this is such a superb book with a lot of ideas to grow what you eat in your meal.. Great book. Can give a try if you are a person interested in growing plants.

How to Grow Your Dinner Without Leaving the House by Claire Ratinon is a beginner's guide to growing food at home. The book itself isn't as organized as it could have been and wasn't very comprehensive if you had more gardening experience.

This was a fascinating book, but unfortunately my access to the advance copy was not long enough for me to peruse it completely or attempt any of the ideas in it.
I think it is a perfect book for anyone interested in growing veggies at home.

It's got everything you need to know and consider, to make your dream garden a reality, no matter how small your living area. It starts off with the basics of growing , planning your area and ends with further approaches to maximize your time, effort and space. I really love the tip about how to keep birds and pests away from your plants. Plus, microgreens! I've always wanted to try my hand at growing those green things. I'm in awe of the people behind this book; for such a short read, it packs quite a punch!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Laurence King Publishing Ltd for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

How to Grow your Dinner is a starter gardening book on how to grow vegetables, herbs, edible flowers and mushrooms in your own small space, especially on a balcony.

It explains how to sow the seeds and raise the plants, plus how to put them in containers and what type of compost to use. Also included are details of how to take care of the plants and about seasonal planting. The book also covers the basics such as light, water, temperature and what equipment you would need.

Taking care of your plants, provides details on how to support plants, deal with pests, watering and feeding the plants plus how to set up a wormery.

The chapter on plant profiles provides details on different vegetables and when and how to start them off, plant them on, how to look after them, harvesting and overwintering if required.

Whilst this book is aimed at a small garden area or balcony you need to consider that the plants need to start off somewhere warm, so you will probably need room indoors for your seedlings.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

Pulls a lot of disparate info together and is a good informative starting point. Not sure I need it myself, but good for a beginner.

As a complete newbie to anything involving planting, this book was a tad dense for me just because it is such a thorough beginner's guide to growing your own food. It talks about so much I don't feel that I can summarize it well. The main portion of the book I'd say is talking about the different types of foods you can regrow, including how and when to grow it and harvest it. Other components of the book include how to choose the right container, sowing seeds, worming, and so much more. I don't think it will include everything you'll ever need to know about how to grow your own food, but it is a very good start.

Over the summer with this Covid lockdown, Many of us have turned to our gardens for pleasure and occupation. With food selling out every time a lockdown is announced, self sufficiency has become more popular. So this book is very timely. But not everyone has big gardens or allotments. This books explains in easily understandable language how to grow crops in plants and containers . Tips and advice on how to succeed help you to be successful so that your plants are healthy and tasty. The book is well organised with good photographs and attractive lay-outs.

How to grow your own dinner is a book for beginners wanting to learn how to grow basic edible plants especially in smaller spaces. It covers all aspects of the life cycle from seed to fruit and offers tips and advice as well as the basic instructions. It includes troubleshooting tips and extras such as how to get seeds from the plants. It is easy to understand and well structured and would give anyone confidence (even those who think they are poor gardeners). A good gifting book and one to refer back to again and again.

This is an enjoyable and simple gardening book. I got into gardening beyond just my basil plant in my kitchen this year and really liked how straightforwards "How to Grow Your Dinner," was. It will definitely give the basics for someone starting out like myself, and it focuses primarily on easy to grow veggies and herbs that you can set up on your patio (like I have), or inside your home. There are a few topics which I feel could've been slightly elaborated on a little - there's definitely a few more types of garden pests with any kind of outdoor gardening you might run into, and a little bit more about plant diseases (pictures are most useful) would also be helpful for a beginner gardener. Additionally, I would've liked to have seen a bit more about planters - there's not really a mention of self-watering planters in the planter section. I like this book's tips - start a garden diary, and understand your space. Overall a nice book, one I would recommend - but primarily to my British friends, I think. It sounded as if there's not really options to buy potting mix pre-made where the author is, as she only really mentions compost as growing medium, and also doesn't specify her preferred soil recipe. ...Also, what on earth is a courgette? That's a squash, right? The book doesn't show a full picture of the fruit, it just says they're "also known as "marrows." I've never heard *either* term before, haha! Definitely taught me something.

Basic gardening information for the absolute beginner, especially suited to urban gardeners. This is a British book, so the plants profiled are best suited for the UK and moderate US gardens (also uses UK names for some plants like what we Americans call eggplant and zucchini). Not a complete guide, and doesn't go into things like frost dates and such, but good general overview for what to expect when you start out, general seed starting, container gardening, pests and profiles of general plants and some mushrooms.

Review copy via Net Galley.

All aspects of growing are covered here, from the basic elements needed to grow a happy plant, to the steps necessary to nurture a plant from seed, to details about how to grow specific types of plants. This is definitely a beginner gardening book—nothing is covered in-depth, but the basics are there and there’s enough here for you to get started. The sections on individual plants are particularly helpful, as they cover information such as water needs and pruning techniques.

While I would have liked to have seen ore of the nitty-gritty details and more information on out-there choices for a container garden, such as pumpkins, this was still a good book to use to get started, and the photographs included are very inspiring.

This book was just excellent. I found answers to quite a few of my questions about indoor and balcony gardens. I can't wait to try some of the suggestions. I also like the design of this book. I would recommend to all that are beginners in (indoor or balcony) gardening.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this! All opinions are my own.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting book!

There's information on indoor growing of edible plants. It's not super organized, I was expecting something by plant or season. I was also expecting more specifics from the book. There's information if you want to grow tomatoes or herbs but not a lot of other variety.

There's information about growing plants from seeds or starts. Some of it talks about about transplanting the plants to outdoors so the book isn't specifically for growing a plant inside for its lifecycle.

It's a helpful beginners guide for getting started with indoor growing but not an intensive guide.

With the fact that I'm just starting to think about growing my own garden, I thought maybe this book was for me. I am also one who has been known to kill plants in the past so I want to know everything I can before trying out a serious garden. This book was perfect for me.

It is laid out in a very simple manner that makes the information easy to digest. The sections are set up in a logical order to take you from the very beginning of gathering tools and planning to germination, replating, and harvesting. And it is all written so that even I, the killer of most plants, feel confident enough to even try.

This is a book that will be permanently on my bookshelf and a reference tool.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately, I do not have the capability to read this book in the protected pdf format. Thank you.

In How To Grown Your Dinner Without Leaving The House Claire shows us how to do just that - how to grow your own fruit and veg year around from a tiny balcony, window box, or even just indoors. She covers absolutely everything a beginner veg grower might need to know, from planning what to grow that is suitable for your space to saving seeds from your crop for next year. There are focus chapters on fruit and veg that are especially suited to small space growing such as potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms and herbs, and even I as a slightly more experienced grower have picked up a lot, including a few things where I could not figure out where I was going wrong!

How to Grow Your Dinner: Without Leaving the House by Claire Ratinon has advice on how to grow plants you can eat, and talks about growing them in your garden, and also on your windowsill (microgreens for instance).

There's advice about growing from seed, what kind of compost you want to use at different times, and advice about how to make the best of the space you have.

The book has lots of lovely photos, and suggestions for what plants you should grow, and advice about them such as feeding them, pollination, light, when you should start growing from seed.

If you're thinking about vegetable plants, herbs, or  mushrooms, then it's got lots of advice and help!

How to Grow Your Dinner: Without Leaving the House was published on 27th August 2020, and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones and your local independent bookshop.

You can follow Claire Ratinon on her website and Instagram.

I was given this book in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Laurence King Publishing.

This is a useful little book if you are a novice to container gardening. It offers good practical advice about every aspect of growing food for your table, except two.

It gives clear tips on how and when to grow fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers and distinguishes which types can be grown all year round as opposed to those that are seasonal. For each plant, it also gives a guide on the ideal growing conditions.

The book guides the amateur gardener from sowing to harvest and includes a useful and comprehensive chapter on worm farming, which is essential for any container garden.

It lightly touches on edible flowers and microgreens – subjects on which numerous books can be written alone. It discusses the management of pests and diseases and how to support plants.

All this together makes for a very comprehensive book, except for the two omissions, which I personally feel is information any home food grower should not be without.

The omissions were high yield plants and sprouts. Container gardens are constrained according to the space available to the gardener. So, to me, it would make sense to include plants that have a high yield, either because they are prolific growers (such as spinach) or have multiple edible parts (like squash and carrots).

Sprouts, while not a technically a plant and so I suppose does not fall under “gardening”, do fit into the category of cultivating food at home. They are also a high yield and easy to cultivate so their absence from the book feels like a missed opportunity.

A wonderful resource for edible container gardening no matter your space or vegetable preferences. She covers the basics and then some with instructions on your own home wormery to supporting your plants and troubleshooting. The plant profiles are succinct covering all of the plant's needs including pollination and overwintering. A useful resource.