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the birds, but also make a delicious ketchup.I won’t consider which fruit and vegetables I’ll grow just yet. Perhaps that’s a blog for another week.Which plants would you grow in your dream garden, and why?

into nightmare country. Other plants that I think are dreadful include Rosa Masquerade (rather like an eruption in a fruit salad factory), almost all ruffled Iris, Heuchera Caramel (repellent flaccid toffee coloured leaves), variegated ground elder (a con

We’ve finished clearing out all the summer containers and started replanting them with winter bedding. I really love potting up plants, especially in late-autumn and winter when any dash of colour is welcome in the garden.A trip to our local market

previously (which we'd assumed were male) have got a fair smattering of bright red, waxy fruits, proving their femininity at long last! They look great and they're a very useful source of food for local wildlife. But I want some too. The only way to stop

While the large flower shows are pretty mind-blowing, it's the local flower shows that get me excited about growing plants and vegetables. Many towns and villages have horticultural societies or gardening clubs, which hold at least one flower show a

but Jekka. She is our equivalent of Pele or Bono.I went to visit her farm the other day, where we had a fine afternoon investigating all sorts of herbs from the mundane (but essential) to the super-exotic Chilean guavas (Ugni molinae), the fruits of which

watered erratically. This makes their plant cells more vulnerable to scorch damage.There's not a lot we can do about wind scorch or damage from heavy rain and hail, but we can change our watering technique to protect container plants and fruit and veg from

on the best vegetables to grow for beginners.How to... grow fruit and vegetablesAlys Fowler has picked out her top ten vegetables for beginners to grow. These plants require minimum maintenance, suffer from few pests and diseasesand will produce a decent yield

the beginning of the tree planting season and I want to state the case for one particular tree. A tree that, if you want your autumns to always be as sparkly as an Maharanee's tiara is indispensable. Ladies and Gentlemen (drum roll, please)...I give you

.Many of these garlands were cleverly constructed from woven stems of willow or dogwood, with the same supple wands being used to tie in sprigs of evergreens, conifer and festive favourites like holly and ivy. Berries and seasonal fruits added colour. Angels were created