Recommend a book

It's great to see that some of us still use older versions of their reliable  reference guides.  I'll be trawling ebay for some of those recommendations.

For me Dr. Hessayon is less of a book and more of a bible.
The best thing about it is that you can pop it in your bag and take it to the allotment with you.   My copy is covered in dirt and has, on occasion, been held open with trowels and house bricks.

Carole Klein's Grow your Own Veg is excellent and a handy-ish size. Anything RHS related is always a winner for me.

Allan Titchmarsh 's book is huge.  It's much prettier than the others but it's size makes it impractical to take to the plot. OK it's a coffee table book. I've only ever read it with my feet up in  when it was cold and dark out side.  Which is a good thing.  

Both of these books are excellent for a novice like me.

John Harrison's book is great.  Another one that will fit in your bag.

To help with this years projects I have also recently bought Dr Hessayon's three books on Green houses pests and fruit.  Currently all three books cost less than £7 each new on the mighty Amazon.  Used they are even cheaper.

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=flatten%3D1%26search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Hessayon&x=22&y=24

We have this;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grow-Your-Own-Vegetables-Larkcom/dp/071121963X

  Which has become our bible;we also have some others by Bob Flowerdew(the better half even got one of them signed :roll: ),Monty Don and Geoff Hamilton.We also have some good old wartime books which are very readable but do mention loads of chemicals long since banned.

  Might be worthwhile having a look in your local library to see what they have.
 
 Oh and Alan Titchmarshes latest is quite good,easily readable with a lot of common sense;
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Gardener-Grow-Your-Fruit/dp/1846072018/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232293801&sr=1-2
  And Carol Kleins book is good too,our WH Smiths has it on offer with her veg cookery book as well(can't remember how much though)

I've got loads of books, mostly good:

Andi Clevely - Allotment Book + Planner
Food from your garden/allotment - Readers Digest (modern update as well as the original 1974 version!)
The Kitchen Gardner - Alan Titchmarsh
Grow your own (Veg and Fruit) and Journal - Carol Klein
Self Sufficient Gardner - John Seymour
Hessayon...endless, including Veg/Fruit/Greenhouse expert

worth trawling for these ont net, I've just got the Titchmarsh one for £8 and the Carol Klein "Grow your Own Fruit" is currently £4.99 on The book People.co.uk

All recommended for these long winter nights...

Phill

I've got Johns book, John Seymores New Guide to self sufficiency, Vegetable gardeners bible and a load of others including enough gardening mags to fill a doctors waiting room but I've just ordered  another book from Amazon .... can't wait for it to arrive - I know that most of the books have the same or similar advice, I just love reading about different things in different writing styles!

One of the old fellas at the allotment said that you can't learn anything from a gardening book;  I'd say that he is wrong because the books are full of useful tips but this site is the best place to get the best advice from!  

Well Joy Larkham's book arrived two days ago and I have been glued to it ever since.

I love the way it is set out, with a stron emphasis on organic or at least minimal chemical intervention.

It had some really good advice on soil and made me realise that one of the main problems in our veg patch is drainage - I dug a spade and a half deep and found solid clay!
So will be removing some of that and putting in drainage measures.
That does explain why our entire garden gets waterlogged despite me digging the whole thing over when I moved in - I just didn't go deep enough!

This book has really got me itching to get at the plot, and I managed an hour there yesterday but the rains have come today unfortunately!

I think Hessayon's book is more useful in terms of sowing and harvesting times, though. I even have The Vegetable Jotter which is even more at-a-glance.