How to Grow Radishes From Seed for Spring and Fall Harvests

At The Pig near Bath gardeners Ollie Hutson and Fran Chilet-Olmos aim to have a steady supply of leafy herbs all summer. Crops such as tarragon are picked in fat bunches, then hung upside down in one of the polytunnels to dry, before the crisp leaves are stored in preserving jars so they can be used in winter. Annual herbs to grow such as basil, coriander, caraway and chervil are sown two or three times during the growing season, so there is a constant supply of fresh leaves.

Veg Seed Sowing Plans for May To ensure a continuous harvest throughout the summer rather than a glut successional sowing of salads, radishes, beetroots, carrots, autumn giant leeks and spring onions and peas should continue. Sow basil, particularly alongside tomato seedlings to help draw white fly away plus spinach, rocket and ornamental salad leaves. Globe Artichokes and Swiss Chard for looks as well as food. Pole, French and above all Runner Beans Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Savoy Cabbage, Kale and Calabrese

Herbs to make a bouquet garni can be grown at home and used later for cooking. All these herbs you can grow in the garden or on a suitable windowsill. The ingredients for our basic Bouquet Garni are the herbs Parsley, Thyme, Bay and a clove of Garlic. Tie them together with undyed string. Then add other herbs that are specific to the dish you want to cook.

A favorite annual is the Marigold or Tagetes. Bold colours in Yellows, Oranges, Lemons Reds and Creams are a feature of these plants that flower from July to the first frost. Despite the names they all originate from Mexico.

The ancient Chinese have cultivated Tree Peonies for over 1500 years. Prized specimens are and were grown for medicinal purposes as they contain glucocides and alkolides. The  imperial palace gardens had many specimens that became quite valuable.

Rows of tall Delphinium ‘Strawberry Fair’ in Polly Nicholson's Wiltshire garden

Requiring less watering and weeding than any other type of garden, a gravel garden is ideal for anyone with a busy lifestyle. Comprising freely draining soil covered in gravel, through which suitable plants grow, the only effort required is in its creation; after that, this contemporary form of garden largely looks after itself.

A potager in a Devon garden by Dan Pearson

Winter is the perfect time to install a drainage solution to remove standing water in the yard by adding surface drains, French drains, or both. Removing excess standing water helps with disease prevention in turf. Many turf diseases are made worse by prolonged wet conditions.

Called “the mystery plant of the herb world” by The Rodale Herb Book, “oregano” is the common name for a small multitude of plants that are mostly useless in the kitchen. Among them are many true oreganos, in the genus Origanum, and also many plants that aren’t. Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens) is a relative of lemon verbena, not oregano. Cuban oregano (Coleus amboinicus) is a succulent that tastes and smells somewhat like oregano and makes a good houseplant. It is used like oregano in Cuban cuisine. Italian oregano thyme, a member of the genus Thymus, also has the familiar oregano scent.Among the true oreganos there are choices for great beauty, like O. vulgare ‘Aureum,’ a golden-leaved form. (My sorry plant was probably just plain O. vulgare—not even pretty like the golden kind.) Sweet marjoram, a kind of oregano known as O. majorana, is more the stuff of French cuisine, and an excellent culinary herb. Pot marjoram, O. onites, is also savory-flavored.But if you want to cook with the classic oregano taste, you want to try Greek oregano, O. heracleoticum, which is a pungent

It was the gold-leaf version of a ‘Scarlet Runner’ type of bean in the pages of Territorial Seed’s catalog that set me off down the yellow-brick road. ‘Golden Sunshine’ bean has the typical red hummingbird-friendly flowers and green pods but on a 6-foot plant (somewhat less enthusiastic than the green original).Next I met up with a gold-podded filet bean—an extra-long haricot vert type called ‘French Gold’ that isn’t vert at all but solid or. Renee’s Seeds offers this beauty, a pole type that’s new for 2010 and promises 7-to-9-inch pods for “especially choice eating.” Sold.Romano-type, or Italian-style beans are my favorites, typically, so when I happened on ‘Gold of Bacau’ bean a

I want to introduce some oddball varieties I like to grow (like ‘Chinese Red Noodle’ and ‘Scarlet Runner,’ both shown above), and tell you what I’m planning to do with that Hefty-bagful of the more typical green bean types that I just harvested. (No, not 10 Pyrex baking dishes full of Grandma’s Green Bean Casserole with cream of mushroom soup, sour cream and butter-soaked Saltine crumbs and melted cheddar, though I am definitely tempted.)Do you grow beans like ‘Royalty Purple Pod’ that are easy to spot on the vine when harvesting, but cook up green? Or slender filet beans, the haricot verts or filet beans of French cooker