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if you have a family to feed.I don't have the luxury of a large allotment, so I'm keen to grow as much as I can in my garden. It's probably larger than average, but then gardening is my passion, and my job!Fruit trees and cane fruits grow around the edges

's not just about fruit harvests, pumpkins and squashes, but also rust fungi.But here's the problem: rust fungi thrive when there's a lot of surface moisture about, and it hasn't rained for ages. The only moisture on the grass is from the morning dew. So can

Every now and then I’m asked to host a gardening cruise, and I’ve just returned from the most recent, to Madeira. I’m pleased to report that the fantastically floral island was just as lovely as on my previous visit, years ago.Madeira is one of my

I know that gardeners in other areas of the country have been blessed with proper, sustained downpours, but no such luck here. My only experience of rain in recent weeks was during a (very enjoyable) visit to Garden Show Ireland at Hillsborough

second crop from early fruiting plants. I’m hoping the heat will prompt a little more growth of my pumpkins, and will ripen my new Cape gooseberries (Physalis peruviana). And if I’m lucky, the sun will dry out the soil surface and frazzle the slugs

with all the nutrients they need, and as the waste breaks down they'll get a fair amount of water too (saving me a job).My garden is far too small to grow pumpkins really, but I won't let that deter me. I'll drape the long, winding stems up and over

're of the edible or poisonous variety.Following the wet weather we all experienced through August I've been mowing off mushrooms ever since. It does seem a waste at a time when we're all looking at ways to grow more fruit and veg at home to keep our food bills down

is an obvious choice: native British trees don't just absorb CO2, but provide food and shelter for wildlife. Composting helps reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill and journeys to take it there, and growing your own fruit and veg reduces food waste

March is not really prime garden visiting time: a few gardens with specialist collections are open for the wonderful National Gardens Scheme, but most of them are keeping their powder dry in readiness for spring and summer.However, gardeners still

New Year’s Eve. A defining moment, the joys and traumas of Christmas behind us and the blank page of 2013 stretching ahead like a freshly hoovered carpet. The question is whether, for us gardeners, that carpet will be lush shag pile or meagrely