There's something about the word 'allotments' that conjures up an image of traditional values, of balmy summer days spent working the land, escaping in honest toil. A rural idylll far removed from our everyday experience. And even though allotments can be found throughout the world, in our minds they still seem to encapsulate a certain Britishness. Andrew Buurman's photographs capture the essence of the allotment and convey the enthusiasm and diversity of today's plot holders. These photographs were all taken on Uplands Allotments, in Handsworth, in the heart of Birmingham. The largest allotment site in the UK - with 422 plots - it opened in 1949, with its own office and meeting hall. Even today it retains much of the communal spirit of the post war era with weekly tea dances, bingo nights and an annual flower and vegetable show. The history of allotments tracks the major social and political changes in British life: the move away from open field agriculture, the urbanisation of the Industrial Revolution, the need for home grown produce during both World Wars. By 1943 there were some 1.4 million allotments in the UK growing 10 percent of the nation's food. Inevitably both increasing affluence and the redevelopment of many sites led to a dramatic decrease in numbers, though in recent years there has been a resurgence of interest. There are now some 300,000 allotments in the UK often shared between families and friends.

Food plants have their own ornamental value, adding harmony to existing landscapes without creating a separate vegetable garden. They also provide a fresh, healthy alternative to the tasteless and woody fruits and vegetables bred for long-distance transportation and shipped to our grocery stores from all over the world. In this book, we show how, with just a little effort, you can augment your landscape with edibles of every description in an environmentally sustainable manner: * Veggie favorites: tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, beans and onions * Berries: blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries * The superhealthy: flax, broccoli, kale and garlic * The oddly beautiful: Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, asparagus and artichokes * The ancient and exotic: quinoa, fennel and hardy kiwi * Plus starting, maintaining and harvesting an edible garden, propagation and winter care, and solutions to common garden problems.

This is the complete practical guide to kitchen gardening, from planning and planting to harvesting and storing. It shows you how to design the kitchen garden that's right for you, with original plans for a range of gardens of all shapes and sizes, including a large-scale vegetable plot, a potager, and a courtyard kitchen garden. It covers all the main vegetables, fruit and herbs, with detailed advice on the best varieties to choose.

Produced by the Ministry of Agriculture, the "Allotment and Garden Guides" were issued monthly throughout 1945. Aimed at the amateur gardener, they were to be the final rallying call in the wartime campaign to Dig for Victory. Concentrating on the productive garden, the guides were designed to take the amateur gardener through the basic tasks of each month. Many of the subjects tackled are as relevant now as they were then. How to make a compost heap, when to sow marrow seed, which seeds are they easiest to save, are still popular topics in the modern gardening media. However, other subjects convey the war-time difficulties: seed shortages due to enemy occupation in Europe, regulations on flower growing, and the very real prospect of running out of food next winter. Packed with additional photographs and illustrations, Twigs Way gives an historical overview to gardening during the Second world war and comments on each month of the guide. Many people still work allotment or vegetable plots that were first established during the war years, 'inheriting' them from a generation that used these guides as their gardening bibles. To read the Guides now is to experience a sense of both the urgency of the war-time garden, and the timelessness of the processes of gardening.

The Urban Vegetable Patch is an eco-friendly guide to growing green, no matter your space. Starting with how to set-up your own vegetable patch up - be it on a windowsill, a balcony or even an allotment - you will learn how to make the most of your space, whatever the size. From how to grow vegetables organically - be it from seed or even food scraps - to making your own fertiliser, as well as practical tips on how to cook, store and share your haul, reduce your use of plastics and water, and even how to plant for wildlife, this book will inspire you to grow your way to greener way of living - so dig in!

In this practical and personal book, Gardeners' World presenter Adam Frost takes you through his process for getting the most out of a garden space whatever its size, whether it's a window box, a terrace with a few pots or a bigger space with dedicated veg plots and borders. Enjoying your garden is about more than just what you grow; it's also about why you grow it. As well as spending time outdoors, the meaning of a garden lies in what you bring inside, from vegetables and herbs to make a family meal to flowers and seedheads to decorate the house. Adam explores how his own garden has allowed him to enjoy the simple pleasures in life and create precious memories - whether it's coming down in the morning and seeing that single flower in a vase or teaching your kids how to make the runner bean chutney that reminds you of your nan. Adam's inspiring book will guide you through all you need to make your garden thrive, and to use it to develop your own traditions and meaningful moments.

Charles Dowding draws on his years of experience, to show how easy it is to start a new vegetable garden. Any plot - whether a building site, overgrown with weeds or unwanted lawn - can be turned into a beautiful and productive vegetable area. Charles's no-nonsense and straightforward advice is the perfect starting point for the beginner or experienced gardener. The book takes you step-by-step through: * Planning and early stages * Clearing the ground * Mulch - what, why, how? * Minimizing digging * Sowing and planting across the seasons * Growing in polytunnels and greenhouses It is filled with labour-saving ideas and the techniques that Charles uses to garden so successfully and is illustrated throughout with photos and tales from Charles's first year in his new vegetable garden.

NEW EDITION COMING AUGUST 2021 What do avocados, apples, mangos and tomatoes have in common? The answer is that they can all be grown at home, for free, from pips that you would otherwise throw into the recycling bin. RHS Plants from Pips shows you how to grow a range of fruit and vegetables, indoors and out, with minimum equipment and experience. This complete guide covers everything from the science of how plants grow to how to deal with pests and other problems. Find out what to grow, what to grow it in and when and where to grow it for the best results. Packed with colourful photographs and step-by-step illustrations, this is the perfect way to introduce beginners of all ages, from 6 to 60, to the joys of watching things grow.

If you love the joys of eating home-garden vegetables but always thought those joys had to stop at the end of summer, this book is for you. Eliot Coleman introduces the surprising fact that most of the United States has more winter sunshine than the south of France. He shows how North American gardeners can successfully use that sun to raise a wide variety of traditional winter vegetables in backyard cold frames and plastic covered tunnel greenhouses without supplementary heat. Coleman expands upon his own experiences with new ideas learned on a winter-vegetable pilgrimage across the ocean to the acknowledged kingdom of vegetable cuisine, the southern part of France, which lies on the 44th parallel, the same latitude as his farm in Maine. This story of sunshine, weather patterns, old limitations and expectations, and new realities is delightfully innovative in the best gardening tradition. Four-Season Harvest will have you feasting on fresh produce from your garden all through the winter. To learn more about the possibility of a four-season farm, please visit Coleman's website www.fourseasonfarm.com.

Since the 1950s we have lost 63 per cent of our orchards through development or neglect, and even though we have been able to grow 3,000 varieties of apple in England, almost 70 per cent of apples we buy are imported. Common Ground has worked to interest local communities in creating and saving orchards to provide fruit and nuts, havens for wildlife and places of beauty. The Community Orchards Handbook shows how to start your own Community Orchard, from getting support to tackling legal issues, organising work, selling produce and enjoying together the fruits of your work. It gives suggestions on 'apple mapping' and saving local varieties, and practical advice on planting, harvesting and safeguarding your orchard. It includes a comprehensive resources section and is full of examples of diverse Community Orchard projects across the UK.

This is a comprehensive illustrated guide to a wide range of delicious soft fruits with information on their origins and nutritional values. It features step-by-step instructions for preparing the soil, cultivation and care, and propagation techniques. It includes expert advice on training, supporting and pruning fruit bushes, and harvesting and storing your crops. It offers helpful hints on how to avoid pests and diseases, and what to do when problems occur. In this kitchen garden handbook, the most popular soft fruits are illustrated with useful information on their origins, growing habits, nutritional content and culinary uses. The second section gives key advice on soil preparation, essential tools, propagation and protecting your fruit bushes. The techniques described include training and supporting fruit bushes, pruning, sheltering plants from the weather and harvesting and storing fruit crops. The section on practical cultivation tells you how to grow all types of berries and currants, whether you have a large kitchen garden, a small garden plot with some space in the borders, or room for a few containers. A must for the novice grower, this book also provides reliable information for the experienced gardener who wants to experiment with new varieties.

Grow your own apples, figs, plums, cherries, pears, apricots, and peaches in even the smallest backyard! Ann Ralph shows you how to cultivate small yet abundant fruit trees using a variety of specialized pruning techniques. With dozens of simple and effective strategies for keeping an ordinary fruit tree from growing too large, you'll keep your gardening duties manageable while at the same time reaping a bountiful harvest. These little fruit trees are easy to maintain and make a lovely addition to any home landscape.

This is the definitive book on growing your own nuts written by Martin Crawford, the leading forest gardening expert. Nut trees are perennials, requiring little maintenance or soil cultivation, so it is no surprise that nuts are the ideal forest garden crop. How to grow your own nuts is a beautifully presented and comprehensive guide to selecting, cultivating, harvesting and processing all types of nuts. Here are old favourites like hazelnuts and walnuts alongside less common varieties such as hickories and butternuts and the exotically named chinkapin. Filled with gorgeous illustrations of trees and nuts in all stages of maturity, this book will inspire gardeners, homesteaders and commercial farmers with its clear and detailed instructions. For everyone who wants to grow their own food and aim at self-sufficiency, this book is a must. Throughout the book we learn how delicious, nutritious and versatile nuts are. Nuts are at the heart of our culinary tradition. They have everything for health: magnesium to lower blood pressure; low carbohydrate to control blood sugar; high protein to keep our energy up, and healthy fats to help absorb vitamins. They are chock full of antioxidants. Eating a daily portion of nuts could lengthen your life, as nuts decrease the risk of heart and neuro-degenerative diseases. Recent Harvard studies indicate that eating pecan nuts increase the survival rates of prostate cancer. For vegetarians and vegans in particular, nuts are a crucial source of protein, but they are enjoyed by many more worldwide as a delicious alternative protein from meat. Martin describes how nuts can be planted singly in a small area, ingroups in an orchard or nuttery, as silvopasture around grazing animals, in alley cropping between cereal crops or intercropping between fruit bushes. Nuts are also multipurpose trees and the A-Z describes their many secondary uses from timber, oil, dyes, fodder and cosmetics to medicines and honey. The beautiful spring blossom, particularly of almond and sweet chestnut, are highly attractive to bees. Every page is rich with the authenticity, passion and experience of a master grower and forest gardener. Whether you are planning to grow nuts at home or commercially, this book is essential reading.

Make your garden flourish with these 300 easy and inexpensive gardening hacks to help your plants blossom-perfect for any green thumbs, first-time horticulturalists, or reluctant gardeners! Think you don't have a green thumb? Think again! No matter your gardening woes, Gardening Hacks has the solution. Perfect for all gardening skill levels whether you're starting your first garden, looking to expand your crop, or simply searching for ways to make it easier to care for your extensive plant collection, you'll find everything you need to know to make your garden grow. Gardening Hacks includes helpful tips like: -Saving your eggshells, which can serve as everything from an organic seed starter to a natural snail and slug repellent. -Adding a pinch of cinnamon to help prevent fungal diseases that might prevent your plants from maturing. -Using the newspaper to help deter weeds from sprouting. -Creating your own DIY seed packet catalog to help keep your seeds organized as your garden grows. -And many more! No matter the size of your garden-from a small herb collection to an extensive variety of fruits and vegetables to any indoor plant that needs some perking up-Gardening Hacks will make your plants flourish!

Having an allotment, or at least growing some of your own fruit and vegetables, is currently very popular. This book features the non-growing side of allotment gardening; the more practical and functional elements of a typical plot. Clearly defined by season the projects are further broken down into twelve monthly chapters with appropriate projects and techniques in each. All projects are illustrated by step-by-step photography and artwork. Projects range from very basic and intermediate to more complex tasks, such as building a shed.

Learn how to create your own no dig, organic garden with permaculture design and techniques. Vera's 15 years of experience as a no dig gardener provides a vast amount of knowledge on growing fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers. The book is divided into two sections, container gardening and permaculture kitchen gardening. Part One shares knowledge especially useful to urban gardeners and those with little space. Part Two advises on starting and maintaining a garden. Vera's speciality is creating beautiful and delicious polycultures and she offers a range of examples to get you started and the knowledge to experiment. She also includes recipes for your fresh harvests. Chapters on making compost, building raised beds, and a monthly job guide make this useful for all levels of gardener. Vera demonstrates that gardens can look beautiful and be productive, and her advice and examples encourage us to look at our own growing spaces in a different light. We no longer need to hide our veggie patches; they can take centre stage. Why not incorporate cut flowers with herbs, brassicas and peas? Or plant a pottager garden? These examples will help people create edible paradises everywhere, like patios, balconies, windowsills, allotments, community and school gardens, front and back gardens and anywhere else we can grow.

Discover how to grow it yourself! Growing your own vegetables is a rewarding venture that's both affordable and delicious, but a novice gardener might not know where to begin. This is your no-fuss guide to vegetable gardening. Do you want to learn how to start and sustain your own vegetable garden throughout the year? This vegetable gardening book for beginners will help you choose and care for more than 40 different varieties, all specially selected for successful growing. From vegetable garden must-haves to less-common crops like edamame beans, this is a one-stop guide to growing vegetables that are easy to grow! Discover detailed information on how to sow, plant, feed, water, protect and harvest your vegetables. You don't have to be a horticulture expert to get started, this indispensable reference book will take you through every single step! It includes: - Tips on how to care for more than 40 different vegetable varieties - Packed with practical, jargon-free know-how and simple gardening techniques - Easy-to-follow format to help grow your gardening knowledge Let It Grow! Gorgeous, full-colour photography provides plenty of inspiration and ideas for your patch! Expert tips and step-by-step instructions on every page help make sure that you care for your vegetables in the right way in order for them to grow. Grow Easy Veg covers everything you need to know about growing herbs and vegetables, while expert tips help you troubleshoot as you go. It's the perfect book for first-time gardeners! Complete the Series: Make your green-fingered dreams a reality with the Grow series from DK. Learn how to brighten up even the trickiest areas in Grow Containers, or discover how to garden more sustainably in Grow Eco-Gardening. Alternatively, there are more titles to explore such as Grow Pruning & Training and Grow Houseplants.

In this book, beginners will learn the best way to use a mushroom kit, as well as how to maintain the sterile procedures and controlled environment that cultivation requires. Novices and the more experienced will learn how to create grain spawn or sawdust spawn and how to use liquid cultures and fruiting chambers. Advanced readers will gain a thorough knowledge of how to work with large-scale grain spawn, agar, bag cultures, bulk substrates, and large fruiting chambers to produce mushrooms consistently and in greater quantity.