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, so a gorgeous-looking plant that also produces fruit scores double points. Prunus spinosa is commonly known as blackthorn, and produces wonderful sloe berries in autumn that I use to make my sloe gin. I've still got a little left, but have made a

Last year I had a great crop of chillies. I was so pleased with them that I couldn't bear to throw the plants on the compost heap when they'd finished fruiting. So I saved my favourite two to overwinter indoors as an experiment in chilli endurance

Strummer and the Mescaleros (from their 2001 album Global A Go-Go; watch the video).John Chapman was a hard-boiled and slightly mad frontiersman who travelled from Pennsylvania through to Ohio, ahead of mainstream settlers, planting apple seeds and creating

underwear). It takes about 1500 cocoons to make a pound of silk.In the 19th century there was the equivalent of a gold rush over mulberries in the United States. There was massive speculation and excitement about growing mulberry trees and the long

you should take a paper file-hole reinforcer, some dark food colouring, a tissue, a magnifying glass, then a mirror or a friend:1. Dab food colouring on the tip of your tongue2. Rinse off and pat dry3. Put the paper file-reinforcer no further than 5mm

After buying a plum tree for the allotment, I started to think about other fruit that I have a soft spot for. So I couldn't resist ordering a morello cherry tree.Sour cherries never seem to be available to buy, so I have to rely on the generosity

on special occasions, religiously eat my five portions of fruit and veg every day and get super-fit. And the allotment fits in very nicely with the last two of those.Trouble is that in conjunction with the month of January there usually comes a settled

The cause of the splits is invariably irregular watering. When the tree suddenly gets a hefty drink following a period of drought, the apples quickly expand, which often leads to the skin cracking. The fruit usually produces a corky, scab

Pears ripening on the tree are damaged by wasps excavating holes into the soft, juicy flesh. The holes are initially created by hungry birds, then wasps are attracted by the juice and move in.Pears that are still on the tree display hollowed out cavities, often with wasps still i...

Wasps love feeding on soft, juicy fruit. They can break through the skins of grapes, peaches and plums, and quickly nibble out sizeable cavities, but fruit with tougher skins such as apples and pears must first be broken open by pecking birds before