With over 100,000 people on waiting lists for allotments and the financial pressures brought on by the credit crunch, more and more people are seeking a taste of The Good Life. I’ve dabbled in tomato growing – it went very well although the squirrels munched most of them; and the little herb garden on my window sill is a constant joy – that’s hardly enough to sustain me through the hard times though, and that’s where the Home-Grown Vegetable Manual comes in.

The typical Haynes design means it has about as much aesthetic charm as a 1970s car manual, and there’s the slightly hefty £17.99 price tag, but, if you’re serious about giving home-grown a go, it has everything you need; it promises to save you that and more on grocery shopping and it’ll taste a darn site better too! Written by trained horticulturalist-turned-commercial gardener-turned-writer Steve Ott, it guides you through tending to anything from a small patio plot to an allotment, with step-by-step instructions for all common types of vegetable, salad and herb.

At first flick I was daunted by all the different processes involved if you want to harvest a decent amount of crops, for example, checking the PH level of your soil, but as I read on, the photographs, layout and encouraging prose left me raring to get the trowel out. The advice for city dwellers like me with little space and not quite enough time and dedication for an allotment is great; who knew you could grow mushrooms on a toilet roll and tomatoes in a hanging basket. Similarly, there’s plenty in here for the seasoned gardener who may want to step up their game; a gardening year-at-a glance grid showing the best times to sow, harvest and plant; storing and preserving your crops, making your own warming bench, and even growing without soil – it’s all in there, plus nutritional advice for each plant and nifty tips like making herb cooking oils. Well worth a read!