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. The golden rule of growing root crops is to sow them direct in the ground, not in seed trays as I did with my radish. If you're starting out don’t grow complicated crops like celery or onions from seed – stick to salad leaves, tomatoes and courgettes (which I

to stews, salad and sauces. Its mauve-coloured flowers attract bees and butterflies.ThymeA tall-growing hardy perennial, Valeriana officinalis produces clusters of sweetly scented pale pink flowers from mid- to late-summer. Its blooms provides a source

of them if you're going to enjoy a reasonable harvest to feed a family. Once picking is over just cut off their tops at soil level, and leave their roots to break down in the soil.Sow a leafy salad crop over the area, and the new crop will benefit from

singly, 5cm apart, from late April to july. remove alternate roots when they are half-grown, leaving the rest to grow on to reach maturity. even these half-grown thinnings are useful and can be eaten as baby beet in salads. Beetroot seed is cheap

with dry silver sand when making initial sowings, so you can see exactly how far apart you're sowing the seed.If you don't mind small carrots, make just one thinning to leave seedlings 4cm apart.Advice on growing carrotsMonty Don's video project on growing

.Among my sowings this year is Chilli Pepper 'Anaheim' which came in a free seed packet with the April issue of Gardeners' World Magazine. The packet also contains Basil 'Sweet Green', Tomato 'Gartenperle' and oriental mixed salad leaves, so I'll be well

of salad leaves possible; lettuce, spinach, pak choi, mizuna, beetroot, watercress, parsley and chives, as well as tomatoes, beans, courgettes and new potatoes. Although I've tried growing them, I haven't had much success with either sweet potatoes or soya

spots are covering the leaves and your hard work has been lost.This year I'm growing 10 different varieties of salad potato for a taste trial for Gardeners' World magazine, some of them, like 'Pink Fir Apple', are late maincrop varieties, so there doesn

it smothering them.)The thyme is dead - it doesn't even have any bare stalks left, let alone leaves - but there's hope yet for the oregano. There's no sign of fresh growth, but I'll give it another week or so, before giving up. This weekend I'll scrape back

be sown now including salad leaves, beetroot, spring onions, herbs, sweetcorn, French and runner beans, squash, courgettes, marrows and more. The top job for the next couple of weeks is to get seeds sown so you can enjoy these crops later this summer