Grow Your Own Drugs: Fantastically Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Treats Hardcover – 5 Mar. 2009

This book is excellent for anyone who wants to make their own herbal remedies. The recipes are easy to follow and there are clear explanations of the science behind it in the background sections.It's in an attractive format with plenty of photographs. I tried the Kiwi ands Papaya face mask and it left my skin really smooth!Wong is balanced in approach; he doesn't make claims where clinical trials haven't been carried out and always advises when medical opinion should be sought.The weblinks in the resources section are really useful.I would recommend this book to anyone interested in herbal remedies, organic products or gardening. Quite a lot of the lotions are cheap to make as the ingredients are commonly found or grow in most gardens. They would make lovely presents for people if you want to give something really thoughtful.Happy remedying!

With the threatened restrictions on herbal remedies, and the proposed regulation of herbal medicine looming over us all, it is good to find a book to help you heal yourself with herbs! This author is a proper plant scientist who covers plant healing in a clear, easy to follow way. He encourages you to grow and use herbs to cook with, use as cosmetics and deal with your health issues.It is so refreshing to find a good introductory book on the subject of herbalism! I gave this to my mother (85 years old) who has always used natural medicine and she was pleased to find something which she can use to help her grow and make her own herbal helpers. Like many of us, she has been very worried that once the drug companies have finally won and the regulators have taken away access to remedies, she won't be able to help herself!Do buy the book, do make use of the information it contains. Then, please write to your MP and fight against the proposals to shut the door on free and open access to herbs as medicines!!

I've used various alternative therapies for years and have always gone to nature first when needing treatment for common ills. I watched the BBC programme and couldn't wait to get a copy of the book. I've got a list of James Wong's recipes I'm preparing to try, but thought the book would have done well to go into more detail when identifying plants. The little pictures with each plant in the back of the book are nice, but unless a person knows a plant absolutely (like nettles or conkers) identifying might become tricky. I'll probably buy a book separately to do this. Having written that, I'm very pleased to have the book and will recommend it!

This is a really interesting book that I am sure will encourage people to try natural remedies for themselves. It had that effect on me. Previously I have bought herbal teas from shops but this has given me the confidence to try making them myself. I am looking forward to getting all the ingredients I need to whip up the creams, lotions, tinctures, etc. It has inspired me to try some of these native wildflowers in my garden and I went straight to the online seed catalogues.The book is very well presented in an easy to read format. The pictures are beautiful, although I can see that some people might get irritated by the James Wong eye candy snaps; didn't bother me though! The recipes are well set out and very easy to follow.I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in natural remedies or gardening.

I bought this book after seeing the first BBC programme primarily becuse I have a large garden and am in the midst of revamping it entirely. So, thank you, Mr. Wong, I now have orderded (and received) for example, a Goji berry shrub. We have elder trees by the hundred around us so I look forward to the home-made lozenges in due course! Frankly, this is a book (and a series) which opens the mind to the beneficial effects of local natural plants. It's not a cure-all and should not be treated as such. I don't suffer from insomnia so I guess I won't try the hops pillow but there's plenty to go at elsewhere and I thoroughly recommend the book - with a caveat: do your own research before trying out these ideas. There's plenty of follow-up information on the net so don't shoot the messenger but do buy the book. He seems such an enthusiastic and pleasant person, anyway!

There are so many books out there and many of them are very good, but some have that extra special "something". In my opinion this book is such. I like to buy books when I have had chance to look through them, but this had sold out in all the local bookshops in it's first week so I decided to take a risk and go for it.Plenty of colourful pictures, beautifully set out, easy to navigate through, interesting information and recipes and a comprehensive resources list. I love it!!!

I bought this looking for remedies to help me with pain, sadly I just got the usual hints at help so found it no use to me, however, my neighbour who loves growing his garden each year has taken it to heart and he absolutely loves it. I'm so glad i's not gone to waste and is being massively enjoyed by my neighbour and his friends who've actually ordered their own copies of it.One thing, I didn't expect it to be hardback, nor as thick as it is. It's a huge amount of information with remedies and suggestions for most ailments.If unlike me you're a green fingered alien who loves the garden vibe, you need yo buy this.

I am really pleased with this book - it follows all the stuff from the brilliant TV series. Loads of bold pictures that actually help show you what you are doing. Brilliant ideas for me to have a go at and loads of amazing recepies! Only tiny slight niggle - might have been useful to have a list of seasonal availability for getting the ingrediants fresh. Although it does say that dried can be used, my preference would be for fresh and it would be a little easier to know exactly when they are available.Totally would recommend this book and hope there will be another very soon - even my kids love it and look forward to trying out all the goodies inside!