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The first of the snowdrops are up, my daffodils are romping away - I can almost believe that spring will actually arrive. But it's the seed potatoes that are really firing me up.I can't resist buying seed potatoes, and have bought three batches

Here we are in early July and I have a horrible feeling that potato blight is just around the corner. The weather has been perfect for this horrible fungal infection to wreak havoc on everyone's home-grown spuds. By the look of the weather right now

I'm a big fan of home-grown potatoes. They're top for taste, texture and our carbon footprint. So they're a crop I'd recommend anyone to grow, and if you're going to do it, you may as well get as early a crop as possible.When I did my MSc in 'Crop

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

that managed to escape the dreaded potato blight were enthusiastically hoovered up by the family months ago ("they're so much nicer than the shop-bought potatoes").But this year, having sown surplus seed from a Gardeners' World growing trial, I'm enjoying

Growing to eat is one of the greatest of gardening pleasures. It sort of fulfills a fundamental need. Even better is growing vegetables with children. Recently I've been volunteering at my children's school, helping to teach youngsters how to grow

list of crops I just have to grow. A panel of 22 'grow your own' enthusiasts have nominated their all-time favourite crops, and it's quite a selection.Who could resist growing Potato 'BF15', which Monty Don describes as "the best boiled potato I've ever

The health benefits of eating fresh fruit and vegetables are well documented, and our shopping baskets increasingly reflect our desire to eat a healthy diet. Food labels reiterate the '5-a-day' mantra, and influence our shopping choices

of salad leaves possible; lettuce, spinach, pak choi, mizuna, beetroot, watercress, parsley and chives, as well as tomatoes, beans, courgettes and new potatoes. Although I've tried growing them, I haven't had much success with either sweet potatoes or soya

.I love the way home-grown salads start off as a meagre collection of leaves in spring, then steadily grow as tomatoes, broad beans and other ingredients are ready to harvest. The watercress growing in my pond is always the first leaf crop I pick, followed