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Allotment Month by Month
For tasty, delicious fruit and veg that hasn’t travelled halfway around the world, you can’t beat home grown produce from your own allotment or vegetable patch. Here’s how to ensure your plot provides fresh, healthy food all year round.
Follow month-by-month, easy-to-follow advice on what to do on your allotment and how to do it. Pick up time saving tips and techniques on everything from pruning to dealing with pests. There’s clear guidance on when to sow, plant, and harvest for excellent results
Get more from your allotment with this indispensable companion.
Follow month-by-month, easy-to-follow advice on what to do on your allotment and how to do it. Pick up time saving tips and techniques on everything from pruning to dealing with pests. There’s clear guidance on when to sow, plant, and harvest for excellent results
Get more from your allotment with this indispensable companion.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
27 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 31, 2024
This is an excellent book. It's got everything you need to know about growing fruit and vegetables, whether it be in your back garden or an allotment.
It goes through the months of the year, letting you know the best things to plant on that month and how to plant and care for it.
It's a reference book, so it's a valuable companion through the year to keep you right and learn new and better ways to plant, care for, and harvest your crops.
The descriptions, explanations, and illustrations are all made easy to understand. It doesn't get too complicated.
Ideal for beginners or even the competent gardener.
It goes through the months of the year, letting you know the best things to plant on that month and how to plant and care for it.
It's a reference book, so it's a valuable companion through the year to keep you right and learn new and better ways to plant, care for, and harvest your crops.
The descriptions, explanations, and illustrations are all made easy to understand. It doesn't get too complicated.
Ideal for beginners or even the competent gardener.
May 14, 2012
A lovely resource for the novice gardener!
Most useful are the jobs for each month - it really breaks it down when it can sometimes feel like there is so much to do and learn.
I also enjoy the extra information on pests, and the gudes to building your own raised beds and compost bins etc.
Really lovely, motivating photos too.
Most useful are the jobs for each month - it really breaks it down when it can sometimes feel like there is so much to do and learn.
I also enjoy the extra information on pests, and the gudes to building your own raised beds and compost bins etc.
Really lovely, motivating photos too.
October 28, 2021
Perfect for the brand new gardener like myself. Super helpful having the month by month guide, tells me what to do and when to do it.
May 16, 2018
This is possibly my most middle-aged posting ever, but.. it gave me exactly what I was looking for, which was a clear guide when to plant and when to harvest my fruit and veg, with lots of tips and information without being overwhelming. A useful reference book.
May 23, 2024
As I try to bring my back yard up to scratch I’m browsing a dozen gardening books for ideas and advice. These opening paragraphs will open every review of the dozen – the review of this specific book will appear at paragraph 5.
Can’t imagine any gardening book could be described as perfect – I live in Scotland, which might have a slightly colder climate than other places in the world. But gardening books are useful if you’re trying to bring a piece of land into productive use for yourself, family or community. Useful, to supplement what you may already know, useful to give you ideas and encouragement, useful to remind you of the essentials and the possibilities.
I’d caution against picking just one book – unless it covers a particularly narrow, specialist field. Browse half a dozen or a dozen books before and as you start your new project. Don’t necessarily buy new – pick up some second hand ones online or in charity shops. Seriously, gardening is not going to have changed much in the last 30 years, you don’t need to pay £20 to buy the latest piece by some celebrity gardener when you can get a half a dozen books for that money from charity shops or online.
Browse, take notes, compare, learn, become enthused … but don’t forget to get your hands dirty.
Alan Buckingham “Allotment month by month” – “Fresh, seasonal, local” – serves up a mantra which could easily be applied to the objectives of this book. I’d seen allotments as vital, essential components of any healthy community – they should be thriving features of any town or city, encouraging community involvement in food production rather than dependence on supermarkets … maybe even tied in to local schools so children could be encouraged to learn about (and enjoy) growing food. We need to look more seriously at getting people engaged in growing, and this is a very useful tome.
Buckingham’s book concentrates on the practical demands of turning a piece of ground into something productive – it’s not a book which overtly proposes political action for change, but it is the sort of essential manual any keen gardener should have in his/her collection.
Planning and organisation are essential. Growing too much of one crop is a common mistake. There’s more to harvest in summer, winter may depend on what you’ve managed to store.
Make use of every square metre. Conserve water. Recycle materials.
And the rewards? Freshly harvested vegetables and fruit taste so much better than shop-bought ones. And you can grow the unusual, can grow different varieties, can find greater variety.
Assess the site – decide what to keep, what to transform. Don’t rush into things. Experiment, build slowly. Buckingham take you through the steps. Sunshine? Wind? Rain? Get a sound understanding of the aspect and situation or your plot. Consider soil and climate, weather, micro-climate, exposure to frost? He takes you through the process of understanding the constraints and the opportunities. And, if you’re looking to grow fruit and veg you need you need to think in terms of plots and crop rotation.
He offers up an annual calendar of jobs to do – far more extensive than in his other book I reviewed – and a crop planner which covers a wide range of fruit and veg. It’s a useful reference manual in its own right and has a legitimate place amongst the reference books you’d retain and consult regularly.
And a glossary of diseases and pests, advice on a No-dig system (dig over the bed to open up the soil, remove weeds, mulch the surface annually with well-rotted compost or manure).
Excellent manual, lavishly illustrated with colour photos – inspirational in their own right. Highly recommended.
Can’t imagine any gardening book could be described as perfect – I live in Scotland, which might have a slightly colder climate than other places in the world. But gardening books are useful if you’re trying to bring a piece of land into productive use for yourself, family or community. Useful, to supplement what you may already know, useful to give you ideas and encouragement, useful to remind you of the essentials and the possibilities.
I’d caution against picking just one book – unless it covers a particularly narrow, specialist field. Browse half a dozen or a dozen books before and as you start your new project. Don’t necessarily buy new – pick up some second hand ones online or in charity shops. Seriously, gardening is not going to have changed much in the last 30 years, you don’t need to pay £20 to buy the latest piece by some celebrity gardener when you can get a half a dozen books for that money from charity shops or online.
Browse, take notes, compare, learn, become enthused … but don’t forget to get your hands dirty.
Alan Buckingham “Allotment month by month” – “Fresh, seasonal, local” – serves up a mantra which could easily be applied to the objectives of this book. I’d seen allotments as vital, essential components of any healthy community – they should be thriving features of any town or city, encouraging community involvement in food production rather than dependence on supermarkets … maybe even tied in to local schools so children could be encouraged to learn about (and enjoy) growing food. We need to look more seriously at getting people engaged in growing, and this is a very useful tome.
Buckingham’s book concentrates on the practical demands of turning a piece of ground into something productive – it’s not a book which overtly proposes political action for change, but it is the sort of essential manual any keen gardener should have in his/her collection.
Planning and organisation are essential. Growing too much of one crop is a common mistake. There’s more to harvest in summer, winter may depend on what you’ve managed to store.
Make use of every square metre. Conserve water. Recycle materials.
And the rewards? Freshly harvested vegetables and fruit taste so much better than shop-bought ones. And you can grow the unusual, can grow different varieties, can find greater variety.
Assess the site – decide what to keep, what to transform. Don’t rush into things. Experiment, build slowly. Buckingham take you through the steps. Sunshine? Wind? Rain? Get a sound understanding of the aspect and situation or your plot. Consider soil and climate, weather, micro-climate, exposure to frost? He takes you through the process of understanding the constraints and the opportunities. And, if you’re looking to grow fruit and veg you need you need to think in terms of plots and crop rotation.
He offers up an annual calendar of jobs to do – far more extensive than in his other book I reviewed – and a crop planner which covers a wide range of fruit and veg. It’s a useful reference manual in its own right and has a legitimate place amongst the reference books you’d retain and consult regularly.
And a glossary of diseases and pests, advice on a No-dig system (dig over the bed to open up the soil, remove weeds, mulch the surface annually with well-rotted compost or manure).
Excellent manual, lavishly illustrated with colour photos – inspirational in their own right. Highly recommended.
March 17, 2020
Super straightforward book outlining the key jobs to be done month by month for the beginner gardener. Just a tip from a friend who also has this book AND an incredibly productive allotment, it's very England-centric so if you're in Scotland, he would recommend moving things a few weeks to a month later (i.e. tasks designated for March in the book might need to happen closer to April in reality if you're in Northern Scotland). I've yet to try this in practice yet but it his results speak for themselves!
June 8, 2025
Allotment month by month, might probably the only book you need on the subject. A stunningly designed book, packed with very useful information and written in a clear style that even novice gardeners will be able to easily understand. The quality of the photos are an added bonus. I’m very pleased with this book and will be ordering a second one for my friend’s birthday, no actually 2 more, for 2 of my friends! So really, a lot of gardening books that look good, are ending up on the bookshelf totally ignored, while this one will most likely get used over years to come.
December 6, 2018
This is a really good breakdown of what to do in the allotment which I found incredibly helpful when I was first starting out. It's not a complete guide on how to do everything, but it's a valuable resource for beginner allotmenters.
January 14, 2019
This book was a fantastic help for my first year growing and now is my go to guide for growing, jobs and guidance of what to do on my allotment.
Fab book and I recommend it to all beginners like me.
Fab book and I recommend it to all beginners like me.
June 11, 2017
Really useful
February 3, 2018
Excellent resource for gardeners/allotmenters.
July 7, 2018
Superb. I just took over an allotment and it's a daunting task. This book has helped me to decide what to grow, understand how to grow it and I've planned out my year. This book is a must have!
July 28, 2018
Not nearly enough detail especially if someone is a beginner
March 8, 2020
I would highly recommend this book. It's easy to read and understand, full of excellent information, advice and tips. It's my allotment Bible.
June 28, 2020
Decent book but you can find most of this information online e.g. on RHS
February 3, 2025
An excellent guide
January 27, 2021
Very straightforward book to growing veg, fruit and herbs in an allotment situation. Lots of great photos, text frequently borken up by lots of headings to improve readability and it's easy to skim though and find what you need.
Divided into 4 sections:
Allotment know how - assessing the site, microclimate, plot layout, making beds, crop rotation etc
Allotment calendar - bullet point list of top tasks to be done every month backed up by more detailed information of veggies available, sowing & planting, other jobs to be done, pests & diseases to look out for.
Crop planner - page entry per crop item with calendar to show sowing/harvesting times, info on where to grow, sowing & planting, tips on growing, harvesting and troubleshooting.
Troubleshooting - pests & diseases A-Z.
Divided into 4 sections:
Allotment know how - assessing the site, microclimate, plot layout, making beds, crop rotation etc
Allotment calendar - bullet point list of top tasks to be done every month backed up by more detailed information of veggies available, sowing & planting, other jobs to be done, pests & diseases to look out for.
Crop planner - page entry per crop item with calendar to show sowing/harvesting times, info on where to grow, sowing & planting, tips on growing, harvesting and troubleshooting.
Troubleshooting - pests & diseases A-Z.
January 21, 2017
Good book. Easy to follow. Love the month by month guide of what to do and plant. Plus section on diseases to refer to. Great for the beginner.
September 3, 2024
Recently took on an allotment patch, this is literally the allotment bible.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews