Valentine's Day tribute - Joy Larkcom
February 14, 2007
Joy Larkcom is one of the most influential of all garden writers – ever. She’s written many books on vegetables and organic gardening, published both in the UK and in the USA, and her pioneering work in bringing heirloom vegetables to the attention of the big seed companies and so to the gardens of us all has changed the way we grow vegetables and greatly expanded the range of vegetables whose seeds we sow. And if it wasn’t for Joy, those bags of tasty and nutritious mixed baby salad leaves we find in the supermarket probably wouldn’t be there.
She’s recently finished revising one of her most influential books, Oriental Vegetables (I'll let you know when the new edition is published), and at the end of this post you’ll find links to some of her other books on amazon, both in the UK and the USA.
But why is it that I mention all this today, St Valentine’s Day?
Well, Joy’s husband Don Pollard has not been well recently – and
I’ve just found out that they actually met on St Valentine’s Day (I’d
better not say when…). Don has spent his life fighting for the rights
of farm workers and contract farm labourers all over Europe and also
specialized in cooking the wonderful vegetables that Joy grew for the
constant stream of devoted visitors.
So I just wanted to remind you of the invaluable contribution that both have made to their chosen fields, and to wish them well on the anniversary of the day they first met all those years ago.
You might like to read my profile of Joy from 2001.
And here are some links to Joy’s books:
Creative Vegetable Gardening USA
Creative Vegetable Gardening UK
Grow Your Own Vegetables USA
Grow Your Own Vegetables UK
Organic Salad Garden USA
Organic Salad Garden UK