Book reviews

Here's a few books that we've been reading in preparation for getting our plot. Believe me you need to do some research before taking this on. It's been a revelation to see just how little we knew about what we've decided to get ourselves into.


The Allotment Keeper's Handbook: A Down-to-Earth Guide to Growing Your Own Food by Jane Perrone (RRP £14.99):

This one's a corker. Wonderfully reassuring and full of great advice, this is a must for anybody wanting to get into organic gardening. Perrone, who writes for The Guardian and whose blog (see links) is also a great source of advice, has a friendly style which is a pleasure to read, but she really packs the book with great information. One particular plus is that she acknowledges the huge number of mistakes that she made early on (mistakes that ... ahem ... rather echo our own) and her later successes offer great encouragement to carry on. It's a little short on illustrations, but is written in a clear manner, which fully explains any of the bewildering new jargon which you'll have just been exposed to. Highly recommended!


The Allotment Specialist edited by Alan and Gill Bridgewater (RRP £4.99):

This is one of those wonderful books that takes you through everything step-by-step, with lots of painted illustrations so that even fools like me can understand. It's much less-detailed than Perrone's book, but complements her work wonderfully by concentrating just on the basics. I've often sat there with these two books and the HDRA Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening (see below) open side-by-side, flicking between the three of them to expand my knowledge on a given subject. It's also very cheap. D's ma picked up a copy of this and another in the Specialist series for just a couple of quid. A real bargain.


Allotted Time: Twelve Months, Two Blokes, One Shed, No Idea by Robin Shelton (RRP £12.99):

Unlike the other books, this isn't a reference work. It's an account of the first twelve months of the allotment that Shelton and his best mate Steve took over after Shelton left his teaching job with stress and as such it's a very effective example of the nourishment that allotmenteering can give to the soul as well as the body. We follow the two pals through some tricky times, but it's clear just how valuable Shelton finds his allotment in terms of his recovery. He also makes the food sound great. Shelton comes across as a nice bloke and creates an appealing impression of what allotment life and people are like. While there is little in the way of direct advice, that's not really what the book's about anyway. Just read it, enjoy it, and look forward to your first shed and your first crop. The copy we read was the hardback which we borrowed from a mate (we've still got to return it - sorry Phill!), but the book has since been released in paperback at £7.99.


HDRA Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening edited by Pauline Pears (£18.99):

The HDRA (Henry Doubleday Research Association) has since become Garden Organic, the UK's leading organic gardening charity (see links), and as you'd expect this huge book is a key text for any organic gardener. Aimed not just at the allotmenteer, this takes in all aspects of green-fingeriness, giving advice on lawns and decorative gardens too. It's thorough, authoritative and illustrated with some stunning photographs, although the double-page spreads on beneficial insects and pests and diseases are stomach churning (I know that they're good for the garden but ladybird larvae are the hideous stuff of nightmares!). It's got great advice on composting, water conservation, green manures, natural pest control and anything else you'd ever need. I know you can buy a lot for £18.99, but believe me, this book will pay for itself many times over.


The Vegetable and Herb Expert: by D.G. Hessayon (£7.99)

I remember Dr D.G. Hessayon's Expert series from being a child. My grandfather was a keen and skillful gardener and always had this book to hand, so it reminds me of the sweet, soothing smell of beautiful, plump tomatoes ripening on the lip of the sash windows, their colours running the full spectrum from deep green, fresh from the vine, through yellows and oranges to the most vivid blood reds. Mmmm. Anyway, there is much to commend this book. It's a detailed reference work to every aspect of growing hundreds of crops, from soil types, diseases and pests, sowing and harvesting times and anything else you'd care to know really. On the negative side, it is a little out of date. The vast number of chemicals that Dr Hessayon suggests using to kill off all manner of nasties is actually rather shocking. It is, however, an interesting insight into what's changed in veg growing over the last few decades and like any advice, you can of course pick and choose which bits you want to take. Whether the cover's claim that it is "The World's Best-Selling Book on Vegetables and Herbs" is true or not, it is a very useful book. It just seems extreme to napalm your cabbages just to rid them of a few blackfly!