"Janet Tweedy" wrote ...

Brother and partner have just been assigned an allotment in Shoreham after
8 years wait!
Soil is lovely and apparently not too weedy .
They have grown vegetables for a couple of years in their small back garden
but what would you recommend for a good reference book for Christmas for
them?
I think she has got a basic one and he has read a couple but it would be
nice to get them a good reference allotment book (inc. fruit) or perhaps a
diary/log book for Christmas.


We have never yet found a usable diary/log book for allotment gardening, all
the ones we have looked at have been a joke. The times of planting are so
different across the Country they are of no use. Just keep a loose leaf file
and write it in that year on year. You would think there was a useful little
program for the PC but we haven't found one.
For an excellent allotment type book see if you can locate a copy of " The
Complete Manual of Organic Gardening" by Basil Caplan. ISBN 0 7472 7830 X .
Excellent book that will set them on the right road even if they don't go
totally "organic" , we aren't.
Do remind them that allotments are not back gardens and therefor much more
exposed to the weather, especially wind. So bean poles etc need to be made
much more sturdy than in a garden, larger pests may be a pain too, from
pigeons and foxes to the two legged ones.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK