On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 00:23:07 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

~The message
~from Jaques d'Altrades contains these words:
~
~ The message
~ from (jane) contains these words:
~
~ /RHS gardening book/
~
~ I agree. Very useful. You could also browse a few secondhand bookstores or
~ charity shops for veg growing books. I could have spent hundreds in Hay on
~ Wye the other week...
~
~ I just daren't go anywhere near Haye.
~
~ It's a seriously addictive place. We stopped there for lunch and
~stayed three days

I managed to restrict myself to a day - and 34 books. Have read about
half so far. Must make it an annual trip, or at least one to be
repeated when I have the cash...

:-)

Seriously, my best starter books are old ones, specifically
calendar-based ones that detail what you do each week. I am
particularly fond of an old 1940s Hellyer, though I've noticed that
this year I've been going more by my previous year's notes.

Nobody's said it yet: Keep a diary!!!!! That way you'll know when you
planted something, when you harvested it, whether it could have been
useful to plant earlier/later etc so you can adjust your dates the
following year. Eventually you will just *know* what to do, but the
diary will be there as a reminder.

do a search on google for allotment diaries - if you find moonbells,
that's me... there's a page for folk just starting up, linked to from
the main allotment page.
(yes I could print the url but then the spambots would get it too)

Good luck

--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!