The easiest celery to grow. Chinese celery 'Kin Tsai' is an easy to grow celery variety and a most useful green to have in the garden late autumn through to winter. In the UK, they grow well throughout the summer months as well. They are not quite the same as regular celery - the flavour is much more intense and to me, I also taste strong parsley notes in there as well. The stalks are much thinner and they are not commonly eaten raw. The young stalks are tender and the best o

Easy way to start your own Thai basil plants Thai basil is a herb that is easily propagated from store bought packets. Not just the Thai variety, of course, but most basil can be propagated from cuttings. This method of propagation also works for mint and watercress. When selecting herbs to propagate from, always choose the freshest ones available with no sign of rot. It is better to choose less mature stems that have no flower buds emerging. Remove the lower leaves from each

Try Wasabi rocket - a rocket with a difference! Image credit : Thompson & Morgan A few years ago, I was given a packet of rocket 'Wasabi' to try when I visited the Thompson and Morgan show garden. Since then, I grow it every year. Similar to traditional rocket with a hot peppery flavour, it also has the distinctive flavour of wasabi root. Every time, I have asked someone to close their eyes and taste this herb, not once has anyone ever never said "rocket". They usually descri

Multi-branching variety 'Sweet Aperitif' tomato plants This is a view of the 'Sweet Aperitif' tomato - an incredibly prolific cherry tomato that is the gift that keeps on giving. They are multi-branching meaning that each truss breaks into 4 - 5 more trusses and then each of those trusses breaks out again, resulting in this cascading waterfall of tomatoes you see here - essentially a huge amount of fruit. “Don't forget to feed your tomato plants once a week with a tomato fert

What vegetables to grow over winter in the UK?

How to grow winter squash up an arch Squashes can take up a lot of space in the garden. So, if you are gardening in a small space, then it's time to take them upwards. Building The Squash Arch First, get hold of some garden arches - these were quite good value ones from Argos (£16). The metal rods come in a flat pack which you screw together. They are fairly lightweight but have held up against the wind so far. Next, you will need some wire mesh to clad onto the arch. You can

Baby corn is a must grow for me every summer. One of the questions I get asked a lot about growing baby corn is just how many can you harvest per plant? This year, I grew the variety 'Snobaby' - in total I had twelve plants and got between six to eight ears of baby corn per plant. “Harvest baby corn one to three days after silks appear.” The good thing about growing baby corn is that the plants can be spaced very closely together - this variety has a recommended planting spac

Small space? Grow cut-and-come again lettuce in pots for a continuous supply. If you are growing in a small space, it is entirely possible to grow a continuous supply of lettuce by using the cut and come again method. Choose your favourite lettuce varieties. If you are a beginner, look out for ones that are described as being ideal as a 'cut and come again' crop like Valmaine, a romaine lettuce. There are two ways of sowing: Sow seeds thinly into seed trays filled with compos