An allotment can be a source of abundant fresh fruit and vegetables for the home, as well as an oasis of calm for all the family to enjoy, but taking one on and learning how to grow your own can be an intimidating prospect. Alan Titchmarsh makes allotment gardening easy by explaining how to get the most from your plot with easy-to-follow, practical information and advice on what to grow, when to harvest and how to store your produce. * How to assess your plot and work with what you've got * Advice on layout and crop rotation * Expert guidance on care and maintenance * Directory of vegetables, fruit and herbs * Seasonal calendar of what to do when

A colourful illustrated story about Elliot and his dad growing their own vegetables to make a delicious soup - and finding that a gardening adventure involves more than welly boots and sowing seeds. Digging for treasure, pirates, a friendly neighbour and hordes of wildlife intent on eating the crops. All for a small pot of broth... Dad suggests that Elliot can help in the garden to grow what they need to make a big pot of broth. Elliot, (aided by his mum, big sister and brother), sets out enthusiastically to give his dad assistance - clad, of course, in his welly boots, just like a proper gardener. But Elliot's good intentions begin to go astray as his imagination takes over from garden duties. Digging in the back garden leads to finding all sort of 'treasure', and he is soon picturing himself as a Victorian Gent complete with watch chain, a Roman Centurion, and a Pictish warrior. Helping Dad build the raised beds, Elliot becomes a pirate walking the plank. Weeds? These are dinosaur food. As the shoots begin to grow, they have hopes and dreams for a bumper harvest. And when the beans begin to sprout, Elliot pictures himself climbing a giant beanstalk. Elliot discovers the nest of a field-mouse, and when Robert Burns is duly quoted, we realise that the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley. As the garden flourishes, we discover that a variety of wildlife is just as interested in eating what is growing all around, as Elliot is. Perhaps this gardening project will not quite go according to plan ... To protect his crops from being is being eaten by the local birds, mice and rabbits, Elliot bravely volunteers to stand guard overnight in his homemade tent. Armed with his torch and a flask of cocoa, he soon finds the spooky noises of the evening send his imagination soaring again. The distant hooting owl, the cry of the fox, the cat rustling in the undergrowth - even the fluttering bats - quickly see him run for safety indoors. However with the garden protected by nets and windmills to scare off crows, the crops recover a little. The family harvest what is left to make the soup, including tiny beetroot, some thin-looking leeks and some wonky-shaped carrots. "They'll be fine once they're chopped up and in the broth!" declares Dad. Instead of the huge pot of broth that Elliot had imagined, there is just enough to fill their smallest pot. Dad remains upbeat: "Well, it's enough to give everyone a taste." However the day is saved by their next-door green-thumbed neighbour, who comes to rescue with an armful of carrots and leeks from her own garden. The family then gets busy cleaning the vegetables, chopping and stirring. The big pot is needed after all ... and Elliot sits down at last to enjoy his home-grown broth.

This book is aimed at the majority of us who live in terraced houses, high rise flats, town houses and semi-detached properties with a small garden and often nowhere to grow but the patio. It shows how to make the most of pots and planters; how to plan for a reasonable yield; and how never to run out of at least something to special eat. You might not have all the space in the world, but you can enjoy all the flavour in the world. With the step-by-step instructions in this book you will be able to grow, nurture and harvest your own fruit, vegetables and herbs in a range of pots and containers, including recycled ones such as plastic milk bottles, and kitchen sinks.

Discover how to keep your garden in the best of health. Ideal for first-time gardeners, Grow Pests & Diseases contains everything you need to know to prevent and treat a wide range of plant pests, diseases, disorders, and more. Far more than a simple list of treatments, this book shows you how to keep plants in top condition, recognise the signs of ill-health, and decide whether or not intervention is needed, while the fully illustrated ailment directory is organised by symptom and plant type for quick and easy identification. Packed with practical, jargon-free know-how, this easy-to-use guide has everything you need to know to help your garden Grow.

Potatoes are very easy to grow, and the taste of newly harvested potatoes is incomparable. This book describes and illlustrates the best-loved varieties, from the internationally popular Desiree and King Edward to the specialist Pink Fir Apple and Forty Fold. There are stepby-step instructions for sowing potatoes in rows and containers, chitting and planting, protecting and earthing up, and how to harvest and store potatoes. There are also suggestions for when and where to plant potatoes, and how to keep plants in tip-top condition by dealing with any pests and diseases. With over 180 photographs, this book is a must for both novices and experienced growers.

Want to get home-grown spices in the middle of winter? Eat fresh vegetables in the spring? Sow in the summer to harvest in the fall? Lena Israelsson's book, Year-Round Edible Gardening, is a practical guide for those who want to extend their growing season. And double, perhaps triple, their harvest. Growing year-round is possible, and this book can teach you the best methods to do it the right way. Year-Round Edible Gardening includes inspiring and expert tips on which vegetables, herbs, and spices suit the different seasons. Certain plants can even be harvested in the middle of winter if handled correctly. Others, like microgreens, herbs, and hydroculture, can create the perfect indoor gardens. This book will teach readers to know the difference between cold and hot weather plants, which growing methods are best suited for different plants, and when to plant and harvest. They'll learn about sowing; coverage with plastic, glass, or fiber weaves; and fertilization-creating a fruitful and fertile soil is the linchpin of all cultivation and one of the book's most important parts.

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.

This book explains everything you need to know to grow a low maintenance edible polyculture. Do you dream of a low maintenance perennial garden that is full to the brim of perennial vegetables that you don't have to keep replanting, but only have a small space? Do you struggle with too little time for gardening or controlling the pests and diseases that eat your crops? Do you want to grow unusual vegetable varieties? You can do all of this with Edible Perennial Gardening. Anni Kelsey has meticulously researched the little known subject of edible perennials and selected her favourite, tasty varieties. She explains how to source and propagate different vegetables, which plants work well together in a polyculture, and what you can plant in small, shady or semi-shady beds as well as in sunny areas.

The sweet potato is at present grown in more than 100 of the independent countries of the world. Most of the producer nations are situated in the tropical developing world where a high proportion of the poorest people live. Increasing recognition of the potential which sweet potato holds for combating food shortages and malnutrition has resulted in intensified research efforts to enhance production and consumption. This book reviews our knowledge about the varied aspects of the sweet potato as a human food and animal feedstuff. This volume will be found practical and informative by all those involved in food and nutrition sciences, especially but not exclusively in developing countries. These include research workers in food or agriculture, dieticians, nutritionists, food technologists, students, planners and policy makers.

Mushroom guru Gary Lincoff escorts you through the cultural and culinary history of the mushroom, hunting and identifying wild mushrooms, mushroom safety, and on to preparing and serving the fungi. Stunning photographs and Lincoff's fascinating anecdotes from the field will make you an instant mycophile. Gathering edible wild food is a wonderful way to forge a connection to the Earth. Mushrooms are the ultimate local food source; they grow literally everywhere, from mountains and woodlands to urban and suburban parks to your own backyard. The Complete Mushroom Hunter, Revised will enrich your understanding of the natural world and build an appreciation for an ancient, critically relevant, and useful body of knowledge. With great expertise, Lincoff provides a complete overview of edible mushrooms: from the mushroom's earliest culinary awakening, through getting equipped for mushroom forays, to preparing and serving the fruits of the foray, wherever you live. Inside you'll find: A brief, colorful history of mushroom hunting worldwide How to get equipped for a mushroom foray A completely illustrated guide to the common wild edible mushrooms and their poisonous look-alikes, with information of psychedelic and psychotherapeutic mushrooms An illustrated guide to medicinal mushrooms Where to find your fare, and how to identify them How to prepare and serve your fungi Thirty delicious recipes Five appendices offer even more mushroom knowledge, with information on how to make mushroom artwork, mushroom cultivation, less common edible varieties, and winter hunting; plus find an essential guide to major poisonous mushrooms, symptoms of poisoning, and treatment. Whether you're just starting out with the hobby or an experienced mycophile looking to add to your collection, The Complete Mushroom Hunter, Revised is your ideal guide.

DK brings you an all-encompassing horticultural handbook to fulfil your every leaf and legume! Get your gardening gloves on, as best-selling author Huw Richards takes you on a green-fingered journey to be an undefeated veg-grower! A recent study suggests 38% of British adults use their gardens to grow herbs and vegetables. But with the ever-growing pressure of balancing family life with a career, a lot of today's green-fingered gardeners simply lack time for vegetable growing. Huw is on a mission to change that! Whatever your horticultural hopes may be, Huw Richards brings you a veg-growing guide that is sure to shape the next generation of green-fingered gardeners like never before, full of top tips on smart gardening, without compromising on time, effort or money. With passion in every page, you can enjoy: -Tons of tips and tricks to maximise efficiency of your vegetable gardens -Skillful and solid information to disparage the common myth that gardening requires too much time and effort -Easy to follow step-by-step instructions of fundamental gardening techniques -Visual representations of Huw's innovative ideas to easily apply to your own vegetable garden After the immeasurable success of his first two gardening books 'Veg in One Bed' and 'Grow Food for Free', Huw brings you a riveting third release, full of simple yet effective strategies to leave you with a patch to be proud of! By applying a strategic approach to your veggie patch, from choosing the right compost to using the correct cultivation tools, Huw assures that even the most hapless of gardeners can unearth the endless potential that all gardens possess, no matter the shape or size! Why not stand out from the crowd with this fully-illustrated veggie handbook, and start your intuitive gardening journey today to reap the benefits of a more bountiful harvest. An ideal gift for the green-fingered gardener or budding botanist in your life! With over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube, Huw Richards is keen to share his 17 years' experience on maximising productivity of vegetable patches, so get those gloves on, and join the journey today! Ready, set, let's grow!

Upclose shots capture the distinctive shapes and features of heirloom varieties, including the curling pretzel bean, the vibrant fushcia 'Jackson wonder' lima bean, and the rare 'Nanticoke' winter squash. From the 'Dark Roden' red lettuce to golden beets, green tomatoes, lavender chive blossoms, and purple artichoke flowers, the rich sunlit colours of luscious garden-fresh produce saturate every card. The back of each card features a short description of each variety along with intriguing facts, like how the D'Avignon radish pushes up out of the soil when it's ready to harvest. A flip-top keepsake box completes this perfect gift for fresh-from-the-garden food lovers, gardeners, and nature enthusiasts.

Dig into the fruits of your labor! Profitable, innovative organic fruit farming strategies and skills for modern growers of any scale. The Berry Grower is an innovative guide for growing and marketing organic small fruits and berries that offers intelligent strategies and solutions for successful small-scale, non-chemical fruit production in the 21st century. Coverage includes: History, innovations, and 21st-century challenges in modern fruit farming Creating your own market farming reality Farm planning for efficiency and profitability Factoring in climate change, drought, and extreme weather Soil fertility, efficient weed management, and organic pest control Modern tools of the trade for efficiency * Harvesting, fruit handling, and packing Fruit profiles including raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, currants, gooseberries, figs, tomatoes, and more, including new cultivars Innovative marketing methods and thinking beyond fresh fruit with multi-product strategies to maximize profit Learn from other experts through interviews with successful growers and marketers from diverse areas around the USA. From the market garden and small farm to the homestead and backyard, The Berry Grower is the essential guide for both new and aspiring organic small fruit growers and seasoned farmers looking to produce high-quality organic fruits and products for local markets and self-sufficiency.

Winner of The 2008 Jane Grigson Award, issued by the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). Winner of the 2008 Cordon d' Or Culinary Literature - History Culinary Academy Award. This is the story of the bean, the staple food cultivated by humans for over 10,000 years. From the lentil to the soybean, every civilization on the planet has cultivated its own species of bean. The humble bean has always attracted attention - from Pythagoras' notion that the bean hosted a human soul to St. Jerome's indictment against bean-eating in convents (because they "tickle the genitals"), to current research into the deadly toxins contained in the most commonly eaten beans. Over time, the bean has been both scorned as "poor man's meat" and praised as health-giving, even patriotic. Attitudes to this most basic of foodstuffs have always revealed a great deal about a society. Beans: A History takes the reader on a fascinating journey across cuisines and cultures.

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.

Increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and pest infestations are challenging today's vegetable gardeners. But best-selling author Niki Jabbour has a solution: Growing Under Cover. In this in-depth guide, Jabbour shows how to use row covers, shade cloth, low tunnels, cold frames, hoop houses, and other protective structures to create controlled growing spaces for vegetables to thrive. Photographed in her own super-productive garden, Jabbour highlights the many benefits of using protective covers to plant earlier, eliminate pests, and harvest a healthier, heartier bounty year round. With enthusiasm, inventive techniques, and proven, firsthand knowledge, this book provides invaluable advice from a popular and widely respected gardening authority.

A guide to self-sustainablity in either the city or the countryside for both the beginner gardener and the experienced farmhand. It takes the reader through all the stages of crop growing, with helpful drawings throughout. A recipe section suggests delightful and nourishing ways to consume the grown produce.

Whether you're looking to farm a balcony, backyard, an allotment or an acre, My Tiny Home Farm is bursting with ingenious ideas and savvy solutions to help you transform any plot or planter into a super smallholding. Visit a rooftop in Brooklyn, explore a Swedish koloni plot, and enjoy the harvest at an organic vineyard in England. The featured smallholders share their expertise, from growing fruit and veg and raising livestock to advice on establishing creative community spaces. Practical project ideas for potato buckets, hen baths, bee hotels and more will ensure your plot reaches peak productivity. Get inspired, let your imagination grow and enjoy your tiny home farm. Francine Raymond is an author and an expert on keeping chickens. She writes about her experiences for The Sunday Telegraph and Gardens Illustrated and blogs at www.kitchen-garden-hens.co.uk After a lifetime on an acre in Suffolk populated with hens and ducks, she now gardens a small town plot by the sea in Whitstable with the help of her grandsons and a few bantams.