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4:00 pm
Expert
Wed 23-Sep-09
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The Vegetable Expert from the expert series is kind of my bible now for veg growing re spacing, soil types, aspect, pests etc etc etc. Having just been buying a copy for a friend I'd thought I'd share the news that it's currently the bargainous price of £4 only on Amazon.
I also rate Vegetable Growing Month by Month - a very useful 'what to do when' guide with lots of other info as well. Helped me out no end when I first got my allotment.
Anyone else got any top tips? 
4:06 pm
Supreme Being
Wed 30-Dec-09
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You're right, Ruth, our book (The Vegetable Expert) is now getting very tatty - it is very well used, and has been for very many years.
We also had a similar book to the Vegetable month by month (that's by John Harrison - isn't he the same guy who runs an allotment website, or am I confusing him with someone else? Not sure). Our book is a Reader's Digest, and is looking the worse for wear these days, too !!!
4:27 pm
Improver
New members
Sun 27-Sep-09
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I like Joy Larkom's Grow Your Own Vegetables. It's packed with really useful info although it is quite wordy.
4:27 pm
Supreme Being
Wed 30-Dec-09
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Just had a look - yes, John & Val Harrison run the website:
and Val has oodles of recipes available on this site.
4:29 pm
Improver
New members
Sun 27-Sep-09
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If you can get hold of a copy of Readers Digest Food from your Garden then I can recommend that too!
4:33 pm
Supreme Being
Wed 30-Dec-09
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Joy Larkcom has been on Gardeners World - but I believe she moved to Southern Ireland a couple of years ago.
I understand we can thank her for being able to have 'cut and come again' salads. She travelled the world looking for new things and brought some oriental vegetables to the supermarkets, too.
Quite some lady!
7:55 pm
Supreme Being
Mon 21-Sep-09
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Geoff Hamilton's book "Organic Gardening" is one of my favourites. I like the real pictures of the different veg, some general sections and enough detail. It also goes through the principles of rotating crops which is really important.
8:55 pm
Councillor
New members
Thu 7-Jan-10
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Joanna, I like the Geoff Hamilton book too. I got that and Bob Flowerdew's Organic Gardening from my local second-hand book shop. I am so pleased that I got them both and didn't go home to think about it and end up with neither!
I also like Joy Larkcom. In one of her books she has a list of edible flowers. I don't have any of her books, and don't know which one it is in, but I wish I had it.
I have just been watching a DVD on forest gardening--A year in a Forest Garden with Martin Crawford. It was fascinating, and convincing. A friend lent it to us, and it was full of interesting tips. I was never convinced by the permaculture section of Ryton Gardens, and I now realise it really wasn't right, trees too close together, too small, too much shade. I don't have room for it, but I might try planting comfrey underneath fruit trees--comfrey has roots deeper than most trees and draws minerals up from the soil, and if it is cut and left as a mulch at the end of the growing season it makes those available to the trees. In practice, I have bulbs around my fruit trees so I won't plant comfrey around them, but maybe if/when I plant some more....
s=dvd&qid=1270064815&sr=1-1
blog: Devon Garden
8:37 am
Supreme Being
Mon 21-Sep-09
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We have a forest that we are thinning out as it has got a lot of undergrowth and we are looking at extending some of our forest too so we can have a go at agroforestry. I have been studying all that I can, to see what we can actually get from forests. So far we have decided that we are going to plant hazel along the edge of the forest to get some nuts, blueberries (my friend says there are some of the big varieties available here in Latvia, at least I now know they are not just little bushes thanks to this site) and we will plant some cranberries in an area that gets flooded regularly. Maybe we will take a look at this DVD and see what other ideas we can get, although we don't want to go to far down the agroforestry route otherwise the Corncrakes won't have anywhere to nest they like meadows.
11:18 am
Councillor
New members
Thu 7-Jan-10
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Sounds wonderful! And as for having corncrakes... fantastic.
There was something in Saturday's Guardian Weekend section about forest gardens and it mentioned Martin Crawford, who did the DVD. The DVD mentions wineberries as suitable for the berry layer--I remember them as delicious, with viscious thorns, but worth the scratches. The bushes we picked from, 40um years ago, were ridiculously overgrown, however.
blog: Devon Garden
6:46 pm
brightspark said:
Just had a look - yes, John & Val Harrison run the website:
and Val has oodles of recipes available on this site.
I love that website and use it regularly!
My fav book is in french; L'abc du Potager by Rosenn Le Page and Gerard Meudeuc
It is simple and clear with a page for each veg; but of course you have to be able to read french!!
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