Second hand books I've bought

Luckily our charity shop still take gardening & cookery books. And I still want gardening books with pictures. Especially being dyslexic. Pictures are a must for me.

I still buy cookery books usually from charity shops.
When I’m after a new recipe like to look at 4 or 5 book's picking the bits I like from each recipe then make a meal that suits us.

The most depressing side of charity shop books is seeing your favourite treasured book on the shelves for peanuts.

The most depressing side of charity shop books is seeing your favourite treasured book on the shelves for peanuts.

You wouldn't be too depressed round here. The cheapest paperbacks in the local Oxfam are £3 now and hard backs will likely cost a tenner. And they are not in pristine condition by any means.

Of all the second hand gardening books you’ve brought, which have you found most useful ?

I'm not a fan of No Dig Charles either. All his books have the same information, jiggled about and regurgitated.                                                                                .

I haven't watched or read any of Charles' content since I found him in a video endorsing all sorts of quackery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_HWRXm1jFg

The most depressing side of charity shop books is seeing your favourite treasured book on the shelves for peanuts.

You wouldn't be too depressed round here. The cheapest paperbacks in the local Oxfam are £3 now and hard backs will likely cost a tenner. And they are not in pristine condition by any means.

Me and my Yorkshire pal (who won't buy anything unless it's discounted)   boycott Oxfam, we expect paperbacks to be under a pound. Our favourite charity shop does them for 10p. British Heart Foundation books are also pricey. The 10p charity shop manger say its because they are forced to apply generic prices whereas she has autonomy on price labelling.

Of all the second hand gardening books you’ve brought, which have you found most useful ?

Very few of them! Nobody gardens my way.
Joy Larkcom's "Grow your own vegetables" for basic essential information - like when to sow, spacing etc. No pictures, just words. 
I like books about Forest gardening,  perennial veg, polyculture, herbs.
Books with the words Design & Plan in the titles have no chance. Not a fan of TV gardeners although Bob Flowerdew and Geoff Hamilton are OK.
I'm not a fan of No Dig Charles either. All his books have the same information, jiggled about and regurgitated.                                                                                .

You have mentioned the only two gardeners I used to follow! Sadly Geoff Hamilton is no longer with us  and I haven't heard a peep from Bob Flowerdew for a while? Both were down to earth gardeners but Geoff was very middle class wherea Bob struck a note with my Council house mentality!

Flowerdew is on Radio 4's Gardener's Question Time quite a lot. He has an active Twitter account too - https://x.com/FlowerdewBob

The most depressing side of charity shop books is seeing your favourite treasured book on the shelves for peanuts.

You wouldn't be too depressed round here. The cheapest paperbacks in the local Oxfam are £3 now and hard backs will likely cost a tenner. And they are not in pristine condition by any means.

Me and my Yorkshire pal (who won't buy anything unless it's discounted)   boycott Oxfam, we expect paperbacks to be under a pound. Our favourite charity shop does them for 10p. British Heart Foundation books are also pricey. The 10p charity shop manger say its because they are forced to apply generic prices whereas she has autonomy on price labelling.

AGE Concern used to be my favourite for books at 29p each and the shop always appeared to be full? Unfortunately it shut down though so maybe the pricing policy didn'twork!

Of all the second hand gardening books you’ve brought, which have you found most useful ?

I don't think I've bought any second hand books and not many new ones. I  do get bought gardening books though as presents quite regularly - they mustn't think I'm doing it right. My one main principle is to never get rid of organic matter whether it is diseased or full of seeds, it goes on the compost heap - with the exception of white rot infection and horsetail roots which go in the verge opposite and on the road to be crushed respectively. I've never had garden waste collected or a garden fire.

I have just looked in my 'library' and seen one book bought second hand 'save your own seed' by Lawrence D. Hills, 40 pages from 1975. That's far more pages than needed but he does tend to ramble on in his writing. At the end he quotes from a 1558 gardening book: "One acre composted is worth acres 3, at harvest thy barns shall declare it to thee".