Chillies: we Brits love ‘em! Over the past decade the English palette has become used to an increasing amount of tastes and flavours from around the world. This is down to a wide range of influences including emigration, TV celebrities, cheaper air travel; allowing more and more people to fly to far away destinations and […]

Tomatoes are fun to grow, nutritious and tasty. Follow our comprehensive guide to growing this essential crop Most people will have a bash at growing a few tomato plants at some stage; even those with no more than a balcony can plant up a growing-bag. And the wonderful thing about this crop is that providing […]

Taste sun-ripened home-grown sweetcorn and you’ll be hooked; shop-bought cobs will never have the same appeal. Children love mini corn and can even grow their own popcorn and this is the ideal time to sow. Follow our no-nonsense guide to sure-fire success Sweetcorn just oozes sweetness and flavour, but as soon as it is picked […]

The summer squashes, which include patty pan and winter squash, which include pumpkins, are easy and rewarding crops to grow. Squashes are members of the gourd family and include pumpkins, courgettes and marrows. Courgettes can be described as summer squashes but here we will concentrate on summer squashes other than courgettes and also look at […]

The hot peppery taste of radish can really spice up a salad and they are so easy to grow making them ideal for newcomers to veg growing This is one of the easiest vegetables you can grow and one of the fastest to mature. It can be grown between slower crops such as leeks or […]

Peppers are great fun and easy to grow. Follow our back to basics guide and you’ll be enjoying fiery pizzas and sauces or mild tasty dishes with the distinctive twang of sweet pepper by midsummer Chilli and sweet peppers are such a diverse bunch; they are colourful crops and the assortment of shapes and sizes […]

Sow some peas and enjoy them stripped straight from their pods This is one crop that rarely makes it as far as the kitchen. The taste of newly plucked peas slid straight from the pod on a warm summer‘s day is one of the highlights of the gardening year. And peas are packed with nutrients […]

Site and soil Onions need a well-drained, fertile soil in full sun to grow well. Some shelter from the wind helps prevent the tops from being bent over prematurely and this can bring growth to a halt. On exposed sites they may benefit from a short stake to provide a little support. If you are […]

Growing your own lettuce is easy and quick and unlike lettuce from the supermarket it is really fresh. You can grow a myriad of different sorts to provide really fancy salads that will wow family and friends. Types of Lettuce The seed catalogues are packed with many different forms of lettuce each with their own […]

What could be better than a vegetable that‘s easy to grow, isn‘t troubled by frosts and needs little attention until you come to dig it up in the winter when there are few other fresh vegetables to be had? Leeks tick all these boxes and now is a good time to get started. There are […]

Home-grown garlic is far superior to shop bought; it is more succulent and flavoursome and with a range of varieties to choose from you can experience the subtle differences in flavour. It isn‘t a difficult crop to grow but it is in the ground a long time so ideally find a sunny corner or edge […]

Quick and easy to grow, cougettes have a reputation for producing prolific pickings. Follow our back to basics guide for your best ever results. While their pumped-up cousin the marrow is a familiar staple, courgettes are a relative newcomer to the UK veg scene. Perhaps it’s thanks to all those Mediterranean holidays and the fact […]