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Following my recent blog Top 10 plants for a dream garden, I’m expanding the wishlist to include fruit and veg. I think it’s good to have a goal, no matter how distant it may seem.I like to think that if I have a decent-sized garden, with room for a greenhouse and a cold frame, I...

I’ve grown garlic successfully for years. But last summer was an exception, as the warm, wet weather provided the perfect conditions for garlic rust to thrive. Bulbous plants infected with rust usually wither and die early, before the bulbs have time to swell. This same pathogen ...

I’m a big fan of raspberries, which are the most reliable of all the soft fruit crops that I grow. My soil is heavy and alkaline, and I’ve found that autumn-fruiting raspberries last much longer in it than summer-fruiting varieties. So now I stick to growing autumn varieties such...

The taste of fresh asparagusin May is worth waiting for. A perennial crop, established asparagus plants will provide an annual crop of tasty spears for up to 20 years.Choose the spot you will grow your asparagus carefully. Asparagus needs lots of space to grow and thrives in shel...

The boot scraper is a handy tool to keep by the back door as the weather gets worse and gardens get muddier. It only takes a couple of hours to make and costs next to nothing.ChiselHammerSawLarge logThick slate tileWood glueall year roundtwo hoursStand the log for the boot scrape...

Our towns and cities have become pocket-sized safari parks for insects, amphibians, small mammals and birds. In many parts of the UK, a number of amphibian species - such as frogs, toads and newts - are facing serious decline because of the loss of ponds in the wider countryside....

Autumn leaves are mainly broken down by the slow action of fungi rather than by bacteria that decompose other compost bin ingredients quickly, so it's best to compost them separately in a simple cage.The leaves of all deciduous trees make good leaf mould. Small thin leaves such a...

Monty demonstrates how to sow carrot seed and shares tips on protecting your crop from carrot root fly with a combination of physical barriers, companion planting and later sowings.spring-summerMore advice on growing carrotsAdvice on dealing with carrot root flyGrow carrots in a ...

Carrots can be stored for winter use in a number of ways. On well-drained soils they can be left in the ground, protected from the cold by a thick layer of straw, bracken or soil.Carrots stored in this way can be difficult to harvest, however, so it's better to make an earth clam...

Carrots need space to develop fully so, once germinated, go over your rows of carrots and pick out the weakest-looking vegetable seedlings to leave a 2cm - 4cm space around remaining seedlings. If you're very careful in extracting the seedling from the row, you could try transpla...