[rusticranger]

Hi there everyone!

Just wondering what veg growing mags you are reading? And if you get a subscription to a certain one? I'm tempted by 'Grow your own'

Tom

[Fleecewife]

I've just taken out a sub for 'Kitchen Garden'.  I had a sub a few years back but found that one year at a time is enough, because the same old articles pop up each year (no matter which mag you get), plus the inevitable 'Ten Top Tips for.....' which every kind of magazine suffers from. Also in most veggie magazines the majority of articles are aimed at beginners and small gardens, neither of which applies to me.     However, I'm hoping for some inspiration to counteract the lethargy which is creeping over me, so a nice colourful magazine every month might do the trick.  If only they weren't all so shiny 

[Mammyshaz]

I get kitchen garden too now and then. Also like home farmer.  This month was Grow your own as it looked the more interesting one on sale. I don't subscribe to any as I flit from one to another depending on if there is something I'm  interested in  that month or a few seed packets of something I haven't got.

[HesterF]

I tend to get the more general smallholding ones on a fairly random basis (depends which shop I'm in at the time) - Country Smallholder, something else Smallholder and Home Farmer. They're all interesting but mostly because I like the other bits and pieces too. I've just started subscribing to Which? Gardening which I'm loving but again it's not specifically on veges - lots of fruit and flowers in there too (which suits me - need to get my flower borders stocked soon). Mostly I get veg info out of my various gardening reference books and then browse the brochures for things to try.

[Offgridgreg]

Just subscribed to garden news, it's a weekly mag and the subscription works out at £1 per issue / week. Great value as there are free seeds each week, a mix of annual / perennial flowering seeds and veggies.
There are columns on allotment growing, growing in different regions / climates, different / new methods which I find quite interesting, we also have smallholder subscription so between to two they cover most of our interests.

[cloddopper]

Have you considered buying an up-to-date garden veg " Expert"  book by DG Hessayon ( or similar name ) they are in all the big garden centres and are available second hand on line. A new one is about £12  , second hand can copies can be had for pennies on Amazon etc.

 The newer the book the more up-to-date the seed varieties it will reference .. there is plenty of info of how to do things in them , but the most important thing I use  is a whole list of veg & herbs etc. you can grow in the UK  with plenty of info drawings &b pictures about each one .

I found that these " EXPERT"  books are far cheaper & informative than a glossy mag that sells ads and little else .

 The expert range of books cover fruit , veg  , flowers , bulbs , cacti ,tomatoes , greenhouses , ponds etc etc.

[Dreich Pete]

I subscribed to Grow Your Own a few months ago as it looked the most appealing when I looked through a few mags in the shop. Since then each and every edition has had freebies delivered with it - sometimes several packets of seeds (4 or 5 packets) and sometimes it is a book. Between the discounted subscription and the seeds & books, I think this mag has paid for itself. It's an interesting format and has articles on a wide range of subjects and even has a small section for those of us with hens or bees.

[Dans]

I got a sub for Kitchen Garden for my birthday this year. Have learnt loads from it already and getting lots of freebies.  Really happy with it.

Dans

[Fleecewife]

I'm never sure what to do with the freebies as I've usually already bought my seeds by the time they arrive, or I prefer other varieties.  Wish I could give them away.  I used to give them to my brother but this year he's overseas so can't use them 

[pgkevet]

The pub is a good place for giving away surplus and the odd bought drink....

[Somewhere_by_the_river]

I used to get Grow your Own as I found it gave the best/most relevant advice at the time of need. That was a few years ago now - save the whole year's and you'll only need to buy another mag if you want an update on new varieties as they do recycle a lot.

Fleecewife - sounds like a seed swap could be a good idea... (though some could argue that the pub's a better on  )

[Lesley Silvester]

I used to have Kitchen Garden as well but, as has already been said, after a year, you start getting repeats of articles, so I gave it up at that point. Might start it again though, as I did find it helpful.