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vegetables for beginnersBeetroot 'Boltardy'For an easy-to-grow, fresh salad, try growing cut-and-come-again salad leaves. Leafy greens and lettuces can be harvested for their young leaves instead of mature hearts. Because they are harvested when young

As container-grown fruit and veg start to crop, it's important keep your eye on the ball to ensure they stay productive. I've just harvested a small batch of French beans from my late container sowing as part of the Grow Yourself Healthy campaign

The adult codling moths lay their eggs on or near developing fruit. These eggs hatch into small white caterpillars, which eat their way into the fruit and feed inside while it's developing. The caterpillars may be found inside the fruit at harvest

Harvest onions sown last autumn for early cropsWater celery regularly in dry weatherBury shoot tips of blackberries and peg them down to raise new plantsPrune out about a quarter of the oldest branches on blackcurrantsSpray potatoes and outdoor

Keep picking summer-sown salads to prevent the plants running to seed Plant garlic cloves outside or in modular seed trays ready to plant out later this autumnCover herbs like basil and parsley with cloches, or bring potted ones under coverHarvest

stems of sedumsClear borders and rake up leaves FlowersKeep harvesting root vegetables as they matureOrder seed potatoes, onion sets and shallotsStretch netting over brassicasFruit & vegSow onion seed under cover, and keep warmCheck overwintering plants

Plant sweetcorn All the juicy sweetness in corn cobs is lost if you don't eat them within (literally) minutes of harvesting - so you really will only ever experience sweetcorn as it should be when you grow your own. All they need for success is sun

FlowersDig over veg plots, mixing compost into the soilContinue filling a trench with kitchen waste Cover rhubarb with forcing jars for an early harvestFruit & vegTop up fuel tank of paraffin heater every eveningBring potted hyacinths and bulbs under cover

wisteria, shortening long sideshootsFlowersHarvest young marrows but leave some to fully ripenPinch out the tops of outdoor tomatoesPlant out rooted strawberry runners into new bedsFruit & vegFeed tomatoes in growing bags and pots Plant nerines, lachenalia

Around the gardenTake cuttings from pansies and violasPot up tender perennials grown outside Prune rambling roses after floweringFlowersFinish summer pruning trained apple and pear treesHarvest apples, pears, plums and gages as they ripenSave seeds from varieties