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-sized tomatoes.I had vowed never to bother with them again, but last spring I was tempted to sow seeds of a brand new variety sent to me to trial, and set for introduction in the 2008 seed catalogues. A new variety would be worth growing, surely?In short... no

Ask me to recommend just one vegetable crop to grow for great returns and it would have to be tomatoes. Which other crop can match it for variety? Whole catalogues are available, listing literally hundreds of different varieties of tomato seed

harsh sun. Organic gardeners usually refer to companion plants as those deterring pests in some way. Tagetes planted alongside tomatoes and crops is a good example, where the strong pungent scent of the tagetes foliage helps mask the scent of the crop

worthwhile. A short row of raspberries just 1.2m long has produced several pickings, used to add tasty home-grown vitamins to my morning bowl of cereal. Blackberries are now taking over, and I'd thoroughly recommend thornless varieties to give regular

and cooking crops. Do let us know in the comments section of this blog if there are any harvesting tips you'd like us to cover.Finally, do join me and a host of other experts on the ‘Grow Your Own’ Garden at BBC Gardeners' World Live (15-19 June 2011) for more

, never a fan of vegetables, chose Tomato 'Ailsa Craig' as "unbeaten for flavour, perfect for growing in an unheated greenhouse".The list goes on, and with 100 tempting crops my seed and plant order has now grown to such an extent that I'm going to need

a plate offering more than green leaves, so a mix of colourful lettuce, red-veined beetroot, thinly sliced circles of white radish, red tomatoes and diced yellow peppers really hits the spot. You can really let your creative, artistic side take over

) – and produced a value for every crop. The main factors she considered were:1.  The length of time a crop is in the ground before being harvested.2.  The number of helpings you'd pick per square metre.Crops that grew quickly and produced high yields received a

There's only one thing better than receiving emails, letters and phone calls from readers and that's meeting them in person. And with Gardeners' World Live starting tomorrow (Wednesday 15 June, 2011) and running until Sunday I'm looking forward

I'm beginning to wonder whether growing old heirloom or heritage varieties of vegetables is really worthwhile. My tomato 'Snow White Cherry', sold as a heritage variety by many companies, was a real disappointment this year, and I wish I'd grown