Contents:  How to grow your own Nutritional Gold Dust - the world's most valuable spice - Saffron....  Planning 3 months ahead is the way to have healthy food all year round..... Sowing salad crops in modules now means the best conditions for germination.....  Growing your own means zero food miles, fresher, cleaner and cheaper too.....  Keeping crops harvested is vitally important now.....  Mulching well looks after vitally important worms and protects soil fertility......   Saffron flowering in large container in late October  ..read more

Contents:  A Growbag Gardening - a Flexible Way to Grow... Tomato Memories and New Discoveries.... A gloriously abundant but hectic time in the polytunnel!.... Growing new potatoes for Christmas..... Barely controlled chaos!..... Aubergines, Peppers and Tomatoes..... How to get a second crop of Climbing French Beans from the Same Plants!... Time to think about winter now!..... Routine jobs......   Growbag Gardening - a Flexible Way to Grow    Squashes planted in late May 2022 in a homemade growbag of peat-free compost, sitting on a grow tray in the ..read more

Remember this Golden Rule:    "Always sow the seeds - you can catch up on everything else later except that!"     With day length shortening and decreasing light available to plants - it is absolutely vital that some crops are sown now or as soon as possible if you want plenty of winter food.     Two varieties of mangetout peas for soup, sprouting and seed, kale rear centre beside peach, and perpetual spinach beet.    Growing and saving our own seed is growing our own food security.  In these uncertain times - everything we can do for ours ..read more

Contents: Sets versus Seed - Why it pays to know your onions!.... Eating a seasonal 'rainbow' is easy if you grow it yourself!.... Pretty Powerful Purple Potatoes!.... Keeping polytunnels closed to avoid potato blight? - What a daft idea!...   It's the season of plenty - but also gluts!.... Restoring soil carbon is the key to helping to mitigate climate change...  Soil is more precious than Gold!....  Splendid spiralisers!....  Think about next year's 'Hungry Gap' now....  Carry on composting!....  Drown perennial weeds ..read more

Remember, always sow the seeds. You can catch up on everything else, but if you don't sow seeds on time - you may have lost your chance.....  (This is particularly important for some late autumn and winter crops that need starting off now due to needing a long season of growth in order to produce worthwhile crops.)  Ruby chard Vulcan - one of the best winter crops in the polytunnel or outside.  Hearting chicory 'Sugar Loaf' or 'Pain de Sucre' - another winter standby in the polytunnel or outside    *Also very important* - If you ..read more

Contents:  Fruit growing in a time of climate change..... The first fruits of summer.....Can you have Strawberry Fields forever? .....Should you replace strawberry plants after 3 years?.....  Raspberries.....  Cherries..... Looking after Container & polytunnel fruit.... Summer citrus care....  Don't worry about the cream!... Self-pollinating plum 'Guinevere' has set a great crop having luckily just missed the severe frost    Fruit growing in a time of climate change    Judging from my experience over the last 40 years of watching ..read more

Contents: Ensuring food security through preserving genetic diversity....  Strength in Diversity means strength in Adversity .... Keep Sowing Healthy Salads.... There's still time to sow flowers for pollinators....  Potato Blight - my way of dealing with it.... Keeping diseases and pests at bay..... Dealing with slugs and leather jackets.....  Mulching cuts down on Watering..... Other jobs.... Keep the ground busy - don't waste an inch of growing space!....  Saving money by taking cuttings of veg plants....  Making high ..read more

Contents:  Growbag Gardening - the Sustainable, Planet Friendly Way!... Grow Your Own Food Security!...  Hurrah - Tomatoes are ripe!  Now it's 'Tomato Heaven' for the rest of the summer!...  Dealing with aphids....  Heat Damage on Tomatoes....  Tomato feeding.... To side-shoot or not to side-shoot - that is the question?....  Carry on mulching....  Keep encouraging tunnel wildlife to help you with pest control.....  A Delicious and Fragrant Polytunnel Crop..... What do Scientists  ..read more

"Remember - always sow the seeds. You can catch up on everything else - but if you get behind on doing that, then there's nothing you can do about it."  ..........    (A great piece of advice I was given many years ago)   Broccoli Raab - aka Rapini or Cima di Rapa. Easy, fast-growing and delicious!   Saving seed of Cima di Rapa - aka Broccoli Raab, is so worthwhile and easy to do! Sorry to mention this - but although it's not quite midsummer - it's now time to think ahead to what crops you will want to grow over the winter, in ..read more

May topics:   Scrap the Supplements - Growing your own Greens is Growing your own Medicine!...  HLA is a wasted source of Fertility - but a Delicate Topic for some?....  Golden rule number one - always be flexible in life!....  Golden rule number two - It pays to be flexible in the garden too!.... The many advantages of 'raised', 'deep' or 'lazy' beds.  Protecting early potatoes and other crops with fleece.  Feeding your compost heap!  Planting out tender crops in late May/June. Other jobs.       ..read more