Fancy having a go at growing your own produce? How do you improve your chances of getting an allotment? How do you plan what to grow? And what exactly is a cold frame? Find the answer to all these questions and more inside The Allotment Pocket Bible, the perfect gardening gift full of indispensible tips on how to grow your own herbs and veg all year round on an allotment. Full of practical advice on cultivating and enjoying your plot - whether you've got an allotment in the city, a patch in your garden or an area of farmland, The Allotment Pocket Bible gives gardeners tips from how to find and get different types of allotment to how to organise and manage your allotment space. There's also valuable advice on what to grow (as well as a growing calendar to help you decide when to grow it), tips on edible flowers and fighting pests and diseases. As well as learning the many benefits of allotment gardening, you can also pick up time-saving tips and techniques from pruning to storing your produce. From greenhouses to polytunnels, all the essential information you need to know about allotment gardening can be found in this handy, easy-to-read and durable guide, helping you grow your own produce all year round. Inside The Allotment Pocket Bible you can discover the rising popularity of allotment gardening, as well as how to turn your allotment into a productive venture. Dip in to great ideas for fruit, vegetable and herb recipes made from your hard-earned produce, learn how you can get kids involved with your allotment projects and make sure you've got all the right tools and equipment to make looking after your allotment as easy as possible. From clearing your new allotment and planting raised beds to building compost bins and when to sow, plant and harvest your crops, you'll find all the handy, easy-to-follow advice you need in The Allotment Pocket Bible. Want to start gardening organically and grow your own organic food? The Allotment Pocket Bible will help you grow your own organic produce: organic vegetables, organic fruit and organic herbs. Wondering how to make money from your allotment produce? Planning an allotment competition? Find tips on all the rules and regulations you need to know, as well as how to engage with the allotment community and maintain relations with allotment neighbours.. Small and durable and perfectly designed to be used 'on the job', The Allotment Pocket Bible is sure to be your trusty companion on your next visit to the potting shed. "An hour's hard digging is a good way of getting one's mind back in the right perspective."Richard Briers "Cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves." Robert Louis Stevenson "All my hurts my garden spade can heal" Ralph Waldo Emerson "The man who has planted a garden feels that he has done something for the good of the world." Vita Sackville-West "Gardening is the purest of human pleasures" Francis Bacon This beautiful hardback edition has both dust-cover and gold embossing on the spine making it the perfect gift. Every Pocket Bible is lovingly crafted to give you a unique mix of useful references, handy tips and fascinating trivia that will enlighten and entertain you at every page. There is a Pocket Bible for everyone... Other titles in the series: The Allotment Pocket Bible, The Baking Pocket Bible, The Cook's Pocket Bible, The Mum's Pocket Bible and The Outdoor Pocket Bible.

When it comes to fresh vegetables, nothing comes close to growing your own - but where to start? For those of us that crave the crisp taste of home-grown tomatoes, peppers, courgettes and more but lack the crucial experience and know-how, it can be difficult to make those first steps to transform a barren patch into a luscious kitchen garden - even for experienced gardeners, the move from decorative gardening to practical vegetable growing can prove tricky. Gardeners' World: First Time Veg Grower can help you make that journey, with simple and practical expert advice from the moment you first don your wellies right up until you're harvesting your own crops. With step-by-step guides and clear colour illustrations helping you to get the most out of your plot all year round, this compact guide is an essential addition to any gardener's shelf. From preparing your ground to sowing, nurturing and maintaining your plants, let the practiced hands at the UK's best-selling gardening magazine help you create the vegetable patch of your dreams.

Close-up photos of plump apricots, juicy mangoes, crisp lettuce ... these are familiar to us all through cookery books and garden guides. But seeing fruit and vegetables as detailed art, viewed through eighteenth-century eyes, is something very different - and more interesting. Thanks to intrepid explorers and plant-hunters, Britain and the rest of Europe have long enjoyed a wide and wonderful array of fruit and vegetables. Some wealthy households even created orangeries and glasshouses for tender exotics and special pits in which to raise pineapples, while tomatoes, sweetcorn and runner beans from the New World expanded the culinary repertoire. This wealth of choice attracted interest beyond the kitchen and garden. In the 1730s, a prosperous Bavarian apothecary produced the first volume of a comprehensive A to Z of all available plants, meticulously documented, and lavishly illustrated by botanical artists. 'A Cornucopia of Fruit & Vegetables' is a glimpse into his world. It features exquisite illustrations of the edible plants in his historic treasury, allowing us to enjoy the sight of swan-necked gourds and horned lemons, smile at silkworms hovering over mulberries and delight at the quirkiness of 'strawberry spinach' ... a delicious medley of garden produce and exotics that will capture the imagination of gardeners and art-lovers alike.