with all the advice we are getting at the monment it is hard to remember everything we are being told we were even stopped in wilkos by an older couple today and was stood talking to them for the best part of an hour about different things, I was wondering what books you all thought were the best to read I have a couple, grow your own veg and month by month gardening but as everybody on here must have started somewhere what would you concider being a good beginners book on allotment gardening??
Thanks in advance
Dr Hessayon, 'New Vegetable and Herb Expert' covers most of it, fairly idiot proof!!
(I've got two shelves of books on gardening!!) ;)
That's as good a place to start as any... I started with an earlier edition in the mid 70's. A bit too "chemical" orientated for my liking now but still a good start.
;D
My personal favourite is Joy Larkcoms Grow your own vegetables.Buying books is addictive though today i bought yet another one plus 5 magazines from a charity shop.
Another vote for Hessayon 8)
Have got the pocket edition in the shed anorl ;D
I have Joy Larkcoms Grow your own vegetables, most if not all of Dr Hessayon and some of the pocket ones and Alan Titchmarsh -The Kitchen Gardener...too many to keep in the shed but great reading for these dark cold winter evenings!!
Allotment Gardening - An Organic Guide for Beginners by Susan Berger
http://greenbooks.co.uk/store/product_info.php?products_id=200&osCsid=9b724f6p9lge935os29tuagqi1
Quote from: tonybloke on January 10, 2009, 21:10:32
Dr Hessayon, 'New Vegetable and Herb Expert' covers most of it, fairly idiot proof!!
(I've got two shelves of books on gardening!!) ;)
I would agree with the choice of book. (Think I have about 12 different books - not quite 2 shelves worth; but I am working on it ;D)
Quote from: Flighty on January 10, 2009, 22:34:43
Allotment Gardening - An Organic Guide for Beginners by Susan Berger
This is also a good book too, but Dr Hessayon would be my first choice.
Shouldn't we be calling him Sir Hessayon now? After all, he was awarded the OBE. Anyway, I'm a fan of the 'Expert' series of books. Nice and clear and simple even I can understand.
if you want hessayon, use the amazon link on the top of the page, they've used ones for 2.50 + p&p :)
I have ordered the hessayon book off waterstones for £5.19 with free P & P any others? will start looking round charity shops and boot fairs while they are doing all the hardwork ;D
My reply might be a bit biased but I thought as the question was asked I would throw my tuppence worth in.
Let me first show you an extract from my website;
Like most gardeners when starting up; to get weekly information, I had to seek it from books, magazines, media, and friends, then, more often than not, it had to modified to suit my situation / location.
This web site is a compilation of these modifications.
I started off with a Readers Digest encyclopeadia on gardening.
I found it a bit heavy reading but it was well used in my early days of gardening, in fact it is quite tatty now to the point that it is being held together with duct tape.
What I found with that book which was very good but a bit heavy to lug around was; like most books it was written by a person/persons who's experience was gained south of the M4 so dates given were not much good for me in West Yorkshire and on top of the Pennines to boot.
So I played around with the dates given and kept my dates in a diary. The trouble was; if I got it wrong I had to wait another year to alter my ways.
Well my website is a summary of around thirty years of trial & error so I consider that the best book for me!
Even with over thirty years of records I still tweak my sowing/planting dates.
Each year as I sit to plan the following year I ask myself; was that a good variety? should I grow it again?
But as one who doesn't blame his tools I ask my self;did I get it rightt? were they sown too early/late? were they in the right location so you see the best book in my opinion is
Your own diary!!
Wholly agree, TG. Ours is 50 years old. Several volumes!
But, as an absolute starter, I go for Hessayon.
Hessayon for me too. Still use it occasionally, the pages are falling out after six years' use. A lot of what I learnt was from copying what my dad did, because I've grown up with a veg patch in the garden and used to earn my pocket money helping.
And anoter vote for Hessayon although like with everything, you take some of the advice and disregard what doesn't feel right for you.
Another book I refer to a lot is The New Kitchen Garden by Anna Pavord. Gives useful tips on timings as well as pictures enabling you to identify pests and diseases.
the only problem I found with Hessayon is his endless harping on about chemicals. Ignore that, and it's really useful.
Last year we bought. Gardening through the year by Ian Spence. It gives you a month by month account of what to do and how to do it. Doesn't give much advice about different varieties of veg but thats where this site comes in doesn't it.
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on January 11, 2009, 15:18:59
the only problem I found with Hessayon is his endless harping on about chemicals. Ignore that, and it's really useful.
Agree that Hessayon is good but over keen on chemicals (and information on this becomes rapidly out of date as more and more chemicals are banned by EU).
"Your Organic Allotment" by Ian Spence and Pauline Pears (Gaia Books and Gardening Organic) is pretty good if you want to avoid chemicals. I find it helpful to use in combination with Hessayon.
:) i started with Hessayon but agree with other posters about the chemicals,
Bob Flowerdews organic bible
Pippa greenwoods organic kitchen garden
hdra's encyclopedia of organic gardening do the job for me :)/ shadesx
Another vote for Hessayon, I started out with (and still refer back to) an old box set covering Veggies, lawns, roses, general gardening and indoor plants.
If you are looking for specific lottie book, then The Allotment Book by Andi Clevely is worth a look (£7.89 for the hardback on Amazon) ;)
I've got Hessayon and Berger, I think Berger is probably the best for beginners, but would advise against too many books as they tend to contridict each other. ;D ;D ;D
there are a few books listed in the wiki at the top of the page, with descriptions :)
Try Flowerdew's 'No-work Gardening'.
The Hessayon book is pretty good, but, my favourite is still The Gardening Which Guide To Growing Your Own Vegetables by Lizz Dobbs. I also like Organic Gardening by Roy Lacey. There are a lot more that i enjoy reading, but i always keep coming back to these two. Both bought from charity shops for next to nothing. :)
square foot gardening and how to grow more vegetables
:) tgg you have reminded me of another great book, an American one Gardening in Small Spaces it reminds you that you can waste alot of ground on allotments because they are so big and you may not have planted it as well as you could/ shades x
I've just bought The Allotment Specialist by A&G Bridgewater. Am a complete newbie and so far this book looks great. If you want an in-depth history of allotments or lots of photos of pristine plots, this is not the book for you. This is very simply laid out with practical advice on various issues in different sections, with brilliant diagrams of how to dig and sow things. And it only cost about £1 on Amazon!
I got that one for Christmas Lewic, not had a good look yet but I'm getting there. ;D ;D ;D
Hiya
I have bought nearly every gardening book for beginners on the market (because i couldnt fiond one that clicked for me) but the one i found really really useful for an allotment is
Vegetable Growing Month by Month by John Harrison
It helped with many questions reagrding raised beds and when to manure and lime etc and about PH levels and it was small, not hard back and can easily chuck it in my bag. I like Hessayon too but I prefer Harrison.