Did you know Avocados contain around 20 minerals and vitamins which are essential to good health? But a medium avocado contains more calories than a Mars bar? Who cares? They're delicious and can be used in everything from salad to soup. And make a fabulous face mask! Super Food: Avocado contains Feature spreads - covering the history of avocados, plus health benefits, how to use avocado to dye fabric and grow your own. Delicious food and drink recipes - from snacks, starters, mains and desserts. Enjoy a bacon and egg baked avocado with a mango, avocado and spinach smoothie for breakfast! Health and beauty recipes - make your hands beautiful with an avocado, olive oil and lemon treatment, or brighten dull skin with an avocado exfoliant. Food is super! There's all sorts of things you can do with fruit and veg - and not always what you'd expect. Whether it's cooking delicious dishes, looking after your teeth or making facepacks, there's all kinds of interesting, healthy uses for fruit and veg. Each book in the Super Foods series takes a look at one ingredient and shows a host of uses - both practical and delicious. The first books in the series are: Avocado, Cucumber, Pomegranate, Lemon, Beetroot and Coconut.

What would a greengrocer say if you were to ask for half a dozen Grenadiers and a couple of Catsheads? In the course of the past century we have lost much of our rich heritage of orchard fruits, but with taste once again triumphing over shelf-life and a renewed interest in local varieties, we are rediscovering the delights of that most delicious and adaptable fruit: the apple. This book features apples from the Herefordshire Pomona that are still cultivated today. The Pomona - an exquisitely illustrated book of apples and pears - was published at the height of the Victorian era by a small rural naturalists' club. Its beautiful illustrations and authoritative text are treasured by book collectors and apple experts alike. From the familiar Blenheim Orange and Worcester Pearmain to the less feted yet scrumptious Ribston Pippin, Margil and Pitmaston Pine Apple, Heritage Apples is illustrated with the Pomona's stunning paintings and tells the intriguing stories behind each variety, how they acquired their names, and their merits for eating, cooking or making cider. Also including practical advice on how to choose and grow your own trees, this is the perfect book for apple-lovers and growers.

In this book, beginners will learn the best way to use a mushroom kit, as well as how to maintain the sterile procedures and controlled environment that cultivation requires. Novices and the more experienced will learn how to create grain spawn or sawdust spawn and how to use liquid cultures and fruiting chambers. Advanced readers will gain a thorough knowledge of how to work with large-scale grain spawn, agar, bag cultures, bulk substrates, and large fruiting chambers to produce mushrooms consistently and in greater quantity.

How to Grow Winter Vegetables shows that it is possible to enjoy an abundance of vegetables at the darkest time of year, whether stored or ready for harvesting when needed. It also covers growing for the 'hungry gap' from April to early June. Not much grows in winter, but a well-organised plot may nonetheless be quite full. You need to plan carefully, and well ahead (as early as spring) for sowing and planting at specific times through the year, so the main part of the book is an extensive month-by-month sowing, planting and growing calendar. Further sections cover harvesting, from garlic in July right through to the last of the overwintered greens in May, and storing your produce. Many salads can be grown in winter, especially with a little protection from fleece, cloches or larger structures. The book includes a whole section on frost-hardy salad plants, explaining how to ensure harvests of fresh leaves throughout winter. The beauty of winter and its produce is captured in glorious photographs from the author's garden.

What says summer more than a bowl full of fresh blueberries, sweet strawberries, and perfectly ripe raspberries? How about a yard full of them? Homegrown Berries makes it easy to have tasty and beautiful berries in any home garden.

Homegrown Berries includes a primer on the basics of growing berries, with details on site selection, when and where to plant, soil preparation, sun requirements, disease prevention, pruning, and dealing with pests and wildlife. Incorporating berries into the garden is made easy with tips on using them in borders and containers, as well as hedges and fences. In addition to complete growing information for strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, gooseberries, currants, and elderberries, the book suggests cultivars for a variety of climates and situations.

This accessible guide will lead you down the proven path to a bountiful, berry-filled garden.