The Big Allotment Challenge: The Patch

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 BBC2 series Grow Make Eat 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.