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some lunch (one of the benefits of working from home!) it was great to see the peppers still going strong.Peppers taste fantastic, they're good for you, easy to grow and they look attractive, especially when laden with fruit. I've grown a selection

How tastes change. Going back five years, I hardly remember ever cooking with chillies, but now I use them nearly every week. They're so easy to grow from seed, but you can buy young plants from garden centres, like the pretty 'Medusa' (pictured) I

can encourage the problem. Compost sold specifically for tomatoes, such as grow bags, contains sufficient calcium for a good crop of fruits. Never apply fertiliser to dry soil, always give plants plenty of water first. tomatoes, peppers

and air from reaching the leaves.Black or greyish-green mould spreads across sticky honeydew deposited on pepper plants by aphidsThere's no control for sooty mould, but you can control the aphids. Outside, natural predators such as birds and ladybirds

stocked with produce this summer.Sowing seed is simple, and the lovely thing about chillies and peppers is that they are perfect for growing in containers. Although I usually keep mine in the greenhouse there's no reason why pots can't be moved out in June

. I potted on my peppers and tomatoes, as they kept drying out in no time, their root systems filling the tiny pots. They're now potted into 2 litre pots and should grow nicely. I only grow a few tomato plants on the allotment, as we seem to get quite

Spores carried by water and wind spread this fungus, which leaves primula foliage peppered with holes. The initial signs are spots in a yellow-orange area, or in grey, papery tissue. When the centre falls out, holes appear. Look beneath the leaves

Sow sweet peas and pinch out the growing tips of seedlings for bushier plants Continue harvesting chillies, peppers and other cropsReduce watering potted tuberous begonias to allow the top growth to die downBring pots of tender bulbs like agapanthus

, but my thoughts are turning to the Mediterranean, and summer holidays. I like to imagine what I'll be growing and eating in the summer: masses of zingy tomatoes, sweet and crisp peppers, juicy cucumbers and buttery salad leaves. Oh, and warm ratatouille

inspection of the peppers and, having been off recording Gardeners' Question Time for a few days, I was horrified to find grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) had taken a hold on several fruits.The 'Romano' peppers were slow to crop this year, but each plant is now