The Essential Allotment Guide: How to Get the Best Out of Your Plot by John Harrison Book

Discover The Essential Allotment Guide: How to Get the Best out of Your Plot by John Harrison — a practical, reader-friendly paperback for anyone dreaming of a productive allotment. Perfect for new plot-holders, keen gardeners, teachers running school gardens, or gift buyers seeking a thoughtful gardening book, this guide shows you how to secure a plot, plan it wisely, and grow vegetables and fruit with confidence.

This clear, experience-led allotment guide combines practical steps with hands-on techniques. John Harrison draws on years of smallholding life to explain everything from moving up waiting lists to designing raised beds and building compost bins. Whether you want to maximise a tiny plot or transform a neglected site, this book acts as a step-by-step companion.

What’s inside the book

• How to get an allotment: Proven advice to improve your chances of securing a plot and moving up waiting lists.
• Clearing & planning: Practical methods for clearing overgrown sites and planning what to grow for seasons ahead.
• Soil, compost & raised beds: Simple instructions on building compost bins, improving soil health, and using raised beds for better yields.
• Growing fruit & vegetables: Detailed, easy-to-follow cultivation tips for the best crops — from sowing and feeding to harvesting.

Product details

Title in the Set: The Essential Allotment Guide: How to Get the Best out of Your Plot by John Harrison
Condition: BRAND NEW
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780716022121

Why readers trust this allotment book

John Harrison is a hands-on practitioner as well as an author. Living on a smallholding in Snowdonia, North Wales, he and his wife strive for self-sufficiency — growing fruit and vegetables, making butter, cheese and preserves, and preparing to raise livestock. His practical experience is reflected throughout the book, making this an authentic, trustworthy resource for home growers.

Endorsements also reinforce the book’s authority. Praise for John Harrison’s other title, Vegetable Growing Month by Month, includes: “...solid words of advice, written in a way that everyone will understand.” — Medwyn Williams, Chairman of the National Vegetable Society and member of the Fruit and Vegetable Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society.

Benefits at a glance

• Easy-to-follow guidance for beginners and experienced gardeners alike.
• Practical projects you can complete on a budget (compost bins, raised beds).
• Seasonal planning tips to maximise productivity year-round.
• Trusted, experience-driven advice from an author who lives the smallholding lifestyle.

This paperback edition is an ideal gift set addition for budding allotmenteers, a useful classroom resource for hands-on learning, and a timeless keepsake for anyone building their first plot. Bring confidence to your gardening routine and turn a patch of soil into a productive, rewarding space with this essential allotment guide.