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My elder son Archie made his first vegetable garden this year, in the back garden of a slightly scummy, student infested house in deepest Peckham. It was a very enterprising community effort by all of his housemates, involving sporadic (though manic

I've been spring cleaning. The greenhouse, of course, not the house. Somehow the lure of the compost and seed trays was much greater than that of the vacuum cleaner and duster.Our heavy clay soil has been sodden and unworkable, so the greenhouse

About six years ago we planted a number of fruit trees in the field close to the house. We had great expectations, some of which were fulfilled almost immediately, while others were slower in coming (literally) to fruition.This year, for the first

.Although grown in the UK as annuals, chillies are perennial plants, so technically they can last for several years. The climate of their native South and Central America helps though. I once stayed in a hostel in Fiji that had lush, green chilli bushes growing

as possible, but the night time temperatures have plummeted recently. If I want this gorgeous plant to survive, I'll have to move it to the greenhouse soon. In the meantime, perhaps I'll just drag the pot a little closer to the house and keep a few metres

I recently spent a few days in Barcelona. The orange trees growing there were laden with fruit and looked stunning in the February sunshine. I loved seeing them growing outside in the streets, though admit to having felt a pang of jealousy on behalf