Vegetable Growing Month by Month

By: John Harrison

OK, I'll come clean and declare my interest! I wrote this and I'm a bit biased. Well extemely proud of it to be truthful and it is a bestseller.

It's aimed firstly at the new vegetable grower but there are tips and tricks that I think will help even more experienced gardeners. It's not a coffee table book, no full colour photographs or exotic ideas, just basic advice I'd give to another grower on the allotment.

For a full chapter list and to buy a signed copy direct, click this Vegetable Growing Month by Month or for a discount follow the Amazon link to the right.

Go on - it's not expensive and you won't be sorry! At 256 pages it's just over 2p a page!

 The Essential Allotment Guide

By: John Harrison

This is my second book and it's aimed squarely at the allotment grower. Like my first book, Vegetable Growing Month by Month, it's straightforward and simple advice. No colour pictures, if you need to be enthused with staged shots of wonderful carrots, this is not the book for you.

You'll find full details of the book here - The Essential Allotment Guide

 Successful Allotments: Green Essentials - Organic Guides

By: Pauline Pears

Historically an important social tradition, allotments are now increasingly popular with a younger audience and with families who want to try growing their own organic produce. Here we show you how to go about finding an allotment, what to grow, how to maintain interest and get the most benefit from being an allotment holder. No previous gardening experience is assumed and everything is presented in a simple, step-by-step style. Successful Allotments is endorsed by the HDRA and the Soil Association, so you know you can trust all the organic advice.

I met Pauline Pears many years ago when she was at Bocking - I don't suppose she will remember being famous and all! Nice one, Pauline - if you read this.

 Allotment Folk

By: Chris Opperman

Profiling the unique obsessions and preoccupations of over 40 British allotmenteers, young and old, this book dispels the myth that there's no more to allotments than home-grown vegetables, compost, weeding and an over-abundance of tomato seedlings.
Featuring everything from oversized marrows and dye plants to pampered rabbits and bees to allotments as performance art, along with the amazing and usually eccentric people behind them, this book is a humourous celebration of the diversity, industry and comedy that pervades the modern allotment community. Each story is accompanied by revealing photographs of the allotmenteer and his or her "patch".
Suggested by Katt - Many Thanks!

 The Allotment Book

By: Andi Clevely

A wonderfully illustrated celebration of the blood, sweat and joy to be had 'growing your own' in an allotment - with the in-depth, practical gardening know-how Collins is renowned for. No longer considered the preserve of old men in sheds, allotment gardening is currently enjoying a renaissance of interest. People of all ages and from all walks of life are digging their own plots in search of the ultimate in fresh, organic produce - and you cannot get more locally-sourced than your own allotment!

This book testifies to the new vibrancy of allotment culture, aiming both to inspire the next generation of plot-holders and to provide all the practical knowledge needed to turn a patch of soil into a lifelong adventure. Open to all the new eco-gardening techniques, and the various weird and wonderful ways people make use of their plots, contents include: the history of allotments - from 19th century origins, through wartime 'Dig for Victory', to the cosmopolitan communities of today; features photos and interviews with current plot-holders; planning your perfect allotment - finding it, assessing it, clearing the ground and working out what to grow the brown stuff - all you need to know about soil management.

It also features the key to growing success choosing a gardening method - organic, biodynamic, rotation beds, companion planting, greenhouse, multi-level, potager, cottage garden, and so on. The hard stuff - constructing sheds, compost bins, cold frames, fruit cages, ponds, seating and play areas selecting crops - what and how to grow, from parsnips and peas to chilli peppers and lemon grass cultivation techniques - digging, sowing, feeding, weeding and harvesting, plus troubleshooting pests and diseases the allotment calendar - extensive, month-by-month look at what's in season, jobs for now and looking ahead.

Possibly tries a little too hard in places.

 The A-Z of Allotment Vegetables

By: Caroline Foley

"The A-Z of Allotment Vegetables" is full of essential information on all the best known vegetable varieties, as well as numerous exotic and lesser-known ones. The main part of the book is the vegetable directory, which tells you everything you need to know about the different vegetable varieties, including information on sowing and planting, cultivation, problems, varieties, and cooking.

Many of the vegetable varieties are illustrated in a special colour section, which accompanies the vegetable directory. A delightful chapter on growing for showing explains the history and traditions of exhibiting at flower shows and is followed by useful chapters on gardening techniques and pest and disease control. Packed full of information and with useful tips throughout, this book is useful reading for the allotment gardener.

 The Allotment Handbook

By: Sophie Andrews

Concentrates more on allotment issues than growing on the plot, which is no bad thing.

From an Amazon review:

"History, legal information, planning guides, how to campaign. And loads of contact information. A friend lent it to me who has just used it with her group to set up an allotment committee, and I didn't want to give it back! I've never seen so much information on the legal etc side of allotments in one place like this. It's not very big, but packed with info and easy to read and understand the complicated planning and legal stuff."

 Close to the Veg

By: Michael Rand

At first glance a book about allotment holding may seem to be very frugal fare indeed but not so in this case. First off, this is not just about the many and varied pleasures that the tending of an allotment can bring; it's also a semi-autobiographical and frequently hilarious, meandering stroll with Mick through life"s tribulations, as well as being incredibly informative on such subjects as organic growing and natural history.

So, if you?re into allotments you'll love this and if you're not, you'll still get much pleasure from it (I bet you're dying to know about the Swedish Rastafarian), and I guarantee you?ll keep it on your bookshelf . But don't lend it out to anyone, make 'em buy their own copy.
Well done Michael!

Amazon Review

 One Man and his Dig

By: Valentine Low

When I first got this book, I thought it was going to be a London view of allotments by a middle class member of the chattering classes. The author being a journalist, I wondered if he even had a plot.

Well, what a pleasant surprise I had. It's a really enjoyable easy read. It's not a "how to" book or a dry discourse on the benefits of allotments, it's one of the best descriptions of what makes allotments wonderful that I've read. There are some facts, especially regarding the decline in allotments, but they don't detract from the story.

I really enjoyed it and would recommend it wholeheartedly.

 Practical Allotment Gardening: A Guide to Growing Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs on Your Plot

By: Caroline Foley, Clive Nichols (Photographer)

Sadly, like a lot (most) gardening books nowadays this book has more pretyy photographs than solid factual help.

Still, some people prefer the inspirational style to the practical. Hence 3 stars.

 You Are What You Grow

By: Antonia Swinson

You Are What You Grow is a first collection of newspaper columns from the first lady of allotmenteering, Antonia Swinson. It is an inspiration even to those who don't tend so much as a window box.

Addressing issues such as land ownership and organic produce, Swinson offers a fascinating take on the challenges facing an allotmenteer in the northern climes of Edinburgh.  You Are What You Grow presents the humble allotment as a metaphor for how we live our lives today.

Hmm, possibly a bit high falutin

 Allotment Gardening

By: Susan Berger

This book is advertised as "An Organic Guide for Beginners" my own feeling was that it is reasonable value for money but I felt there were a few areas where the author was either glossing over or had treated a topic too lightly. The recipes seem a bit superfluous as well.

Everything was just a bit lightweight and all in all, it left me wanting more detail.