Great winter read for inspiration and ideas

Now that we are all confined indoors, mostly looking out at frost or hail these last few days, it's nice to mould oneself into the armchair and peruse a few chapters of a good gardening book. Tuesday in the library (yes the library-i can hear the giggling from here-how "quaint" of me to go to the library instead of downloading from Amazon like a regular 2012 person) anyway, I found the just published and very beautifully presented Fionnoula Fallon Book "From the Ground up". I thought it was better to just borow it, lovely and all as it is, because a lot of the time these pretty gardening books are all style and no substance. Yet another dust catcher to add to the already considerable collection that are causing my shelves to creak and sag in the middle.

Was I wrong? yes indeed, two chapters in and I can tell this is pure gold. Not only indepth profiles of very interesting and varied "grow your own people" spread over the length and breath of the country but a good look at what they grow, what they have learnt from experience, what they find invaluable to help (tools, seeds, websites etc). Our old buddy Klaus is the first featured and today I am reading about Peggy, a famous Irish grandmother who became an allotment blogger a few years ago and has a massive following. She has a lovely gardening bunch in Blarney in Cork that includes her fellow allotmenteers, own children and grandchildren! Fascinating stuff. Anyway I priced it on Amazon at £19 sterling and on Easons for around €24.99. It's in hardback and is a really beautiful as well as practical book, Finnoula's husband who is a photographer collaborated with her on it.

So if you are writing to Santa it may be worth the mention, but if like me you want to look before you leap check it out in your local library, a building with bricks and mortar, not a virtual one on d'internet!

www.easons.com
www.amazon.co.uk

Peggys blog is here www.organicgrowingpains.blogspot.ie and when I get a moment I will tag it on to my own.