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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

It's that time of year again. When the weather gets grim, I like to peruse the vegetable seed catalogues, checking the availability of my favourite varieties and finding out what's new. I enjoy choosing what vegetables to grow next year, but I try

Root vegetables such as carrots and parsnips don't like my garden. I can understand why: the soil is full of rocks, which can lead to the formation of forked roots. It also has a fair amount of clay, which causes the seeds to rot before they've even

to be grown at higher altitude than they would normally grow.The terraces were filled with a mixture of sand, rock and topsoil, and fertilised with compost and guinea pig manure. Waterfalls were diverted to act as an irrigation system. They either trickled

of exciting things to eat, including the remains of the chard and straggly brassicas.My hens also make a fair amount of fresh fertiliser, which I allow to rot down for at least six months, before returning to the vegetable plot.They can get in the way though

, 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

The heat has been incredible lately. I feel like my vegetables are cooking in the ground where they're growing. I'm used to the fact that all that soft, tender foliage is like a big advert to passing pests and pathogens, but the intense heat is a

Growing to eat is one of the greatest of gardening pleasures. It sort of fulfills a fundamental need. Even better is growing vegetables with children. Recently I've been volunteering at my children's school, helping to teach youngsters how to grow

My elder son Archie made his first vegetable garden this year, in the back garden of a slightly scummy, student infested house in deepest Peckham. It was a very enterprising community effort by all of his housemates, involving sporadic (though manic

. This means that one minute I'm talking to someone from Cornwall, the next minute to someone from Scotland - gardeners from all over the country.There is so much to see and do. I've been talking about growing vegetables on the 'Taste of Greenacre' stage