How to grow food

In 1940 Doreen Wallace, prolific novelist, academic, social campaigner and farmer, wrote a book for Batsford on vegetable growing, as part of the publisher's iconic Home Front Handbook series.

With its chatty, readable writing style and its beautiful Brian Cook cover, the book became a wartime classic, invaluable for everyone growing fruit and vegetables at home to help the war effort. This reissue of that important book retains all the appeal of the original.

As well as being a great read, it contains a wealth of information that is still useful for vegetable gardeners today.

It tells you what fruit and vegetables to grow and when, how and why, how to keep down weeds and pests, explores 'The Vexed Question of Small Fruit', gives tips on arrangement and rotation of crops, and even touches on the subject of keeping hens and pigs in your garden.

Full of sensible practical advice mixed with whimsical musings and a great deal of charm, this book would make a perfect gift for any gardener.