When is it too late to plant pumpkin seeds? And what can go wrong if you leave planting pumpkins until the last minute? Over the years I’ve started pumpkins seeds early, mid-season, and recklessly late. Sowing pumpkins…
Fruit trees are fairly easy to grow and many are hardy enough to cope with cold winters. Many fruit trees make a beautiful display of flowers in spring and require little maintenance apart from some watering and…
Summer is drawing to a close now, and our rows of bushy carrot tops look promising. We like to just pull a few carrots up before a meal when we need them, and leave the rest in…
Propagating tomatoes from side shoots is a simple and satisfying method for turning one tomato plant into several! Tomato vines propagated from side shoots are an economical way of cloning plants grown from expensive F1 seed. This…
Tomato pruning mistakes are easily made, and they can dramatically affect the number of ripe tomatoes you get to harvest later in the season. Pruning tomatoes correctly is straightforward and only takes a few seconds per plant,…
Mealy tomatoes are a massive disappointment. Last year I grew a tomato variety which is famous for being reliable and productive in my region for the first time. I waited eagerly for the fruit, which were basically…
I have just one patch of chives in my garden and right now they are covered in flowers. Not only are they very decorative, they are useful too. Chives are in fact related to onions, but unlike…
I have had a tumultuous history with growing carrots. I’ve tried a lot of times, and some years have been more productive than others (to put it mildly). But, at least I’ve picked up a lot of…
Cilantro isn’t to everyone’s taste, but I love it! As well as using the fresh leaves and stems in summer for salads and salsas, I collect its seeds at the end of the year to use in…
I love cooking with herbs of all kinds, and I’m obsessed with their power to transform any dish from run of the mill and mundane into special and worth savoring. But, if there’s one herb I could…
