Getting the most from a veg patch is what all gardeners want. With a little forethought and planning, an approach that places different crops together, and in closer proximity than you might imagine, means you can grow more plants in the same area while creating healthy and beneficial plant communities.

No Dig guru Charles Dowding uses 40 years of growing experience to recommend which crops to grow successfully together, how to time it right, and how to harvest in particular ways, to grow the tastiest, pest-free crops as space-efficiently as possible. Carrots between lettuces, fennel between spinach, garlic interplanted with coriander, broad beans around asparagus, cucumbers between peas and strawberries: 50 different proven combinations are shared to help you get the most from growing crops in tune with the seasons, the soil community, and wider environment.

Growing together is about more than simply planting two different crops side-by-side: there's succession planting, catch-cropping, cover-cropping, companion planting, planting to aid pollination, and multisowing. Charles explains them all and provides invaluable advice on how to succeed in each technique, with the correct timings and spacings, as well as the best varieties to grow.