Have just reviewed a rather good book...

Anyone just starting out with an allotment or food-growing might be interested to know of a book I've just reviewed called 'Grow Your Food for Free' by Dave Hamilton (who also co-wrote 'The Self-Sufficientish Bible').

It's a book leaning heavily towards the practical side of gardening (pallet shed, anyone?) with less emphasis on the how to of plant nurturing, although there's plenty of advice for veg growers that draws on the author's vast experience of food growing and foraging. More pertinently for the drought we've just had, there's seventeen pages on water (saving, irrigating, mulching)!

My full review is on my blog here:

http://urbanvegpatch.blogspot.com/2011/06/grow-your-food-for-free-w...

BTW, one piece of advice found in the book: apparently, it's no longer recommended to grow potatoes in stacks of tyres as it's thought that toxic compounds leach from the tyres into yer spuds. I guess that goes for carrots and other edibles as well.

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Comment by Flighty on June 15, 2011 at 15:54: It looks to be a really useful book!

Using tyres like that has never really appealed to me.

Comment by Caro on June 16, 2011 at 18:41: I confess I've never used tyres but have the idea tucked away in my head since seeing them at the Union Street Orchard project in Southwark last year. I think they would need a creative touch: perhaps painted and planted with flowers?

Comment by Sarah Rideout on June 18, 2011 at 18:06: Have used tyres but only with an old compost bag as a liner. Wouldn't use them in direct contact with soil inside except for non-edibles, they can look good as a stepped wall this way... Also you have to ask the garage to take out any bits of metal from the inside otherwise they're a bit of a safety hazard!