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I’m a big fan of raspberries, which are the most reliable of all the soft fruit crops that I grow. My soil is heavy and alkaline, and I’ve found that autumn-fruiting raspberries last much longer in it than summer-fruiting varieties. So now I stick

show recently, and 80% of the questions people asked me were about their poorly raspberries. I only grow autumn-fruiting varieties at home, which normally avoid attentions of raspberry beetle, but the early berries have been affected. So I wasn’t too

they are cropping so heavily. I’m tempted to plant some more, as they are such good value, and their flavour far exceeds that of shop-bought fruits. If you have room for some raspberry canes in your garden, I’d heartily recommend growing some.  ‘Autumn Bliss

themselves. And just about every person I know loves to eat home-grown produce, too.I got my kids started with the obvious crops: potatoes (children love digging for the tubers when they're ready), raspberries (no need to pester children to eat fruit when

plummets at about 6pm. So yes, the fleece is draped all over the place in the veg plots. A bit of snugly-protection for my sweet potatoes (I'm growing Bearegard and Jetfire this year, it'll be interesting to see how they fare!) and some vital, please-grow

simply sold as 'sweetcorn', 'tomato' or 'white potato' when you haven't a clue what the variety actually is? We can be far more discerning, as both consumers and gardeners, choosing and growing named varieties of crops that have the flavour and eating

Good morning and happy 'Grow Your Own' Week to you all.There are, I have to admit, many other gardeners who are hotter on vegetable growing than me. Give me herbaceous borders and I can muddle through and make them look pretty good, but when

fruits.Both greenhouse and garden are developing well, proving yet again just how much fresh produce can be grown in our gardens. And that's the aim of our Grow Yourself Healthy campaign, to show people how a little planning can turn their gardens

for eating in salads, some for using in sauces and some for roasting. My aubergines will be so plentiful, I won’t need to buy any again (no matter how many aubergine parmigianas I make). I’ll grow enough garlic to hang in plaits around my kitchen and my

, studded with little fruits. To help it along I covered it with the largest cloche I could find.The strawberries, including the summer fruiters I mentioned in my last blog, are still producing fruit (unlike the raspberries). We harvest a cereal bowl full