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Despite temperatures in my greenhouse dropping to zero at night but soaring by day, I've just got to get on with more seed sowing. Chillies and sweet peppers are top of my list. Last summer I had an outdoor electric socket installed for the garden

, all of which make ideal pot plants for the home, greenhouse or conservatory.Victorian gardeners believed achimene must be watered with tepid rather than cold water, hence their common name of hot water plant. I'm not convinced this is actually

I've always assumed melons would be far too difficult or temperamental to grow in the UK, despite the Victorians' success at growing them in heated greenhouses.But a couple of summers ago, I visited the Thompson & Morgan seed trials in Ipswich

.Beefsteak tomato plants are as robust as any other greenhouse variety, taking up just as much space, but producing a fraction of the total yield you would expect. Yes, individual fruits are bigger, but in my book bigger isn't always better!Rather than producing

, brought into the warm and protected environment of my greenhouse to ripen in time for Wimbledon. When I came to harvest them, bowl in hand, the fruits were gone.Now it's the blackberries, which are just starting to ripen and will hopefully provide rich

, so I keep the agapanthus pots outside to enjoy for as long as possible before carrying to the winter shelter of my unheated greenhouse.Many of the tender bulbs I grow outside in pots form attractive seed heads, and patient gardeners may be tempted

greenhouse cucumbers always succumb to red spider mite. Hostas act like a magnet to the local snail population.Well, I'm not having this! I've been fighting back, organically of course, especially on crops I'm going to eat or feed the family.How disappointing

at the end of the year. However, I rather like the challenge of keeping things going, so will take out the cyclamen and bring into a frost-free greenhouse to try and get them through winter unscathed. If I can prevent their tubers rotting and start them back

I've had mixed results with calla lilies over the years. It's getting them going in spring that's caused me problems. I don't think I provide them with enough heat as I don't want the expense of heating my greenhouse. Until two years ago, they

, but nothing germinated. This year I grew three seedlings from seed sown in the greenhouse in April. Slow at first , they soon developed into strong climbers, so tall split canes were pushed into the pots for support. By early June they were about a meter high