Grow your own books, courses and seeds

Books to read

Grow Fruit (Dorling Kindersley, £16.99)

Grow Your Food for Free (Well Almost) by Dave Hamilton (Green Books, £14.95; published 21 April 2011)

Grow Something to Eat Everyday by (Dorling Kindersley, £14.99)

Grow Your Own, Eat Your Own by Bob Flowerdew (Kyle Cathie, £14.99)

Grow Your Own Kitchen Garden Year (Mitchell Beazley, £20)

Grow Your Own Veg by Carol Klein (Mitchell Beazley, £16.99)

Grow Your Own Vegetables by Joy Larkcom (Frances Lincoln, £9.99)

Grow Your Own Vegetables in Pots by Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell (Cico Books, £12.99)

How to Grow Your Own Food by Jon Clift (Green Books, £6.95)

Courses to enjoy

Capel Manor College
Based in Middlesex, this centre offers a range of horticultural courses at different London locations.
www.capel.ac.uk

Charles Dowding
A champion of the no-dig gardening method, Somerset-based Charles runs numerous learning days teaching students about his alternative approach to growing vegetables.
www.charlesdowding.co.uk

Garden Organic
The charity for organic growing offers a variety of learning opportunities at its flagship garden Ryton in Warwickshire - from composting and pruning to raising exotic plants.
www.gardenorganic.org.uk

Hackney City Farm
This pocket of countryside in London teaches vegetable gardening courses as well as ‘low impact living'.
www.hackneycityfarm.co.uk

Learning the Good Life
From willow weaving and breadmaking to container growing and creating a cut flower garden, this Lincolnshire-based course venue offers visitors a taste of country living.
www.learningthegoodlife.co.uk

River Cottage
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Devon headquarters and course venue offers expert tuition on a range of subjects from smallholding topics such as pigkeeping to allotment gardening.
www.rivercottage.net

Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
The gardening charity runs ‘leisure learning' days at its centres RHS Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire, RHS Hyde Hall in Essex, RHS Rosemoor in Devon and RHS Wisley in Surrey - as well as longer term courses for which students gain qualifications.
www.rhs.org.uk

Soil Association Organic Farm School
Supported by the Daylesford Foundation, the charity organises a broad range of courses on fruit and vegetable gardening, as well as general horticulture and permaculture. They take place at venues nationwide, from Assington Mill in Suffolk to Wortley Hall Walled Garden in South Yorkshire. Kitchen and smallholding days also available.
www.soilassociation.org

Gardening organisations

Garden Organic
A national charity dedicated to researching and promoting organic gardening, farming and food. offers the chance to adopt an unusual vegetable which supports the work of the Heritage Seed Library - a project to preserve rare and endangered heirloom varieties. The organisation also runs a number of courses at Garden Organic Ryton in Warwickshire (see above).
www.gardenorganic.org.uk

National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners (NSALG)
This association is the national representative body for the allotment movement in the UK run and funded by members to protect sites and provide information on myriad related topics, including legislation and the practicalities of keeping livestock on plots.
www.nsalg.org.uk

Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
The RHS champions ‘gardening for all'. Its website is packed full of information with an A-Z guide to growing your own, community gardening inspiration, famous shows around the country and its own flagship gardens. A range of accredited courses are also available (see above).
www.rhs.org.uk