Search - Articles

gloves I was wearing.We harvested some early autumn-fruiting raspberries, which we enjoyed later with some wonderfully creamy organic vanilla ice cream. This is the first proper fruiting year from many of my raspberry canes, and I’m pleased

red blotches on hawthorn leaves and, of course, moths that devastate horse chestnut trees.On the whole, I like leaf miners. I don't enjoy finding them in my saucepan after harvesting spinach in the dark, and I was upset when they mined my aquilegias

Raise crops in a grow bag Anyone can grow tomatoes, even if you only have a balcony! All you need is space for a bag of compost, plus a few tomato seedlings, and the promised harvest is a matter of weeks away. There's a huge range of young tomato

garden hedgesAround the gardenTake cuttings from shrubsPrune out plain green shoots from variegated trees and shrubsCut lavender for drying when in full flowerFlowersHarvest onions sown last autumn for early cropsWater celery regularly in dry weather

in the sun for a few days.July: Harvest remaining softneck types and leave to dry.  Harvest hard neck types planted in spring as stems flop over.August: Try plaiting or tying garlic into bunches (grapping).One fact I learned from Colin Boswell, who runs

, and appreciate the benefit of eating delicious, fresh home-grown produce. Helpful growing plants can be downloaded from this website, so check these out today.The 2011 campaign concludes with a Harvest Weekend in September, providing tips and advice on storing

sunny, south-facing wall, and start harvesting in late July.Nectarine 'Early Rivers'A reliable variety, and produces a high yield of white-fleshed, juicy, crimson-skinned fruit.Peach 'Peregrine'The best tasting dessert pear. Grow near 'Beth' or 'Concorde

Chilli plants will thrive on a sunny window sill or in a greenhouse. They have a long cropping season, so you could still be harvesting fresh chillies in December. You will need just two small pots to sow your chilli seeds; use a good quality seed

, check that its needles are firmly attached to the branches. Look at the base of the tree where it was sawn and ensure it is pale. This means the tree is freshly harvested and will last longer than a tree which has been off its roots for a while.Choose a

regularly (known as successional sowing), to harvest over a longer period.Carefully sow the rocket seeds thinly along the row, spacing them out as evenly as possible. The distance between the seeds should be about 3cm.Use the edge of a hoe or a trowel