Dandelions are:

• weeds

• timepieces
• a survival food for bees and other pollinating insects while they wait for other flowers to open
• used to make wine
• salad leaves

Sweat equity is an American expression describing their system of plant swapping.

Gardeners acquire many of their plants by hanging a notice on bulletin boards (local library or corner shop) stating that they will thin brassica plants, or clean out and divide rhubarb for a very cheap price. Interested parties bid for the trash and new, swapped plants are acquired for the garden.

Sweat equity is a great way to expand a collection of herbs, fruit and vegetables, as long as weeds and diseases are controlled!

Top 10 grow-your-own vegetables and fruit, 2008

• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Lettuce and salads
• Runner beans
• Peas
• Carrots
• Onions
• Garlic
• Herbs
• Fruit bushes

Source: The Guardian

A vegetable patch is what everyone wants now and can add thousands to the value of a house.

The Times gardening experts discuss how to make the most of a garden to increase the sales value of a house in an article:

How to refresh your garden and add £50,000 to your home

The benefits of an unlimited supply of home-grown vegetables are widely known. It is only logical that a well kept vegetable garden will add value to a house.

The new Svalbard global crop seed bank is being officially opened this week. Read More »

Although dermatitis, or Eczema, is a specialist subject, it is of great interest to the vegetable gardener because their hands are used (& abused!) all the time, and often succumb to dermatitis. Read More »

Do you know a young person that you think could benefit from the opportunity of a horticultural tour to any where in the world? Anyone aged under 30 on or before the 31st July 2008 and engaged in the horticultural sector Read More »

Love in the vegetable garden is like love the world-over – it is hard work - but the more loving effort one pours in, the greater the harvest.

Plants work hard, so they need a top quality site, soil and management.

But, first the gardener has to make his bed- with all the loving care he can muster.

He uses walkways, or duckboards, so that no-one walks on the precious vegetable bed. Read More »

Barney Bardsley talks exclusively to TopVeg about her new paperback “A Handful of Earth: a year of healing and growing”.

Intrigued by the book, we were keen to explore Barney Bardsley’s relationship with vegetable gardening, and are most grateful to Barney for agreeing to participate in the following e-interview:

• TopVeg: You seem to be a natural gardener! Do you believe that you possess inherent gardening knowledge, or did you pick up everything you know from reading magazines and working on your allotment?

Barney: I garden entirely intuitively. I just get out there and dig like crazy, making shapes and sculptures from the plants - pruning where I feel like it - feeling my way through. It seems to work. When I started, I read all the gardening magazines, and I still like “Kitchen Garden” very much, but mainly I just “go with the flow”. Other gardeners on the allotment give me tips and clues. We all share advice. It’s easy enough, if you don’t take it too seriously. Read More »

The Christmas Cactus is a popular flowering plant which is often passed down from generation to generation, as it lives for a long time and grows to a considerable size.

Allow the Christmas Cactus to rest from late September onwards while the flowering buds are forming. Let it rest by: Read More »