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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

. This means that one minute I'm talking to someone from Cornwall, the next minute to someone from Scotland - gardeners from all over the country.There is so much to see and do. I've been talking about growing vegetables on the 'Taste of Greenacre' stage-cum-garden

. Forking the soil over with the hens in the plot is a slow process - one likes to hitch a ride on the fork's tines! But I’m hoping I notice a reduction in the number of garden pests this year. The recent cold weather will have helped kill off a few bugs

by leek moth. More and more gardeners have been asking about this small but potentially devastating pest at recordings of Gardeners’ Question Time, and at talks I have given.The caterpillars of the moth cause horrible, discoloured patches on the leek

I had hoped that the ultra-harsh winter weather would decimate overwintering populations of pests. This would go at least some way towards making up for all the bay trees and mimosas that gardeners lost during the cold spell.The outcome

in this way, since the pressures of climate change force them to return to growing (more resilient) native plants using traditional methods. The Incas inspired me, too, despite the fact that I'll never have a mountain to carve a garden out of, or a waterfall

rightly - and while not unpleasant, they were certainly an acquired taste.Dandelions grow bigger, with longer leaves, in wild areas than they do in lawns, where mowing keeps them flat and close to soil level. Apparently, the French often eat them as a

Growing fruit and vegetables seems to have really caught the public imagination. I do hope this isn't just a fad and really becomes a practical, viable and rewarding way of life for millions of new gardeners.That's one reason why we have launched

to pests and diseases, and (most importantly) much quicker to crop.This is where they become exciting: aubergines are normally quite tricky to grow. They're best raised in a warm greenhouse, and if you sow seed later than March, you’re in danger of losing

. And why not? Last weekend I made the most wonderful apple crumble I have ever eaten, using this BBC Good Food recipe (I ignored the instructions to add jam and orange juice to the apples).My garden might not be too small to grow apples, but its soil is too