The Allotment Experience - Everything You Need to Know About Allotment Gardening - Direct from the Plot (Paperback)

There is no better way to grow your own food and to benefit from the physical and mental enjoyment that gardening brings than by working an allotment. But getting an allotment into shape and keeping it that way is a challenge. The Allotment Experience is the inside story of having an allotment, and of cultivating your garden away from home. It is told with the help of the wise and often witty words of Ruth Binney - and more than 40 other allotment gardeners she has interviewed for the book. This is not a book about 'perfect' gardening, but a practical guide that is totally true to life. Apart from hundreds of invaluable tips and techniques it also contains stories of failures and disappointments because, as one allotment gardener so rightly says, 'It's all trial and error'. Whether you are a thinking of having an allotment, or have one already, this book will prove an excellent guide to growing vegetables, fruit and herbs as well as favourite allotment flowers. It is also packed with good ideas for cooking and preserving the fruits of your labours. From spade to table, The Allotment Experience covers: A* Allotment Passions - the joys and woes of allotment gardening. sheds, wildlife and recycling. A* On the Plot - from clearing the site to sowing, watering and dealing with pests and diseases. A* Growing Vegetables, Fruit, Salads, Herbs and Flowers - how to cultivate everything from beans and broccoli to raspberries, radicchio and gladioli. A* Allotment Harvest - the best way to harvest your crops, with lots of ideas about how to cook and preserve them. Contents: Introduction; 1. Allotment passions; 2. On the plot; 3. Growing vegetables; 4. Salad leaves, herbs and flowers; 5. Growing fruit; 6. Allotment harvest; Index.