I’ve yet to see a more comprehensive, handsomely-illustrated and user-friendly guide of this type. Formerly, I had to thumb through a vast gardening encyclopaedia, only to find that the page numbers listed (about a dozen, at least) seemed to contain data about something totally different. For one thing, there is a useful chart showing how to identify what is eating your vegetables, with a list of symptoms, the probable cause and the page number to turn to, as well as a pretty picture of the vegetable. There are lists of general pests, vegetable pests and fruit pests, crop-by-crop, with large, colored photographs of the culprits for easy identification. Learn how to avoid problems, rotate your crops and protect them, and then have a look to see who is wanted in the garden, and why (the much-reviled spider for one). Make your own organic pesticides (you won’t need a lab) and then have a go at some homemade and harmless deterrents to see off the larger pests, like birds.

This is a great book for anybody with a garden, and makes an ideal and inexpensive present, too.

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