'good life' books

[ChrisG]

Does anyone else read books about living the good life, or setting up a smallholding, or even simply veg growing or chicken keeping, etc? If so, what have you read recently that you can recommend and/or what would you like to read/is on your reading list that you'd like to hear recommendations (or why to avoid) about?

I am currently ploughing through 'Square Foot Gardening' which is a book which explains how to get more food out of less space in the garden. I havent tried out the ideas yet, but apparently the Soil Association is interested enough to be trialling some plots somewhere and the results are so far positive. It reduces the number of seedlings you end up with (after all, who can eat 200 lettuces anyway, let alone when they all mature the first week in July??) and maximises the amount of things you can grow by using 1 square foot as a basis. In that space, you can grow 1 cabbage, or 4 beetroot, or 9 carrots or 16 radishes. Obviously you have to have more than 1 sq foot, but that is the basic size for each crop and there are always sqare numbers of things growing in them. Havent probably explained it very well, but it's a good read and I know people who use the method and claim it is very good.

BTW, courgettes- you plant one in a block of 9sq feet as they are very greedy plants that like to spread their wings a bit!

[Sunny B]

I don't think you can beat John Seymour's books on self sufficiency.

Someone brought some "square feet" of veg to the local Green Fair and it really does show you don't have to have a big garden to grow a few veg and salads.

[ChrisG]

I don't think you can beat John Seymour's books on self sufficiency.

'

Couldnt agree more. I have two or three of his, including the Complete Book of Self Sufficiency and The Self Sufficient gardner.