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, but my thoughts are turning to the Mediterranean, and summer holidays. I like to imagine what I'll be growing and eating in the summer: masses of zingy tomatoes, sweet and crisp peppers, juicy cucumbers and buttery salad leaves. Oh, and warm ratatouille

aluminium foil sheets around the plants, in the hope that they will help to reflect light back on the seedlings and improve their chances of growing into healthy plants.I can never find a decent, slimline dibber, so use a blunt pencil instead. I find

repeated each year!First on my list of 'revolutions' is the vow to improve my meagre success with carrots. Only the purple varieties seem to work for me, so I'll be sticking with them in 2009; I think I'll skip a year before trying orange cultivars again

or power tools. However, pumpkins do make a very satisfactory glowing lantern.I prefer to eat pumpkins, though. I don’t like pumpkin pie, which is a sweet and sickly item with the texture of polyfilla, only just improved by the application of lots of cream

the dead bits of rosemary and hope it pulls through.In the meantime, my annual herbs (basil, coriander and flat-leaf parsley) are coming on well. These I grow in grow bags with the tomatoes, along with more chives (which I once read can help improve

others during a trial.I'm aiming to grow strong garlic plants that develop quickly and mature early. I'll plant the bulbs at a slightly wider spacing than before, to improve air circulation and reduce humidity around the plants. And I'll avoid high

simply sold as 'sweetcorn', 'tomato' or 'white potato' when you haven't a clue what the variety actually is? We can be far more discerning, as both consumers and gardeners, choosing and growing named varieties of crops that have the flavour and eating