"Neil wrote in message .
A gardening newbie, I'm just in the process of digging a vegetable
patch, and since my land is pretty much pure clay, I've so far been
concentrating on finding out about (and applying) initial soil
conditioning. Now that the compost is fermenting nicely (lots of advice
taken from this ng, thank you all), and the sharp sand is on order, I
need to start thinking about crops.

Whilst there's a wealth of info available here and at other online
resources, I wonder if there is a good sensible book which urglers would
recommend for the vegetable gardener?

A trawl through historic posts led me to past discussions on the RHS
books, but these were geared towards availability rather than content,
and it seems the RHS books may cover a wider subject area than I need.

I already have one book in mind, but in an attempt not to lead the
discussion, will hold back from mentioning it just now (tell you later,
honest!) I'd like to be sure I'm not missing anything better :-)

So, is there a good standard text I should buy before I set to in
February?


One I would recommend is " The complete Manual of Organic Gardening" by
Basil Caplan. ISBN 0 7472 7830 X.
Although I don't garden organically it's a very useful book full of good
advice. Includes timings, planting distances, companion planting, all the
sorts of things a beginner needs.
Does include flowers though, but then you probably want to grow some for
cutting for the house anyway.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.