Until the 1800s growing potatoes was only for the poor, their nutritional value and taste has been appreciated much more over the last 200 years, and is the standard diet

of many countries.

Potatoes are grouped according to their season of harvest ie; earlies, second earlies and maincrop. In general, early varieties are lower yielding, require less space, and escape many of the diseases that affect the later harvested maincrops. More on Grow Your Own Potatoes

The Traditional Vegetable Garden

Keen vegetable gardeners like to set aside an area of the garden exclusively for vegetables.The entire area can be cultivated and the primary purpose of the plot is to provide optimum growing conditions for vegetables, rather than any decorative merits.That said there is something inherently beautiful about a well maintained vegetable garden.It has natural geometry because the crops are grown in rows so that you can move freely between them to tend them.

A vegetable plot should not be undertaken lightly, since maintaining one is truly a labour of love.It will need to be dug over every autumn weeded regularly, and the vegetables nurtured tenderly and protected against marauding pests and the elements. More on how to plant a vegetable garden

Get better tomatoes

Tomatoes generally thrive in a warm greenhouse when adequately looked after, but there are also a few tricks of the trade to help produce an even better crop.

When growing tomatoes regular removal of side shoots is important, to prevent plants becoming an impenetrable mass of leaves and it also makes the tomato plant more productive. More on Growing tomatoes

Midsummer can be a second spring

Here are a few of the crops you can sow in summer and harvest in late summer and beyond.

Salads

Providing we are not having a heat wave and you keep your crop well watered then salads will thrive in a British summer.Grow some cut and come again seeds,sow little and often and use a wide range of varieties.

Along with lettuces, endives and chicories all good choices for late sowing.Chicory comes in an array of varieties including the slightly sweeter sugar loaf types which re-flush after cutting.Red leaved chicories like Rouge de Trevise or speckled Variegato del Castelfranco that had a splash of colour. More on Sow Vegtables in Summer

The really simple and straight forward way

The idea is to grow tomatoes in bottomless pots or ‘rings’, placed on a pourous water bearing  surface such as grit agrregate or coarse sand which is kept moist.

This idea allows for the root systems to have constant access to water,but to be able to add extra nutrients when necessary to the compost in the rings.

The easiest way to do this is construct a shallow base bed perhaps a wooden frame lined with thick plastic or large plastic tray and to back fill this with a sand grit mix.For ‘rings’ remove the bottoms from 28cm (11in)  or 30cm (12in) pots, place them on the aggregate and fill them with compost.

Keep the aggregate moist at all times and feed into the pots when necessary.

Want to start growing tomatoes from seed visit some of the varieties available.Black Krim Tomato, Brandywine Tomato, Ace Tomato, Beefstake Tomato and Amish Paste Tomato.

For all your other garden needs visit MyGardenCenterOnline