- Cantaloupe Melon - Cantaloupe melons, with their sweet, orange flesh, are one of the tastiest of the melon family.
- Apple - Nature's perfect ready meal, apples are ready to eat any time.
- Jersey Potatoes, the best spuds of the year - The finest potatoes in the world? Possibly?
- English Apples - Our Lost Heritage - There are thousands of varieties of apples known, but less than 20 commonly sold in supermarkets, and typically less than 5 are common English apple varieties.
- British Strawberries - where has all the taste gone? - Once one of the finest tastes in the fruit world, eagerly awaited every summer, the appeal of British Strawberries is not quite what it used to be...
- Potato - An old classic and a staple food in many potatoes, how much do you know about potatoes?
- Banana - A fruit as popular as it is versatile, how much do you really know about Bananas? You might think they're just yellow, but you can get blue and red ones too.

In The Garden in May

Aching to get out in the garden and start planting? Well you can! May is one of the busiest months of the year for gardening, and there's plenty to get on with. If the weather is warmed up enough, you can start planting out your vegetables now, and if the soil is warm enough, even plant beans and the like outdoors. Let's see what else you can do...

TO SOW

- Continue sowing half-hardy annual vegetables such as courgettes, butternut squash, pumpkins, and beans such as French or runner beans. They are quick to grow and will not suffer from being sown late. By the time they are large enough to plant out, it will be warm enough outside for them to survive. It may even be warm enough now to sow them direct in the ground, but remember to protect them if frost threatens. Many bean seeds will not germinate in the ground if the soil is waterlogged and cold.
- Continue sowing hardy annuals; they can be sown directly into the soil now. This includes lettuce, carrots, beetroot, chard and spinach.
- Continue to sow herbs such as coriander, dill, and basil.
- Continue to sow peas under cover, either individually into 3 inch pots, large plugs, or lengths of half-guttering, which makes it easy to slide the growing plants out into the soil when it comes time to be planted. If you continue to sow peas in succession, you will ensure cropping of peas throughout the season.
- You can still sow tomatoes for planting outside, but get them growing quick now! Quick to mature bush varieties such as Red Alert are best for growing outside.

TO GROW ON

- Any seeds or plants already growing, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, melons etc. Don't restrict them too much at this stage; large pots means their growth won't be slowed at any point.

TO PLANT OUT

- Main crop varieties can still be planted if you're running late, but get them in quick!
- Plant out tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins etc into their beds, but keep them under cover still.
- Plant out sweetcorn, but be wary of frosts, and harden them off first.

TO HARVEST

- Salad leaves and pea tips, and the first lettuces (usually Cos varieties).
- The last of the winter vegetables, such as spinach, can still be harvested.
- First early potatoes can be lifted as they start to flower.
- The first broad beans and the first peas can be harvested at the end of the month.
- Perennial herbs such as mint, rosemary, sage, bay and thyme can be harvested.
- Annual herbs like parsley, chervil, coriander and dill shoH1d be cropping now - but unless you started early enough, you'll have to wait a little longer for basil.

TO MAINTAIN

- Tie in any growing beans, tomatoes, or cucumbers that require support.