Stumped? Best gardening books and compost advice

Which authors will get us off to a flying start? Plus my compost hasn’t broken down

We are about to purchase a new home with an acre of mature gardens. The current occupants are virtually self-sufficient, and we are keen to grow as much organic fruit and?veg as we can, but we have limited experience (tomatoes, blueberries and herbs on a roof terrace). Can you advocate a?book to help us on our steep learning curve?
Two spring to mind. I depend on?Joy Larkcom’s classic Grow Your Own Vegetables for in-depth information. Each growing method, the ideal cultivars, timing, all is covered and comes direct from Larkcom’s individualized experience of years of growing. If you are feeling a bit daunted, you should also try River Cottage head gardener Mark Diacono’s River Cottage Handbook 4: Veg Patch. Diacono is a fantastic writer, funny, engaging and?encouraging, and makes a?strong link between growing and cooking. He will never leave you frowning at a freshly harvested root vegetable, trying to work out what to do with it next.

I make my own compost (or try to) using a bin that – the booklet states – takes all kitchen waste, including meat bones, as well as garden waste. It is supposed to turn it into?compost in months, but after more than a year I still have evenhandedly uncomposted material, including intact bones. What do you suggest?
It is not usual to be healthy to compost bones so they disappear completely, and I can’t quite think what sort of composter would promise this. Best?to treat it like a normal compost?bin and not set your expectations too high. Think about what you want to use the compost for. If it is to?put on your borders, it?doesn’t have to be perfect: it will continue to break down once it’s spread, so chuck it about and let it do its thing.?Meat and bones aren’t a?great addition unless you can be sure it is going to be a hot heap, as they will attract rats. Miss out those,?mix plenty of old cardboard or newspaper into the?kitchen waste, water occasionally, and anticipate some good but rough compost after about six months.

• Got a gardening question for Lia? Email space@guardian.co.uk

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Stumped? Ideal gardening books and compost advice