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on the go but, what with the slug wars of the summer, I clean forgot to sow any! Fortunately good old catalogue mail order has come to the rescue and a dozen cabbage plants arrived through the post the other day. They look a bit peaky but that's down to them

. If all goes well we should be in for an early salad crop next season - as long as the slugs don't get them that is!

to germinate. Take your guess as to what had them - rot, rodents or slugs - but I think it was probably a hungry mouse. So, this year I started them in pots in a sheltered corner at home, planting them out once they were a few inches tall. It's more work

of all.Other than a bit of slug damage (you didn't think I'd get off that easily did you?) the plants look very good. The fledgling sprouts are forming nicely and each top knot of leaves is lush and sturdy. It all bodes rather well for Christmas dinner

I'm gradually filling up the beds on the allotment. Last week I planted main crop potatoes – a variety called Picasso, which doesn't seem too prone to slugs, and one called Cara, which is cited in catalogues as 'the allotment favourite'. I

are best sown under cover to give them a good start. A few weeks in the greenhouse and they'll grow into big, healthy plants that should withstand the attentions of slugs once they've been planted out.Before I had my greenhouse, I had a production line

two beds with one variety growing in each - 'Florence' and 'Honeyoe'. They've been in the ground for four years and are in their harvesting prime. Add to that plenty of sunshine and a timely dry spell that's keeping the slugs and snails at bay, and you

What an odd summer we're having. I'm behind after not daring to sow a thing in April as I knew I wouldn't be able to keep them watered enough in those scorching temperatures. Then May hit us with lots of rain and wind so all the slugs and weeds I

digging for me! All I tend to do is give the soil a thorough and deep forking over, breaking up any 'capping' on the surface caused by heavy rains. Mother Nature can take care of the rest of the work for me - winter frosts will kill slugs and break up