Blooming marvellous

And even if you live a bit further afield – say in the wilds of Derbyshire, of Northumberland, even Cumbria or, say it quietly, Lancashire – there's a likelihood that Joe Maiden will not be an unknown. Even if his accent is.

Well, in case you didn't know, Joe Maiden was born in Penrith, so that's why the voice coming over the airwaves every Sunday morning on Radio Leeds's Gardeners' Direct Line, sounds very un-Yorkshire-ish.

In every other way, however, Joe is a Yorkshire son on the soil. And a very good one at that. In fact, what he doesn't know about gardening probably isn't worth knowing.

From leaving home at 17 when he went to study at Askham Bryan, near York, working for Leeds City Council, becoming head gardener and finally senior area manager and helping make Leeds one of the greeneest cities in the country, he has lived for gardening.

He has a passion for vegetables, winning numerous trophies for his produce, but he's just at home with sweet peas as he is with swedes. And he's as fond of talking about gardening as he is as the act of gardening itself.

Which goes a long way to explaining why, after all these years immersed in hosticulture, he's written a book – Grow With Joe – which not only explains the art and intricacies of gardening, but also the man himself.

Joe Maiden is...Joe Maiden. It's that simple. He lives for gardening. And if he can help others to enjoy their gardening or just get interested in gardening, he's in hoticultural heaven.

For years he has exhibited far and wide; for decades he has toured the halls and meeting rooms of the North, giving talks, answering questions, telling jokes and reminiscing about all things to do with gardening. It's about his life; it is his life.

Cut him and you'd probaly get soil coming out of his veins; good, well-dug, enriched, fertile soil, ideal for growing onions or, indeed, roses.

Grow With Joe is what it says on the front of the book – it's pretty much a complete journey through the world of gardening, from preparation to sowing, from pest control to harvesting. All that knowledge and all that experience crammed into just 160 pages. From hanging baskets to hedges, leaf mould to lavender, it's a journey through the garden and through a man's life in the garden.

Want to know when to sow sweet corn in Yorkshire? Joe will tell you.

Which are the best-flavoured strawberries? Joe has the answer.

He doesn't beat about the bush; he just gets on with the job of informing, sprinkling the text with anecdotes and common sense.

The erudite and entertaining David Hessayon, the author of all those Expert books, once told me that he could speak for England; Joe Maiden could speak for Yorkshire – and Cumbria and probably a lot more counties as well.

This time, he is speaking via the printed page. And although we don't have the soft Cumbrian lilt, we do have sound common sense.

Which is probably one of the reasons Waterstones have made Joe's book their "Yorkshire Book of the Month" for November. And the man himself will be signing copies on:

Thurs, Nov 25, Waterstones Huddersfield (Kingsgate Centre) 11.30am-1pm.

Thurs, Nov 25, Wades, Halifax, 2pm-3.30pm.

Sat, Nov 27, Waterstones, Wakefield, noon-1.30pm.

Sat, Dec 4, Grove Bookshop, Ilkley, 11.30am-1pm.

Grow With Joe, 14.99, is published by Great Northern Books. To order your copy@ 14.99 plus 2.75 p&p, call our order line 01748 821122 Mon-Sat 9am-5pm or, by post, send cheque made payable to Yorkshire Books. Send your order to Yorkshire Books Ltd 1 Castle Hill Richmond DL10 4QP. Also available online at www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/shop