Going green - Lucy Halliday explains how your soil can benefit from the goodness of green manures

GREEN manures, once relatively uncommon on your average plot, are growing in popularity and it's not surprising. Catch crops have long been used to maximise the productivity of areas of soil that would otherwise be left bare between plantings of main crops. Manures and mulches have been used for centuries to nourish and enrich soil. The fantastic thing about green manures is that they combine these two great garden services in one and have other benefits to boot. So get growing a green manure this year and reap the benefits.

	A passion for vegetables - Gwyneth Wright visits the UK’s largest independent plant breeders and seed merchants
	WHILE you may not have heard of Tozer's, the chances are that you've either eaten something grown from their seeds or you have grown something from their seeds but packaged by one of the large packet seed companies like Mr Fothergill's. You may have even seen them at the Welsh Smallholder show this year. So who are Tozer's?

	Growing veg in containers - Short of garden space? Colin Randel suggests ‘growing greens’ in tubs and windowboxes
	IF you don't think that you have sufficient garden space to grow your vegetables and herbs, perhaps you have no garden at all, or just a window box or balcony, then think containers.

Success with runner beans - Lee Senior looks at how to grow these summer favourites

WHEN I think of runner beans my mind is cast to the long, hot and balmy days of summer - and lots of watering! Runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus) originated in South America, arriving in Europe at the end of the fifteenth century. In the wild, they grow in the Mexican mountains where they are in good company with the likes of lobelias and dahlias. Perhaps surprisingly to some, they are perennials, though in our climate are best treated as annuals. It is, however, possible to store the roots in damp compost over winter and replant the following year as normal.

	Heated debate over garlic - Michael Wale looks at the politics involved in running an inner city allotment
	WITH the new season now here, this past winter has certainly not been a dead period. The discussions, the polite "allotment speak" for arguments, have in some cases reached a crescendo covering subjects as diverse as the method employed to choose new plotholders to which sort of garlic to plant.

	A top ten veg with gardeners - Colin Randel reveals a couple of myths associated with cultivation of parsnips
	PARSNIPS are a favourite vegetable of gardeners and allotment-holders and have remained consistently in the Top 10 for seed sales, even though they take up ground for a considerable number of months.

	Seasonal tasks in the veg garden - Bill Hudson says that in May there are too many jobs, too few hours in the day!
	THIS is probably the busiest time in the gardening calendar. There are not enough hours in the day; everything is growing before your very eyes including weeds.

	Going compost crazy! - Lucy Halliday explains how to start composting in your organic kitchen garden
	GOOD compost is like gardening gold and the heart of any organic garden should be its compost heap.
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