Grow It! more attractive than many allotment books, of which there is plenty of competition on the market.
I wrote one in 2013, attempting to break the mould of advice tomes by offering alternative uses for your plot, eg concrete it over and use it as parking. This sold surprisingly well, and I note a more authoritative book has been renamed with the familiar word 'planner' now in the title.
Despite my efforts, allotments, and allotment books remain popular. Grow It! by Ruth Binney is a veteran allotmenteer and editor so knows her way around the potting shed.
Making compost, using raised beds, rotating crops, where to plant your veg, stopping slugs and pigeons, avoiding gluts and making jams are all familiar subjects to grow your owners.
In 2024, many allotments were a write-off because it rained all spring. Slugs get plenty of mentions (on 15 pages). Top tips are to choose slug-resistant varieties, harden seedlings off, and as a last resort, use ferric phosphate or nematodes. Not too much 'hug a slug' nonsense here.
Binney makes some lively recommendations of what to grow in this energetically laid-out and pleasingly illustrated book. You won't go far wrong if you go with her top choices. I like drawings rather than photos as they date less quickly, and indeed this is a book that will be kept by its owners for a long time, such is its reliability and wealth of practical and sensible advice.
