Christopher Brickell

This is an excellent overall gardening guide. From pruning to mulch, division to fruit trees, containers to compost, this one has it all. I have used the vegetable section extensively, and plan to use the espalier information when planting my first apple trees. The photographs are excellent.

The work of reference for the days before plant ID apps. It still sits on my bookcase and still comes out whenever someone says 'what is this?' or if I am looking for a particular plant. Not incredibly up to date today perhaps but a great starting point.

Very thorough, thematic introduction in gardening. Only shortfalling of the book is that the topics are so parsed that there is substantial repetition of common tasks throughout the book. Beautifully illustrated.

A well illustrated and highly comprehensive guide to gardening in the UK. Anyone with specialist interests is probably going to want something a bit more specialised than this book, huge though it is, but as a starting point or inspiration, this is a great start.