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Where you place a new greenhouse or polytunnel can make the difference between growing success and failure, so it’s important to get it right. With careful siting, it should be possible to optimise the productivity of your structure, which helps

When I first started growing shallots I did so on the advice of Sam, on our allotment (aged 90 he was still tending his plot twice a day). He told me to plant shallots on the shortest day and harvest them on the longest. I'm a bit more haphazard

such as runner beans over arches, on trellis or fences. Use tubs on balconies and paved areas for tomatoes, courgettes or peppers. Grow herbs in hanging baskets, and salad leaves and herbs in troughs. The biggest jobs when growing this way are watering and liquid

get a moment, I'll be putting the new grow bag out with fresh tomato plants, so they can sit in there, if they like. It just won't have the attractive topping of dead foliage and Christmas tree branches, which I have lived with for long enough

' that form part of my garden every year, such as coriander, salad leaves, dwarf sunflowers and 'Gardeners' Delight' tomatoes. I can't cut back on any of these, but then there are new varieties to try, as they all look so much better than my tried and tested

will be taken over for as long as is necessary and I will be oblivious to any complaints.First off are hardy annuals, such as Eryngium leavenworthii, which can be sown from February onwards under cover. I’ll also sow a few tomato seeds, though I find there

the hours of darkness or when you are at work: never at the weekends.May your bindweed throttle itself.May your neighbour's cat be less generous with its toilette.May all your trees grow straight and true.May all your post-digging back aches disappear after

to me waiting to be read. I know that I'll be growing tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers, climbing courgettes, and some of those trailing begonias that did so well last summer, so I must choose my varieties. Planning for the year ahead will give me something

frost-free, but often that's still only just above zero. My little rudbeckias and antirrhinums – both from the Seed Club 'Blooms for Bees' pack – have been so unhappy they simply stopped growing. Worse, the tomato seedlings turned an ominous shade

of long grass around the edges of the lawn (which has no straight lines or clipped edges). I’m also far too soft with my frogs. When I cut down my tomato haulms the other week, I found five frogs snuggled together in the grow bag. I couldn’t bear to turf