blog: coopette.com: Book review: The Pip Book

Book review: The Pip Book

The Pip Book by Keith Mossman, and published by Penguin, is an out-of-print classic.

The book is essentially a practical guide to germinating and growing on pips and seeds that don’t come from seed companies and hence don’t come in a little foil packet or with a money-back guarantee. The problem with germinating these free treasures is that, if it fails, you don’t know whether there was a problem with the seed or whether you did something wrong.

This is where Keith Mossman steps in. With some generalized advice about growing seeds indoors, followed by detailed cultivation instructions for each species and a realistic review about the chances of successful germination and the likely results, he sets you up to try your hand at growing over 30 different free plants.

Many of the pips come from edible plants, although you cannot expect them all to provide you with food in a temperate climate. I’ve already talked about avocados, but the date palm is similar and grown for its ornamental value as a houseplant.

Citrus fruits are a more viable option, and my lemon seedlings are currently looking quite healthy.

You can follow orange pips with carrot tops, coffee and sweet potato and one that I really want to try – pineapple. If you’re into exotics then how about lychees, pomegranates, kumquats and ginger? He doesn’t cover Dragon fruit though.

There’s a lovely chapter on collecting tree seeds, which would be very useful if you wanted to take part in the Tree Council’s Seed Gathering Season next October. The following chapter is even more tempting as it explains exactly how to bonsai a home-grown oak, apple, sycamore or hawthorn seedling. There’s an illustration of a bonsai crab apple in fruit, which is guaranteed to bring on a serious case of the “I want one!“s.

All in all this is a great little book (my only complaint is that it is far too short) and will have you scouring the supermarket shelves for exotic things to sprout. And if you’ve got kids then you’re lucky because you can pretend it’s for them :D

The Pip Book is currently out of print (boo!), but seems to be widely available second hand. Try Green Metropolis or Amazon in the UK and US Amazon if you’re having trouble tracking a copy down.

On Friday 16th November I will be releasing a special edition of the AKG to support the BBC Children in Need appeal. I am also writing articles and blog posts on the same subject. If you have any stories, or hints and tips, about growing edible plants from pips and stones, then send me an email and I will include them in the show.