About this item

What gardeners want most is a bigger and better return on their investment of time and money--maximum yields and superior flavor for edibles, long-lasting blooms for flowers. Derek Fell's Grow This! features expert advice for choosing and growing the top-performing plants (and avoiding the ones that disappoint) .Derek Fell has grown hundreds of varieties and annually visits gardens and test plots across America, so he's qualified to guide gardeners to the best of the best--more than 600 vegetable, flower, herb, and lawn grass all-stars. He offers honest feedback about plant performance, even when it contradicts favorable public opinion or a grower's claims. Seed racks may be filled with 'Kentucky Wonder' snap beans, but he dismisses that variety as too fibrous and needy and instead recommends 'Blue Lake' beans for tenderness and high yields.



About the Author

Derek Fell

DEREK FELL is the author of more than 100 works of non-fiction including books and calendars, dealing mostly with art, travel and gardens. Born and educated in England, he became an American citizen in 1970 and began a series of gardening books. This led to a series of acclaimed works about the gardens of the great Impressionist painters, Renoir, Monet, Cezanne and Van Gogh. This led to a biography about Vincent Van Gogh, 'Van Gogh's Women' and a co-authored cookbook, 'Monet's Palate Cookbook.' His most popular garden books include 'Vegetables - How to Select, Grow and Enjoy,' 'Grow This,' 'Vertical Gardening' and 'The Gardens of Frank Lloyd Wright.'

Derek is winner of more awards from the Garden Writers Association than any other person, and he was a consultant on vegetable gardening to the White House during the Ford Administration. Derek is married, with three children and three grandchildren, and lives at historic Cedaridge Farm, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He also owns a property on frost-free Sanibel Island, Florida where he cultivates a one-acre tropical garden a block from the beach. There he grows mostly tropical fruits such as coconuts, bananas, mangoes, avocados and macadamia nuts.

Derek's mentors include O. D. Gallagher, a World War II war correspondent who taught him to write; Harry Smith, horticultural photographer who taught him to photograph gardens; and David Burpee dean of American seeds-men, who taught him a great deal about gardening in the US when Derek worked six years as Burpee's catalog manager.

Derek has written hundreds of garden articles, illustrated by his own photography for leading publications such as Architectural Digest, the New York Times magazine and Connoisseur. Contact Derek at derekfell@verizon.net.



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