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Brambles are the unsung heroes of the fruit garden.A couple of weeks ago I was spring cleaning my store cupboard when I found a stray jar of blackberry jam trapped behind the mountain of marmalade. The pleasure I got when we opened it for breakfast

garden (in my pyjamas) and pick off the fattest, ripest berries to put on my bowl of breakfast cereal. What a great start to the day.To avoid a painful harvest I only grow thornless blackberries, and have trained two of my favourites, Loch Ness

It's blackberry time - not those machines, without which many "suits" would feel emasculated, but fat berries swollen by rain and aching for crumble. The blackberry bramble is a weed, and the perfect example of a plant simply growing in the wrong

Pick ripe apples and store the best in fruit cratesDig up strawberry runners and pot them upNet autumn raspberries and blackberries to protect them from birdsLift and dry maincrop potatoes and store in paper sacks in a cool, dark placePot up a few

These quick-growing plants are able to spread rapidly to create dense, thorny thickets of stems, which are able to root at the tips. The plants produce blackberry fruits, which contain seeds that can grow into new plants. The tough roots are able

.A thick layer of grey mould develops on soft fruits.The fungus survives on plant debris, so to reduce the risk of infection keep the soil clear around your soft fruit canes, and remove any damaged fruits.raspberries, strawberries, blackberries

Finish planting out vegetable crops, including tomatoes, beans, courgettes and sweetcornSow summer salads in guttering to grow quick cropsUse netting to protect developing and ripening fruits from birdsTie in new shoots on blackberries, raspberries

Save seedsPerennial plants are often very generous in the amount of seed which they produce. Plants such as verbascum can produce thousands of seeds each year, and you can sow them to grow more plants for your garden or share them with friends

Plant out lettuce There's no secret to growing salad crops - just keep planting a little and often and you'll guarantee yourself continuous fresh leaves to add crunch and flavour to your meals. Homegrown salads are tastier, too, than anything you

'll be the beans next, and the blackberries...it's a good thing I only have wild roses!! Someone please send us some dry weather to stop those little spores in their tracks!!