RHS Half Hour Allotment: Timely Tips for the Most Productive Plot Ever

by Lia Leendertz, Royal Horticultural Society

The Royal Horticultural Society The Half Hour Allotment (first published in 2005) has been a best-selling gardening title for Frances Lincoln and the Royal Horticultural Society for many years. This new edition re-presents the classic in a fresh new illustrated format with hundreds of new photographs and a bright new design.

The book explains the philosophy of spending half an hour each day on the allotment in order to produce something to harvest and eat every day. This tried-and-tested formula is clearly explained with weekly work plans and time-efficient solutions for busy gardeners who want to spend every moment preciously. It outlines the best crops to grow, the best varieties within each crop, and shows how to arrange and equip your allotment so that it is a place of interest for you, your family and visiting wildlife.

Lia Leendertz is an organic gardener with a great sensitivity for the environment so the book is a gentle and thoughtful read as well as being a bible for productive and time-starved gardeners.

Genres: Gardening

208 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 6, 2019

About the author

Lia Leendertz is a gardener and writer. She writes about gardening, growing food and cooking, and her work has appeared in for the Telegraph, the Guardian, Gardens Illustrated, The Garden, and Simple Things magazine. She publishes an annual garden almanac.

Reviews

[Vix · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

A great beginners guide to owning an allotment. I'll definitely be putting some of the ideas into practice on my own plot.

If there is to be a future edition of the book it would be great to see mention of no-dig practices as this is a proven time saving technique that would mean you could do more in your half hour.

[Hayley Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, thinking about getting an allotment and this splits up the things to consider into easily manageable chunks.

Very informative with really easy to understand instructions and pictures.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many new gardeners end up biting off way more than they can chew in the veg garden and lose enthusiasm within the first year or two as a result. RHS Half Hour Allotment strives (and, in my opinion, succeeds) in providing useful tips that help fledgling veg gardeners create and maintain an allotment (or any veg garden) in such a way that it's a joyful (vs. stressful & disheartening) experience.

Those of us with years of experience have likely learned many of the tips included in this book, albeit the hard way. Even so, there were a couple of useful nuggets that I gleaned from it, so while I may not suggest that experienced veg gardeners purchase this book, a bit of a browse through a library copy would be worthwhile. New veg gardeners and allotment owners, on the other hand, will find enough useful info to warrant a copy on the bookshelf.

Note: This book is geared to those in Great Britain, so some of the advice, specifically when it comes to timing of sowing and/or wintering over certain veg, does not translate to those of us in colder winter climates.

[Gareth Heyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful Reference Tool

Informative and useful book especially the guide on how much to plant for the average family. Added to that it was free on Prime

[Lynn Seldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book for Any Gardener

I learned a ton of new stuff and will be a much more efficient gardener thanks to this book's contents!

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting time management method, broken down to help keep on top of gardening without it becoming a chore or too much in one go.

[nicholas sturton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information

Good information for starting out. Now I just got to think about what method to use for killing the weeds. 🤷