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This year I'm determined to only grow one variety of tomato. This is because my garden was overrun with tomato plants last year and I couldn't get onto my patio for growing bags and poorly staked cordons. So 2011 will see a more streamlined effort

My experience of growing tomatoes has been relatively trouble-free. My outdoor plants often get blight towards the end of the season, but even then it doesn't seem to affect the crop too much. Once my plants refused to grow after I transplanted them

.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

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

I've just thrown a 'plant party', as part of 'Grow Your Own' Week. This involved my friends coming to my flat and learning how to sow tomatoes and chillies. We also discussed pricking out, transplanting, feeding and watering. It reminded me of my

Last year I sowed all my seeds in the first week of January, eager to get my brand new garden off to a flying start. Everything was sown at once - from Eryngium leavenworthii to tomato 'Gardener's Delight' and my front room looked like a badly run

flowering, to ensure they have enough energy to grow the chillies, tomatoes or beans we're growing them for. This is especially pertinent when growing them in containers, as there is only a finite amount of nutrients in the compost. Once this is used up

for eating in salads, some for using in sauces and some for roasting. My aubergines will be so plentiful, I won’t need to buy any again (no matter how many aubergine parmigianas I make). I’ll grow enough garlic to hang in plaits around my kitchen and my

I've a confession to make: my efforts at growing veg in pots, as part of this year's Grow Yourself Healthy campaign, haven't been a great success. The French beans I sowed indoors germinated well, but as soon as I moved the pot outside, Sid

it super strong and healthy. Sellers of grafted veg plants (including tomatoes, peppers, melons and aubergines) promise higher yields over a longer period than plants grown on their own roots. They claim the plants are healthier, more robust and resistant