This is not your average gardening book. In it you will discover how to increase your crop yield and grow healthier, better tasting food, whilst reducing work in your garden and forking out less on your fertiliser. This seemingly impossible win-win is achieved by planting and reaping in tune with the phases of the moon. Lunar gardening has been around for as long as man has pulled food from the soil. It was practised by the Incas and the Native Americans, and is still followed by the Maoris and rural communities in Eastern Europe. Because it works. But with the mass adoption of fertilisers achieving quicker results for a need-it-now-generation, these techniques have been all but forgotten by the modern gardener. Until now. Head gardener at Cornwall's famous Tresillian Estate, John Harris has researched, studied and put in to practise the principles of gardening by the phases of the moon for more than forty years. The results he's achieved are nothing short of astonishing. He has never watered his garden (even during the drought of 1976), he only grows organically and yet he's won numerous show awards and prizes for the size, abundance and taste of his produce.In The Moon Gardener, he shows you how you can do the same by following a few simple principles.Moon gardening is not some groundless fad. It's been followed for thousands of years with great success. Anyone who's met John Harris knows he's one of the most down-to-earth people you could wish to meet. This book, written in his own inimitable style, is packed full of tips that improve results, anecdotes that inspire and resources you can rely on. Its ultimate aim is to pass on John's treasure trove of horticultural knowledge to future generations, so that we can all get more from our garden. And before you ask, no: moon gardening doesn't mean you have to start digging at night.

Author Biography

John Harris has been a professional gardener since he started his working life in 1956. He got his first spade when he was ten, his first allotment when he was eleven and his first job on a Cornish estate when he was fifteen. He was taught by 'the best in the business', Noel Masters, a head gardener for many of Cornwall's leading gardens. After his apprenticeship, John worked through various horticultural jobs including running commercial garden centres and advising on large public-works projects until twenty-five years ago, when he was offered a challenge he couldn't refuse - the restoration of Tresillian Estate's famous Victorian kitchen garden that had fallen into deep neglect. He agreed, on condition that he could follow the ancient principles of moon gardening. Tresillian is now regarded as one of the UK's finest examples of a working estate kitchen garden. John's whole life has been devoted to learning and teaching the best natural ways to make the most of the soil under our feet. He shares his wisdom regularly on TV and radio, including appearances on BBC2's Gardening Stories, Gardener's World and BBC Radio Devon's Potting Shed. Numerous articles have been written by him and about him in the national press, including the Daily Telegraph, Vogue, Amateur Gardening andCountry Life. At seventy-four, John still works full time as head of the gardening team at Tresillian, and lives on the estate with his wife Olive. Jim Rickards picked up a pen at about the same age as John picked up his first spade. He has written two books, Fields of Light and Out of Africa (both published by John Blake). After working in London for twenty years as an editor and sub-editor for HarperCollins and the BBC, he now lives in Cornwall, only a pasty's throw from John Harris. Though nowhere near as green-fingered as the world's most famous moon gardener, he shares John's passion for the end product - tasty, healthy food sourced as locally as possible. And you can't get more local than your own garden.