Despite being relatively easy to grow, and even easier to cook, beans have long confused gardeners thanks to their wide-ranging habits, and the cross-classification between runner beans and green beans, and pole beans and bush beans. In this article, we explain the key differences between runner beans and green beans, as well as how to…
It’s important to know what to look for when buying tomato seedlings. Healthy tomato seedlings will vary depending on the time of year, and it’s easy to fall into the trap of buying plants with tomatoes already on them but, should you buy tomato plants with fruit already ripening? Or is it best to buy…
For the last couple of years, we’ve grown so used to unpredictable weather that we now sow nearly all of our seeds indoors. But, for those crops that need to be directly sown in the garden, like turnips, potatoes, radish and lettuce, there are a few tricks to improve germination rates outdoors. In this article…
Sowing seeds outdoors is a cheap, fun and easy way to start a vegetable garden, and the heat of spring and summer helps to create the perfect environment for many of our favourite crops. While many vegetables can be given a good head start by sowing indoors, on windowsills, or sowing in greenhouses, there are…
Knowing when to start leeks from seed to get a big harvest is one of the holy grails of vegetable gardening. In this article, I’m going to share some family secrets to the perfect leek, and some wisdom of my own from trial and error. Fundamentally though, this article aims to give you a definitive…
Cucumbers are relatively easy plants to grow, but every so often you’ll find cucumbers not growing straight. Even if you think you’ve done everything right, those perfect show cucumbers have just slipped the net again.