As we are now definitely in the bleak mid winter, with the earth as hard as iron, activity on the allotment is curtailed. There is however, and will continue to be, frantic activity in the warm indoors on the allotment's behalf.
Now is the time for planning, learning from last year and consulting the oracles from the comfort of the armchair, with a suitably warming drink in hand (see How to make Hot Toddys). That is, reading the many books we have accumulated, and referred to, over the past year. It is good to seek the advice offered in the pages and compare and contrast advice given.
So, here is my reading list, in no particular order, for Allotment Christmas, handy reads for allotmenteers and those aspiring to allotmenting.
Allotment month by month by Alan Cunningham
Royal Horticultural Society Allotment Handbook
Grow your own, Kitchen garden year (again by the RHS) The Kitchen gardener, and or, the Gardener's year by Alan Titchmarsh The Edible Garden by Alys Fowler
Grow your own veg by Carol Klein
Plus, this is a book for those with grand ideas for the allotment and beyond;: The Complete guide to self sufficiency by Dick and James Strawbridge
Enjoy reading and allotmenting.
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'Monolithic, multi-layered and quite, quite magnificent. This was love at first bite': Tom Parker Bowles on his lifelong love affair with lasagneAn upwardly mobile spaghetti Bolognese, lasagne al forno, with oozing béchamel and layered meaty magnificence, is a bona fide comfort classic, declares Tom Parker Bowles.
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Country houses, cream teas and Baywatch: Country Life Quiz of the Day, April 24, 2025Thursday's Quiz of the Day asks exactly how popular Baywatch became.
