choosing a gardening method – organic, biodynamic, rotation beds, companion planting, greenhouse, multi-level, potager, cottage garden, and so on.

How to get along with fellow allotment keepers: neighbours, bartering, allotment politics and how to complain without losing friends. These days, urban allotments are just as likely to sport barbecue sites, wildlife sanctuaries, heritage seed collections, forest gardens, sculpture, beehives and ponds as once-derided rows of yellowing Brussels sprouts. John served on the National Executive of the National Vegetable Society, a charity promoting the cultivation and showing of vegetables until recently and is a fellow of the society.Their protest gradually provoked a response, at first local and individual – a few far-sighted landlords supplied their labourers with plots for cultivation – and then more generally as crucial legislation was passed.

The many bonuses of being brought up with a productive garden was not only the abundance of fruit and vegetables but also the fact that, because my mother was a fantastic cook, the house was often filled with the aroma of wonderful food. Grow fresh, seasonal produce in your allotment or kitchen garden all year round with the bestselling guide from Alan Buckingham. In-depth crop planners show you when to sow and how to cultivate more than 60 herbs, fruit, and vegetables, including kale, rhubarb, spinach, strawberries, and apples. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Open to all the new eco-gardening techniques, and the various weird and wonderful ways people make use of their plots, contents include: * the history of allotments - from 19th century origins, through wartime `Dig for Victory', to the cosmopolitan communities of today; features photos and interviews with current plot-holders * planning your perfect allotment - finding it, assessing it, clearing the ground and working out what to grow * the brown stuff - all you need to know about soil management, the key to growing success * choosing a gardening method - organic, biodynamic, rotation beds, companion planting, greenhouse, multi-level, potager, cottage garden, and so on.In urban areas land use is becoming increasingly competitive, and many plot-holders are having to make a political stand to prevent their sites and rights being eroded to make way for roads and new buildings. What people don't realise is quite often these go hand-in-hand as often the cheapest way to live is also the most environmentally sustainable. TIME It is possible to manage a plot well with a single weekly visit, although you will probably want to visit more often, especially when regular watering and harvesting are necessary.

There's a wide range of top-rated gardening books out there - from practical how-to guides to allotment community and sustainability-focused books - so there's bound to be a book that's right for you. Full of images, advice and tips for both the wise and the new, the book illustrates how to achieve sucIdeas and attitudes might change – modern tenants may be quite different from their predecessors of two or three generations back, and allotments continue to evolve socially, from ‘plots for the poor’ to ‘gardens for a greener world’. This wonderfully illustrated book celebrates the blood, sweat and joy to be had in `growing your own' in an allotment.