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Nothing beats the taste of freshly-picked sweetcorn in late summer and growing your own couldn't be easier. Sow your own seeds or buy young seedlings to plant now and grow them in a block on the veg plot. Or use them decoratively, planting them

) – 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

to be multiplying. I have a 'live-and-let-live' attitude but the prospect of still more of the blighters is rather depressing.I don't much relish the prospect of Lasius neglectus overrunning the plot and ruining my root veg. Perhaps I should stock up on ant powder.

This has been a very productive year on my veg plot. Most of my favourite crops have performed extremely well, with good yields of delicious, fat vegetables. But, I have to admit, the leeks have been very disappointing.  I’ve never known such a

I watered, it rained within 24 hours.The downpours we've had in Hampshire over the last few days have made a serious difference to the plants. The veg plots are suddenly flourishing and some of my miserable-looking lettuce seedlings have finally

plans. Each plan contains an easy-to-follow growing calendar for 10 recommended crops. Simply choose which profile suits your circumstances best, and start sowing:• Allotmenteer• Container grower• Gourmet grower• New to the plot• Weekender

of different reasons, but for those who dream of 'rus in urbe', having the countryside in the town, the reality is that growing your own veg is going to require a regular commitment of around 10-12 hours a week in the busy season. Think about this before you

plummets at about 6pm. So yes, the fleece is draped all over the place in the veg plots. A bit of snugly-protection for my sweet potatoes (I'm growing Bearegard and Jetfire this year, it'll be interesting to see how they fare!) and some vital, please

that are introduced each year. It's good to find space on the plot for some spherical courgettes, as well as cylindrical varieties.To complicate matters further, my increasingly eloquent and opinionated offspring have clear ideas of their own. My eight year old

, of course, the ubiquitous Brussels sprouts.The young Brussels sprout plants were given to me way back in the summer by my colleague Steve, a keen veg grower. They were almost decimated by wave after wave of cabbage white caterpillars which have infested