Summary

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is surprisingly easy whatever the size of your garden or allotment.

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is surprisingly easy whatever the size of your garden or allotment. You don't need to be entirely self-sufficient but there's nothing more satisfying than being able to harvest your own tomatoes, snip a few leaves from a salad bed or make strawberry jam from home-grown strawberries. And by planting some easy-to-grow flowering plants it's perfectly possible to have freshly picked cut flowers to decorate your table. Accompanying the BBC Two series, The Big Allotment Challenge: The Patch celebrates our burgeoning interest in knowing where our food comes from and is a practical guide to making your garden a haven of productivity. With essential know-how on everything from soil and compost to pruning and pests, the book is aimed at novice gardens. There's an A-Z section on easy-to-grow vegetables, fruit, herbs and cut flowers; foolproof recipes for transforming your produce into delicious jams, jellies, chutneys and cordials; and stunningly simple flower arrangements.