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that help me create a patchwork of colour is all part of the fun of ‘growing your own’. By choosing crops that provide a full eating sensation – colour, texture, sweetness, flavour – you can take your veg-growing to new heights, and enjoy home-grown produce

first venture into growing fruit and veg, and the many mistakes I made while progressing to the level I'm at today (pretty good, I think). It's been a steep learning curve.For a brief spell, aged 11, I had a vegetable patch of my own. My mother – a

knows, perhaps salad crops growing in lawns will be next year's big trend at the Chelsea Flower Show. Don't forget you heard it here first.There is a small allotment outside the offices of Gardeners’ World magazine, where there is space for a few of us

miserable, skinny crop. Is it just me that’s been unlucky this year? Eager to find out, I recently took to driving very slowly past the local allotments, to get a glimpse of the leeks there!Without wishing to tempt fate, at least my crop hasn’t been affected

- organic home-grown plums to eat straight from the tree with enough left over to freeze and cook during winter. My 'Victoria' plums are swelling nicely, so I just hope they have the flavour to match their appearance.Crops have certainly been affected

I have a soft spot for alpine strawberries: on our very first allotment our next door neighbour gave my then wee daughter a clump to grow in her own raised bed. We left them on the plot when we moved, but my daughter still talks about them fondly

garden won’t fit that comfortably on your average allotment. It is possible if your local committee is broad minded and doesn’t mind you planting trees. You need about 140 sqm of free space. Also forest gardening is not in any way instant and is probably

be self-sufficient in the average garden, thousands of people have signed up for their own allotment that will allow them to grow far more.So, what are the Golden Rules of growing your own? Of course you should only grow what you and your family want

I recently spent a few days in Barcelona. The orange trees growing there were laden with fruit and looked stunning in the February sunshine. I loved seeing them growing outside in the streets, though admit to having felt a pang of jealousy on behalf

or espalier, try MM106 or MM116 rootstock. For larger trees, choose MM111. You can get smaller rootstocks such as MM26 and MM27, but these tend to produce a smaller crop of fruit with greater susceptibility to pests and disease.What are your favourite apple