The essential guide to back garden self-sufficiency - Carleen Madigan

Nothing tastes better than homegrown produce and there's nowhere better to grow it than in your own back garden. This guide contains the traditional, tried-and-tested skills that turn dreams into reality. Vegetable growing is made easy with clear, sensible advice on the basics and plenty of inventive tips such as making hotbeds for growing lettuces through the winter and A-frames for supporting clambering cucumbers or butternut squash. Fruit, nuts and herbs are all excellent value for the time-pressed gardener and if you grow your own you will save money and enjoy better flavours. Find out the best ways to store and preserve the harvest and learn how to make apple juice, cheese, butter, and even how to plant your own herbal remedy border to combat winter colds and flu. Advice on keeping chickens, bees, goats and pigs provides essential reading for anyone just starting out with livestock.



Growing and making your own food is healthy, sustainable and rewarding. Simply harvesting a few salad leaves, making your own bread or stocking the larder with a few jars of jams and jellies can bring that same satisfying buzz of knowing that you're cutting your supermarket bill, reducing your carbon footprint, and learning the practical skills of self-reliance.