smith , DAILY MAIL (WEEKEND) After winning a scholarship to the university of Bath James went on to train at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and the University of Kent, gaining a Master of Science degree with distinction in Ethnobotany. At the age of 27, Wong became the presenter of his own award-winning BBC Two television series Grow Your Own Drugs. The series demonstrates a number of natural remedies sourced from plants and became the highest-rated gardening series on UK television. James is also a regular face on the hit BBC One rural affairs series Countryfile since its reformatting in April 2009. In 2008, he was one of the regular presenters on the show Fossil Detectives, which was broadcast initially on BBC Four and then repeated on BBC Two. He has also appeared on BBC's Gardeners' World, Channel 4's Richard & Judy, The Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV, and on BBC Breakfast. As a garden designer, he has become a four-time Royal Horticultural Society RHS medal winner for gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show and Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Wong has designed an Ethnobotanical Garden for the University of Kent, where he is a guest lecturer.Visit his website at www.jameswong.co.uk , follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Botanygeek , and join him on Facebook www.facebook.com/pages/James-Wong . You can also watch videos of James on www.youtube.com/user/GrowSuttonsSeeds and follow him on Pinterest here http://pinterest.com/botanygeek/ .

Features & Highlights

  • A revolution in the garden - a completely new range of fruit and vegetables to grow and eat.
  • Whether it's a window box of homegrown saffron, your very own kiwi vine or a mini green tea plantation on your patio, TV botanist and best-selling author James Wong proves that 'growing your own' can be so much more exciting than spuds, sprouts and swede.Breaking free from the 'dig for victory' time warp of allotment staples, James reveals the vast array of 21st century crops that will flourish outdoors, even in our blustery North Atlantic climate - no greenhouse necessary. From goji berries to food-mile free sweet potatoes, James' revolutionary approach to edible gardening will show you how to grow, cook and eat all manner of superfood crops that are just as easy (if not easier) and far more exciting to grow than the 'ration book' favourites.Inspiring, fun and full of plant know-how, this book is set to revolutionise the whole concept of 'growing your own' for newbie growers to seasoned allotment veterans alike. You'll never look at your garden the same way again!

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(186)
★★★★
25%
(78)
★★★
15%
(47)
★★
7%
(22)
-7%
(-23)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Different but not revolutionary

I liked it but I didn't love it. It seems to me that three-quarters of the plants discussed are herbs, seasonings and/or edible weeds and flowers, not much you could make a meal with, and many of the plants are very difficult to obtain. In addition, very few of the plants discussed would work in my zone 7 garden and would require wintering over in a greenhouse. In some cases, important information is left out. An example is the hyacinth bean which is tasty as young pods but the dry beans contain cyanogenic glucosides in toxic amounts and cannot be eaten until the beans have been boiled in several changes of water. I have loads of gardening books and consider them all to be reference books that I keep close by. I did get a few good ideas from the book and it's a very attractively presented book but after having read it I'll probably never pick it up again.
5 people found this helpful
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I never even thought of that!

I've read a lot of vegetable gardening books. I might not be very experience, just been growing for four years on a very small plot, but I enjoy learning about this topic.

Someone recommended James Wong's book to me, even though I live in the States. I was skeptical at first. What can they grow on the Island anyways!

Quite of bit, as it turns out.

For one thing, I love Wong's philosophy of, "If you can buy it in the store, why waste your time growing it yourself. The economies of growing your own food are often hard to ignore. I can buy lettuce, for example, for far less effort and cost to grow it myself. The solution is simply this, grow things that are exotic and not readily available to diversify your pallet and make your cooking more interesting. Makes total sense!

Funny thing is that many of the plants I already grow, hostas, dalias, day lilies, are actually edible-- and Wong offers preparation advice to get me started. So right off the bat, there's value from what I've read.

Probably the coolest lesson I got was how to not water so much...by planting a soda bottle in the soil to create a cistern. You've got to see the illustration for this. Not only are my beds better watered, but I'm spending half the time maintaining them.

Get this book even if you live in the states!
5 people found this helpful
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I love this book!

This book is AWESOME, I am growing cucamelons because of it.
4 people found this helpful
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HE IS THE GREATEST!

I rated the book as "uno, number one"! 5 Stars! I watch Jimmy Wong on BBC America all the time because his suggestions on herbal products has helped my spouse with control of asthma/COPD. In the book is superior info...he under no condition states that he is a doctor, but he totally believes in his recipes as healers.
4 people found this helpful
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Enjoy James Wong

After watching the TV series for awhile, I decided to check into whether or not he had any books. I was pleased to see that he has several items listed. I needed to buy my gift from my husband so I chose this book and love it. Nature has so many answers that we have yet to tap into but James Wong makes me think back to when most home remedies were derived from home gardens rather than the local drug store.
3 people found this helpful
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Great resource!

A friend in England recommended this book. Yet another gardening book? No, this one IS different. Innovative and practical gardening ideas. Expand your horizons - give it a try. His background is Kew Gardens - impressive.
2 people found this helpful
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Very informative.

I love anything James Wong. This book is a nice edition to my books. It helps the gardener set up the right space to plant your garden. It has plenty of variety and as always is full of helpful information. I will be trying some different plant varieties this year.
1 people found this helpful
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Five Stars

This book will be very useful.
1 people found this helpful
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Great Information and an interesting read.

I have read this cover to cover as well as James Wongs other books and this as with the others is a fascinating read. There is so much information on so many plants and techniques that as much as I want to implement a bunch of them I have had to start slow and just pick a few things at the time to do. I can't keep it all in my head.

I have also read Grow for Taste and though there is some duplication of material it is way less than I thought it would be. It was totally worth reading both books. They reinforce some things that are in both but each has a lot of unique information, both plants and techniques.
1 people found this helpful
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Thank you for this wonderful and unique book

I live in the Pacific Northwest of the USA and bought this book because the weather in the UK is quite similar to my zone 8 maritime climate. This book is a real treasure! I am so excited to start using many of James' ideas. The only disappointing issue for me is that it is difficult to find some of the varieties of the plants that he recommends on my side of the pond. I have found quite a few though. I will be purchasing more copies of the book as gifts. Thank you for this wonderful and unique book.
1 people found this helpful