For those who garden in snatched moments . . .

Whether you have a spacious plot or a small patch in the garden, this handbook is full of tried-and-tested tips from a seasoned old hand.

It offers practical month-by-month suggestions for making the most of the little time you can spare on both the coldest winter days and the long summer afternoons, with ideas to inspire even the most experienced allotment gardeners.

Focusing on the essentials needed to produce a great crop, this is for those who want to but struggle to find the time to grow their own.

Val Bourne has been a fanatical gardener since the age of 5. In her twenties she worked in vegetable research and she has always grown her own fruit and vegetables without chemical use. She has a large allotment and fruit and vegetable patches amongst her extensive flower garden in the Cotswolds.

Val serves on two RHS panels which meet fortnightly to assess the Dahlias and floral trials. She lectures nationwide and in Japan and South African. She writes regularly for the Crocus website and for the following publications: Daily Telegraph, Saga, Oxford Times, Grow It, Hardy Plant Society magazine; Homes and Gardens, The English Garden, RHS The Garden, The Rose Magazine.
The Natural Gardener won the Gardening Writer's Guild (GWG)Practical Book of the Year in 2004. Her books have been shortlisted for major GWG prizes for New/Practical and Inspirational.