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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

Once again it poured with rain at the weekend, so my heavy clay soil was too wet to be worked. Instead, I made for the greenhouse, to do a spot of cleaning.I spent a thoroughly productive couple of hours, jet washing the glass inside and out

The temperature and humidity levels in my garden in the last few weeks have made for ideal blight weather. Blight (Phytopthora infestans) is a fungal disease which thrives in warm, damp conditions. My garden has been so humid; if it wasn't raining

plants are likely to need the ultimate short back and sides soon after. By cutting the infected haulms off promptly, preferably before it rains, I can hopefully prevent the spores from the haulms washing down and infecting the tubers below. True

flavour at all. Is it just me or are plums everywhere particularly tasteless this year? Perhaps the relentless rain and lack of sun have taken their toll, swelling fruits but making them very 'watery'. Good looks aren't everything. It's flavour I want

proportions.However, the recent soggy, damp weather - which infuriatingly doesn't involve 'useful' rain, which actually penetrates to the plants' roots - has meant that all the later flowers on the courgettes and marrows have quickly rotted. The rot from

from year to year; it is not an exact science, but it is 15cm or so tall and about 20cm or more wide at the base. The result of that tiny bit of extra effort in autumn is an early crop of gorgeously succulent garlic, with bulbs that have shown little

fruits go mouldy very quickly if it rains.Whether you eat affected fruits or not is up to you. But it’s important to remove infested fruits immediately, to reduce the likelihood of infestation next year. Being an organic gardener, I don’t use pesticides