Simon Akeroyd

From quizmaster Dr Gareth Moore, creator of the bestselling The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book, working with the RHS and garden expert Simon Akeroyd, come 100 quizzes and puzzles to entertain and inform, testing your horticultural and botanical knowledge in fun, creative ways.

Learn how to keep your lawn in perfect condition all year round with this handy little guidebook from an experienced National Trust head gardener. Learn how to keep your lawn in perfect condition all year round with this handy little guidebook from an experienced National Trust head gardener. It's packed with invaluable advice on all aspects of lawn design, creation and maintenance, whether you want an immaculate striped formal lawn or a more hardwearing surface for your children to play on, or even a romantic chamomile lawn or one strewn with colourful spring flowers. It includes incredibly useful troubleshooting tips for the typical problems your lawn might experience, including invasive weeds, pests and diseases and the effects of the weather. The author discusses which types of mower work best for different lawns, when and how to water and feed, and how to bring a neglected lawn back to life. He even dabbles in artificial turf and how best to use it, and offers creative ideas for decorative elements such as stepping stones, edgings and winding paths. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this practical guide contains everything you need to keep your lawn in tip-top condition, every day of the year.

Nestled in a sub-tropical garden overlooking the River Dart, Greenway has an exceptional and enviable location. It certainly caught the eye of Agatha Christie, who knew the area as a child and, having made her name as a world-famous crime-writer, made it her holiday home. Nestled in a sub-tropical garden overlooking the River Dart, Greenway has an exceptional and enviable location. It certainly caught the eye of Agatha Christie, who knew the area as a child and, having made her name as a world-famous crime-writer, made it her holiday home. Greenway was the familys retreat, far from public life. Her grandson, Mathew Prichard who has provided the guidebooks foreword, remembers visits to Greenway usually took place ?when she had just finished writing her book, so it was family time; or in Agathas words, We do exactly as we like in this house. This included entertaining, playing the piano and reading, and delighting in the setting, playing croquet and clock golf. Max and Agatha were enthusiastic collectors and the fruits of their labours are proudly displayed throughout the house. Greenway now stands as a near complete echo of those leisurely days and a testament to why Agatha Christie described it as the loveliest place in the world it quite takes my breath away.

Bring the beauty of National Trust gardens to your own little patch with this foolproof plan for creating a great garden. Bring the beauty of National Trust gardens to your own little patch. Some 80% of people who visit NT properties do so 'to look at the garden'. And one of the glories of NT gardens are their incredible beds and borders – plants that bring colour, drama and surprises year round. In this book, senior NT gardener Simon Akeroyd gives you a foolproof plan to get similar effects in your own garden with 100 key plants. How to plan, how to plant, how to prune. All of the plants will be easily available, and he will give alternatives if you want to mix things up. The book is organised seasonally, with features on important skills and tasks for each season – such as testing your soil, planting bulbs, pruning for winter and so on.

The rise of the slow food movement and the return to home gardens mean cooks are donning gardening gloves as often as oven mitts. Modern cooking is heading back to its roots, with home cooks embracing local ingredients and down-to-earth recipes. With more and more of us discovering the delight of preparing and eating freshly harvested food, Vegetables for the Gourmet Gardener is the indispensable guide to what to grow, cook, and eat. A feast for the eyes and the table, this user-friendly resource traverses the realms of both the garden and the kitchen, addressing the cultivation, storage, and preparation of nearly seventy useful vegetables. Practical growing tips, fascinating histories, nutritional information, and classic recipes appear alongside botanical illustrations drawn from the Royal Horticultural Society's cherished collection. With both familiar varieties and novel options, Vegetables for the Gourmet Gardener will inspire you to create a world of new shapes, colors, and tastes.

DK brings you an all-encompassing horticultural handbook to fulfil your every leaf and legume ... the organic way! Allotment Handbook is an inspiring and innovative guide to making the most out of your gardening space so you can grow deliciously organic fruit and vegetables in abundance, at home! Discover everything you need to know to leave the supermarket behind in favour of tastier and healthier home-grown fruit and veg. Gone are the days of bland, pesticide-tainted produce flown in from the other side of the world! With this vegetable gardening book, you can start growing your own organic produce from the comfort of your own home. So what are you waiting for? Dive straight in to discover: -10 easy-to-follow steps to preparing your plot-Top tips and techniques on a diverse range of growing skills -Discover how to grow over 70 types of fruit and vegetable crops-Featuring a handy troubleshooting guide for identifying weeds, pests and diseasesFrom watering to weeding, plating to propagating, this all-encompassing how-to-grow vegetables guide has it all. You'll also find easy projects such as making a simple compost bin and planting a fruit tree and tips to attract wildlife along with simple, delicious ways to enjoy your produce. Whether you prefer to start small with a few herbs and veg staples or you are more ambitious and intend to feed your whole family all year round, the Allotment Handbook will show you how, providing something for everyone to love. It doesn't matter how much space you have available, with key techniques such as sowing seeds, assessing soil and choosing the right plants for each environment - these top tips and tricks are all featured within this how-to-garden book. Why not stand out from the crowd with this awe-inspiring allotment book and start your intuitive gardening journey today to reap the benefits of a bountiful pest-free harvest. The ideal gift for the green-fingered gardener or budding botanist in your life, Allotment Handbook shows that you are more than capable of growing delicious and thriving fruit and vegetables at home!