We are very grateful to the following organisations for their support:

National Lottery

British Airways

Ealing Council

O2

Woodland Trust

EBCC

BAA

Kerrygold Community


Natwest

Sources of further advice

Find out more about what to grow on your allotment and get tips for successful cultivation:

In addition, our affiliation membership of the Royal Horticultural Society gives us access to their advisory service - Tel 0845 260 8000 or email gardeningadvice@rhs.org.uk. You will need to quote our membership number - to obtain this send an email to secretary@framfield-allotments.org.uk.

Book recommendations

Ten years ago it was hard to find any gardening books dedicated to growing fruit and veg, and even harder to find any specifically on allotment gardening.  These days there are dozens of allotment books and vegetable growing books available, many of which can be found in Ealing’s libraries. Some that you could try are listed below:

The Allotment Source Book by Caroline Foley (2010 New Holland Publishers)

This is one of the newest allotment books.  It would make an ideal gift for a first time allotmenteer or someone thinking of taking one on.  It is beautifully presented, with lots of wonderful and inspiring photographs. The style is easily readable, and the approach taken is enthusiastically organic. It provides a good introduction to most aspects of allotment gardening.  As well as covering the basics that you would expect, it also includes references to topics that many of the other guides do not cover such as allotment forestry.

However, in it’s attempt to cover all aspects of allotment gardening in one book it inevitably only introduces many of the topics.  If you want more detailed information on some of the areas covered, the following may prove useful.

Grow Your Own Vegetables by Joy Larkcom

A wealth of informative detail – one of the best reference books around.

Creative Vegetable Gardening by Joy Larkcom

How to make your allotment look good!

Complete Book of Companion Planting by Bob Flowerdew

The companion planting ‘bible’, written by a Radio 4 Gardeners Question Time panellist.

Vegetable and Herb Expert, Fruit Expert by Dr. Hessayan

Readily available, cheap, compact and easily carried to the plot.  Good clear diagrams help to easily identify pests and diseases.  However, remedies are very much chemical based, with little mention of organic alternatives.

Back Garden Seed Saving by Sue Stickland

Everything you need to know about seed saving.

Organic Gardening The Natural No-Dig Way by Charles Dowding

Wishful thinking....!

Grow Your Own Cut Flowers by Sarah Raven

No allotment should be without a few flowers!

Earth Care Manual by Patrick Whitefield

The definitive guide to permaculture principles.