Allotment Home >> Welcome to Allotment Vegetable Growing

Welcome to Allotment Growing
for allotment holders, growers and gardeners.

Vegetable Growing
Month by Month

The bestselling guide to growing your own

Vegetable Growing Month by Month
With FREE SEEDS

Like many allotment holders in the UK, I enjoy growing vegetables, fruit and herbs.

When we moved to our new house with its small suburban garden there was little room to indulge my passion. A small herb bed and space for a few salad crops. Around the corner I noticed an allotment site and contacted the local council to see if they had any vacant allotments.

They put me on to the site rep who showed me around the site and the vacant allotment plots. I walked away with a site key, the proud tenant of plot 5 - about 150 sq metres of overgrown, wet heavy clay soil. Wonderful!

Once you have an allotment what could be better than another? So when it became vacant, I took on plot 29.

Allotments are a great hobby. They're cheap, you get healthy exercise without having to pay for a gym or run around in circles and you get to eat healthy fruit and vegetables without all those (not so) yummy pesticides.

Most Popular Allotment Site in the UK!

I started this site as an online diary and to help others growing vegetables on an allotment and now it's the most popular allotment site in the UK! Amazing!

For the benefit of new US visitors - UK Allotments are plots of land rented to individuals to grow vegetables on. There's a brief history of allotments here

About the Allotment Web Site

Diary and Photographs

My diary simply tells of my doings on the allotment and my own photographs are in the Photos section

Vegetable & Fruit Growing, Cooking Help & Advice

As well as my books, I've put a lot of articles online to help you. They're listed on the right.

One topic that comes up on the forums, is What to do now in the garden? - I hope this new monthly series of articles will be a good guide. Month By Month

The allotment articles and vegetable growing guides are popular and for those interested more in cooking than growing, the Allotment Foods has a wealth of information.

If you are looking for an allotment - try reading this: Finding an Allotment

If you've just taken over an allotment then you're probably wondering how to clear it - these articles will help:
Clearing an Allotment and the funny You Have an Allotment!

Recipes, Making Jams & Preserves Etc

Val (my wife) runs the recipes section of the site and it's been re-organised to help you find what you want. It's got many of Val's Chutney & Jam Recipes and Member's recipes as well as general wholefood recipes

Latest Allotment Recipes

Kentish Apple Tart Recipe Dorset Apple Cake Recipe
Apple Cake (Torta con le mele) Recipe Blackberry Brandy Recipe
Prawn Tikki Recipe Spiced Aubergine Recipe
Parsley & Onion Scones Recipe Chickpea Curry Recipe
Pumpkin Delhi Curry Recipe Naan Bread Recipe

In the Web Links, listed on the left, there is a section on Gardening Magazines with links that enable you to subscribe to some great gardening publications at a discount.

Poultry Pages

A lot of allotment holders and vegetable growers share an interest in good quality home produced food and after vegetables comes fresh eggs from your own laying hens. The Poultry Pages is devoted to 'backyard poultry keepers'. There are articles on there by Katie Thear whose name will be known to many of you as she's been writing on keeping poultry and self sufficiency for many years and from Virginia Shirt.

Chatting on the Plot

If you need help or advice or can give advice, then the Allotment Growing Forum is the place to go. We've got 9,937 active members and they've posted 431,010 entries in 37,999 topics! Once registered, you can even put your own photographs on there as well.

Allotment Shopping

I’ve teamed up with some reputable suppliers I know their quality is excellent and so is their service. You can just browse for interest – it’s fascinating what’s available or click on the product link to actually buy from them. Allotment Shopping

The shop's main sections: Cookware - Seeds & Plants - Rotovators - Garden Machinery - Books - Gifts - Special Offers & Discount Vouchers.

I've revamped the seeds section of the shopping pages - and what a job it was! You can see Vegetable Seeds listed from Thompson & Morgan, Suttons and Dobies sorted into sections. Useful if you want to compare prices for the same variety. I've also listed the seeds with the RHS Award of Garden Merit and a selection of fruit trees, fruit bushes and nut trees.

Books

A selection of books I find interesting and may well interest you – they’re linked directly to Amazon where you can buy them online. There is also a Bookshop on the poultry pages where you can buy, often at a discount and with free UK delivery direct from Broad Leys Publishing.

Allotment Plot 5 in December 2003 - The Start
Allotment 5 - Dec 2002, The Start

Vegetable Growing - Month by Month
The Essential Allotment Guide
Vegetable Growing Month by Month and Author

I realised from the forums that there are a lot of new growers looking for basic help & advice so I wrote the books. Amazingly these are now best sellers!

You can buy them from bookstores online or in the high street, or you can get copies, signed, direct from me with FREE SEEDS

Vegetable Growing Month by Month
& The Essential Allotment Guide

Low Cost Self Sufficient Living

Low Cost Living

Living better for less, being green but not daft.

Have a self-sufficient home even in the suburbs or city.

More on Low Cost Living

Jam Chutney Preserves Pickles

Easy Jams, Chutneys & Preserves

By Val & John Harrison - straightforward, practical advice and our favourite recipes.

Easy Jams, Chutneys & Preserves

Allotment Growing Diary Plus

Vegetable Fruit & Herb Growing on my Allotment

Ready for Halloween
Sat, 31 Oct 2009 - Allotment Diary
Nice couple of hours on the plot and then back home to get ready for the trick or treaters... I've a few tricks ready for them!
Home Made Seed Tapes
Thu, 29 Oct 2009 - Allotment Diary
Can you make your own seed tapes at home and avoid wasting time and seed by sowing at the correct spacing
Land for Allotments
Mon, 26 Oct 2009 - Rants and Raves
Is there a role for private companies and landowners in allotment provision?
Chicken Keeping Welfare
Sun, 18 Oct 2009 - Rants and Raves
Some thoughts on animal and chicken welfare after reading a trade magazine Sadly, despite publicity galore, over half our eggs still come from battery farms.

Earlier Allotment Diaries

Allotment Tips on TV

Some allotment gardening tips I've put together along with video starring me! Warning: may break sensitive monitorsl