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first venture into growing fruit and veg, and the many mistakes I made while progressing to the level I'm at today (pretty good, I think). It's been a steep learning curve.For a brief spell, aged 11, I had a vegetable patch of my own. My mother – a

March - September10 minutes to sowharvest April - NovemberUse a line to mark out the row. Sowing in a straight line allows you to identify where your rocket seedlings are and which are the weed seedlings to pick off. You'll find a row 1m - 2m long is enough to get

The warmth of spring and summer allows you to sow vegetable seeds outdoors in the soil. Here they'll quickly germinate to produce crops to enjoy this season. Try easy-to-grow salads such as radish, spring onion and salad bowl lettuce. You can also

and disease resistance. Potassium is naturally found in wood ash and deep-rooted plants like comfrey. I grow comfrey in the garden and use it to make a liquid feed for my fruiting crops.It's also important not to let leafy crops, like lettuce, or root crops

carpeted with the things and the air filled with the faint scent of their flowers. That, combined with low rising sunbeams and the lettuce-coloured young leaves, is one of the most spectacular sights you could ever wish to witness.I have been unable

To say that I'm delighted with my new cold frame would be the understatement of 2008. You might recall that Paul made it one afternoon last summer from some old windows and a few banister spindles from our old staircase.Okay, it's not that new

to what the label says?Nobody?I thought as much.They sowed far too many cabbages, a raft of beetroot and battalions of lettuces. These then grew up slightly congested and choked. The brambles elbowed their way in and I then received a text message asking

and snails are attacking my fruit, but are investing the most energy in munching my overwintering brassicas and winter lettuce.We even found a slug sliming its way across the kitchen floor, having stowed away in some apples we had brought inside to put

provided me with a couple of salads. There are also some salad crops growing in my lawn, including a radish and various lettuce varieties. I don't know how they got there, but they have so far avoided the attentions of the snails, so they can stay. Who

they simply become bird food!Crops are planted in beds about 1m wide with a narrow paved path between each for easy access. I've just finished digging the beds, adding plenty of homemade compost deep down in the process, and now I'm planning what to grow