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August's plum time in my garden, with 'Victoria' a firm family favourite. Everyone loves them, especially my daughter Danielle, who strips my single fan-trained plum before even the wasps get a taste!This has led me to extend my plum picking season

Blackbirds ate my cherries, the plum crop was non-existent, but now it's apple time! And what a wonderful year it's been. The relentless August rain ruined so much this year, including holiday plans for many I'm sure, but my apples seem to have

Parts of my garden have resembled something of a battleground this year. Why is it that all my favourite plants and crops have their very own pest to contend with? Grow lilies and you'll be hard pressed not to find lily beetle munching them. My

in for a closer look. Glorious!Don't be put off by their common name of stinking iris or stinking gladwyn. They really don't smell unless you crush their leaves, but I can't say I've ever noticed anything unpleasant. Iris foetidissima is a strong growing

Ask me to recommend just one vegetable crop to grow for great returns and it would have to be tomatoes. Which other crop can match it for variety? Whole catalogues are available, listing literally hundreds of different varieties of tomato seed

-trained plum. It forms quite a thicket, with stems growing 3-4m long by the end of summer, so it does need a bit of space. Tiny white flowers will form on the stems that developed into fat green pods. Picked small I throw the whole pod into stir fries, but when

and cooking crops. Do let us know in the comments section of this blog if there are any harvesting tips you'd like us to cover.Finally, do join me and a host of other experts on the ‘Grow Your Own’ Garden at BBC Gardeners' World Live (15-19 June 2011) for more