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then the air was positively dripping. So, I'm amazed at just how little blight I've seen on tomatoes or potatoes.There was some blight on a few of the potato varieties I've been growing this year, but even then the brown patches on the leaves remained as tight

This is the time of year when I go tomato crazy. Suddenly I've gone from eating relatively few tomatoes to buying punnet loads from the shops. There is no doubt that if you go for the British Grown logo on the front of the pack they taste 100% better than most of the others, but...

First it was my garlic - a crop I pride myself on (usually) as we get huge bulbs of super-succulent, tremendously tasty garlic that lasts us well in to the next year, generally until the next year's crop is ready...and keeps our friends smelling just as strongly as us! This year ...

in place when I'd originally intended to grow summer varieties, are still there, so I think I'll probably tie the fleece onto the top wire, pull it down over the crop and anchor the other end into the ground. Lucky the wires are there, otherwise I don

years ago). My son calmly asked me why we had bladder-wrack growing on the drive when he thought it should be on the seaside! The greeny brown bobbles looked just like that very common seaweed and at first sight I could see exactly what he meant

Thank heavens for apples! We had a fantastic crop of apples this year, despite the fact that many of the trees are not that well established. The apple tree I have mentioned before, as being a great ingredient for tarte tatin or what we call 'Dutch apple cake' really surpassed it...

as a native hedging plant, but surely its time more were grown as ornamentals (with a sideline in winter liqueur production, of course). The only problem is that they self-seed and tend to spread themselves rather rapidly, but if they do grow too much

. Indeed it was so perfect that another trailer load has now appeared - the first batch having been added to the main growing beds. This time the fruit is benefitting; a good, deep carpet of the stuff has been applied around the raspberries and fruit trees

weeding easier. Kept adequately moist, the seeds will soon germinate, and, after thinning, the plants grow like billy-o. Hardy annuals tend to be more drought tolerant than more highly priced bedding plants, and are pretty resilient. They make for a

planted in my children's plots, complete with home-made plant supports. According to my children "when the beans grow they can use the wigwams too", because "you did say that sweet peas help to encourage the bees to pollinate them".The wigwams are both