Stops slugs! Really works. You water it in – but read the instructions carefully!

Possible one of the most wonderful gardening books I’ve read for ages! It’s got tons of useful charts in!

The Organic Gardeners Handbook

The Organic Gardeners Handbook by Michael Littlewood is a really practical book.

It starts off really usefully by having a list of contents and then a list of illustrations so if you want to refer back to a particular image you can find it really easily.
It starts off with the basics about soil and climate giving you more of an understanding of how these affect you as a gardener.

The planning of your plot is discussed with several sections explaining about crop rotation and cropping plans. One of the nice charts explains how far apart to plant things in an 8x4ft bed and gives you totals on how many plants of each type you’ll get in it!
The section on the ground explains about soil, fertilisers, nutrients, minerals, compost and manures. For instance did you know that microbes make up 1% of the volume of soil?
With useful advice on checking your soil, acidity, and structure you’ll get a good understanding about how important the soil in your garden or allotment is. A useful chart is about plants and soil types, pointing out which will grow well and which won’t, in certain soil types.

Nutrient cycles – carbon and nitrogen are explained.
With an good discussion on plant requirements of minerals and minor elements, and major plant nutrients.

the section on compost is good too and will give a newbie plenty of advice about starting a compost pile!
Planting and protection are other very useful chapters – the whole book is absolutely crammed with practical and useful information!
You will feel educated after reading this book and it’ll be a very useful resource for your home bookshelf!

The Organic Gardeners Handbook is highly recommended!

Keeping Honey Bees and Swarm Trapping

Keeping Honey Bees and Swarm Trapping

Swarm trapping is another aspect to free bees that entails catching that runaway swarm even when I’m not around and in places I can’t always be. I’ve had my share of experiences where the swarm departed for some unknown destination, and then I’ve wondered about the swarms that come out of bee trees in remote areas where no human being was able to discover them and call me. And what about the swarms that people find but they don’t know who to call? Eventually those swarms will leave for a hollow tree or somebody’s garden shed. How can I get those swarms I don’t even know about?

Paul Peacock has some great books you should get hold of if you’re looking at being more self-sufficient

The Sausage Book by Paul Peacock (31 Oct 2008)

Making Your Own Cheese: How to Make All Kinds of Cheeses in Your Own Home by Paul Peacock (29 Oct 2010)

Patio Produce: How to Cultivate a Lot of Home-grown Vegetables from the Smallest Possible Space by Paul Peacock (20 Apr 2009)

Allotment Manual: The Complete Step-by-step Guide by Paul Peacock (1 Mar 2012)

The Urban Hen: A practical guide to keeping poultry in a town or city by Paul Peacock (24 Jun 2009)

Keeping Bees: A Complete Practical Guide by Paul Peacock (15 Jun 2008)

Make Your Own Beer and Cider by Paul Peacock (28 Oct 2011)

HOW TO BUTCHER LIVESTOCK & GAME by Paul Peacock (5 Dec 2007)

Chickens, Ducks and Bees: A beginner’s guide to keeping livestock in the garden by Paul Peacock (25 Feb 2011)

Back to the Garden with Mr Digwell: Growing Your Own and Cooking it to Make a Little Go a Long Way by Paul Peacock (2 Jul 2009)

Grandma’s Ways for Modern Days: 2nd edition by Paul Peacock (24 Jun 2011)

Storing Your Home Grown Fruit and Vegetables: How to make your garden’s bounty last all year round by Paul Peacock (30 Sep 2011)

Mr Digwell: Gardening Year: An Invaluable Resource for Every Gardener from Novice to Expert by Paul Peacock (1 Mar 2012)

The Pocket Book of Wild Food by Paul Peacock (30 Jun 2008)

A Good Life: John Seymour and His Self-Sufficiency Legacy by Paul Peacock (17 Oct 2005)

Grandma’s Ways for Modern Days: Relearning Traditional Self-sufficiency – Gardening, Cooking and Household Management… by Diana Peacock and Paul Peacock (30 Oct 2009)

Precycle! by Paul Peacock (10 Nov 2008)

The Urban Farmer’s Handbook – Living the Good Life in the City by Paul Peacock (12 Feb 2009)

Sausage Cookbook (1 Aug 2012)

The City Cottage Self-Sufficiency Handbook: A practical guide to rural and urban self-sufficiency by Paul Peacock and Diana Peacock (25 May 2012)

Growing Vegetables Under Cover: How to Lengthen Your Growing Season and Produce by Paul Peacock (31 Oct 2012)

An Hour in the Garden: A Month by Month Guide to Creating a Beautiful Garden by Paul Peacock (24 Feb 2012)

The Rurbanite: Living in the Country without Leaving the City – The Rurbanite: Living in the Country without Leaving the City
available at Amazon

In cities around the world, we are redefining our sense of urban living. No longer satisfied with a grey, sterile metropolis, we want the best of both worlds – the energy and diversity of the city, but a stronger sense of harmony with nature too. The Rurbanite Handbook explains everything you need to know to achieve this, proving it isn’t necessary to move to the country to meet nature head on, including: turning your back garden into an urban homestead putting a green roof on your garden shed planting to encourage wildlife guerrilla gardening keeping bees, hens, quails, ducks learning to identity the wild flowers growing out of cracks in the pavement turning ex-industrial sites into vibrant community gardens

Allotment Gardening For Dummies

Allotment Gardening For Dummies

Allotment Gardening For Dummies is a lively, hands–on guide to getting the most out of your allotment. Whether you′re interested in eating fresh, saving money, getting exercise or enjoying wholesome family fun, this is the guide for you. The step–by–step advice takes you through all the stages in the process, from securing an allotment and preparing your plot, to choosing what to grow and enjoying the benefits of abundant fresh food and a sociable and healthy hobby. With over 50 handy line drawings, plus information on how to grow organic and advice on storing and cooking the food you grow, this guide really does have it all! Allotment Gardening For Dummies includes: Part 1: Getting to Grips with Allotment Gardening Chapter 1: What Are Allotments All About? Chapter 2: Getting hold of an Allotment Chapter 3: Getting Started Part 2: Preparing for Allotment Success Chapter 4: Deciding What to Grow, When Chapter 5: Preparing Your Plot Chapter 6: Keeping Your Soil Healthy Chapter 7: Keeping Your Plants Healthy Chapter 8: Growing Organic Part 3: Growing a Few of Your Favourite Vegetables Chapter 9: Going Underground Chapter 10: The Staples Chapter 11: Growing Leafy Greens Chapter 12: Planting Peas, Beans and Other Pods Chapter 13: Growing More Exotic Veg Part 4: Extending Your Allotment Repetoire Chapter 14: Growing Wholesome Herbs Chapter 15: Growing Fruitful Fruit Chapter 16: Nurturing Flowers on an Allotment Part 5: Getting the Most Out of Your Allotment Chapter 17: Involving Children Around the Allotment Chapter 18: Hobnobbing with Allotment Society Chapter 19: Growing Giant Veg Part 6: The Part of Tens Chapter Chapter 20: Ten Common Accidents and How to Prevent Them Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Revive a Flagging Allotment

I’ve got a pair of these.


I’ve had them over a year and half now and they’re still in very good condition. They’re waterproof, warm and easy to put on and take off.

Tuffa Splosher Mucker Boot

The bottom part is made of tough material that keeps the rain and mud out. The sole has plenty of texture too so you grip, and they adjust easily to do up over any size of socks. They are lovely to wear and I will be replacing them when they wear out in a couple of years with another pair.

When it’s too wet for these then it’s too wet to dig!
They are as waterproof as wellies for general use – so unless you’re planning on wading in deep water then they’ll be fine. They are good for keeping your feet warm and they are lined with fleece which makes them a real delight to put on.

The velcro straps might not make these the most fashionable boots out there but I know even when my hands are stiff and cold after being outside for a couple of hours in winter, I can easily undo them. They also come up slightly higher than other gardening shoes or boots which means they keep your ankles warmer too!

Good value, long lasting, comfortable boots for gardening and allotmenting in.

The Flower Expert: The world’s best-selling book on flowers (Expert Series)

The Flower Expert is the world’s best-selling guide to the world’s favourite types of plant – garden flowers. No garden can afford to be without the year-round colour that flowers can give.

Complete colour A-Z

Guide to buying plants

How to look after your flowers

Dealing with plant troubles and how to avoid them. Contains all the information on garden flowers/ soils and pests and there prefered growing enviroment – a ‘must’ if you want to avoid planting plants that are unsuitable for your garden’s soil pH and type, climate limitations and aspect.

More from this excellent author: Dr D G Hessayon books at amazon
Can’t decide which to get?
The Complete Garden Expert: The Expert you’ve been waiting for – All the gardening Experts condensed and updated into one enlarged volume by Dr D G Hessayon is one great volume that gives you everything you need.

I’ve got tons of gardening books and can’t resist treating myself to new ones!
Amazon have a great selection of gardening books

Bee keeping books and equipment

Greenhouse clips at Amazon
Overlap Clip or Galvanised Wire Glazing Clips

Also they have Greenhouse Glazing strip and Super Alliplug Greenhouse Insulation Fittings (50) by Alliplug which are great for fitting bubble wrap as insulation to your greenhouse.

Autumn jobs for the greenhouse
– get the tomatoes to ripen!
Pray for sunshine, or try putting apples or ripe bananas in to produce ethylene gas which ripens them. Or look up recipes for green tomato chutney. Or try fried green tomatoes.
– empty everything out on a nice day
– wash down the glass
– clean all the pots in some jeynes fluid solution
– sweep out the floor
– do any repairs that need doing now.
– put shelves back in for using to grow things over winter and move in any plants that need to stay out of the bad weather.
– if you want to insuate then get clips and bubblewrap. It reduces light so it’s important to ensure the windows are cleaned.
– Enjoy!