Gardeners' World Magazine First Time Veg Grower: Soups & Sides: Gardeners' World

Martyn Cox is the former features editor of BBC Gardeners' World magazine, deputy editor of Gardenlife and was on the editorial teams at Amateur Gardening and Horticulture Week. Now freelance, he writes a weekly gardening column in the Mail on Sunday, and monthly for Saga Magazine, saga.co.uk and Grow It. Martyn contributes regularly for many other titles, including the Guardian, Sainsbury's Magazine, Grand Designs, the Daily Telegraph, The English Garden, Homes & Gardens and the Times Magazine. He is the author of seven books, including 101 Plants for Problem Places, 101 Ideas for Small Gardens, Big Gardens in Small Spaces: Irreverent Advice for Urban Gardeners, Gardening with Kids and the award-winning RHS Wildlife Garden. Martyn trained in horticulture at Writtle College, Essex and has many years practical gardening experience. He sits on the Garden Media Guild committee and has a small garden in East London, which he opens annually for charity.

When it comes to fresh vegetables, nothing comes close to growing your own - but where to start? For those of us that crave the crisp taste of home-grown tomatoes, peppers, courgettes and more but lack the crucial experience and know-how, it can be difficult to make those first steps to transform a barren patch into a luscious kitchen garden - even for experienced gardeners, the move from decorative gardening to practical vegetable growing can prove tricky.

Gardeners' World: First Time Veg Grower can help you make that journey, with simple and practical expert advice from the moment you first don your wellies right up until you're harvesting your own crops. With step-by-step guides and clear colour illustrations helping you to get the most out of your plot all year round, this compact guide is an essential addition to any gardener's shelf. From preparing your ground to sowing, nurturing and maintaining your plants, let the practiced hands at the UK's best-selling gardening magazine help you create the vegetable patch of your dreams.