As the weather is warming up Bayer’s Anita Dent and Ken Crowther have returned to the small garden in St Ives in Cambridgeshire to take a look at the planting. What the garden lacks in ground space is made up by having vertical structures which increases the potential to grow a variety of different plants.

A new weather-proof structure at fruit growers Wilkin & Son at Tiptree in Essex has finally been finished. The size of large greenhouse and polythene clad the inside of the structure is home to racks of planted strawberries. It’s the first of its kind in the UK, and they are rightly proud as Anton Thurgood explained to Ken Crowther.

A new weather-proof structure at fruit growers Wilkin & Son at Tiptree in Essex has finally been finished. The size of large greenhouse and polythene clad the inside of the structure is home to racks of planted strawberries. It’s the first of its kind in the UK, and they are rightly proud as Anton Thurgood explained to Ken Crowther.

A new weather-proof structure at fruit growers Wilkin & Son at Tiptree in Essex has finally been finished. The size of large greenhouse and polythene clad the inside of the structure is home to racks of planted strawberries. It’s the first of its kind in the UK, and they are rightly proud as Anton Thurgood explained to Ken Crowther.

A new weather-proof structure at fruit growers Wilkin & Son at Tiptree in Essex has finally been finished. The size of large greenhouse and polythene clad the inside of the structure is home to racks of planted strawberries. It’s the first of its kind in the UK, and they are rightly proud as Anton Thurgood explained to Ken Crowther.

It’s a really important time in the potato world, as you need to get in early if you want to grow some of the rarer varieties as some are in short supply. One of the biggest problems with growing potatoes is blight, work is on going to find blight resistant varieties as Colin Randall, or spud, from Thompson and Morgan told Ken Crowther.

It’s a really important time in the potato world, as you need to get in early if you want to grow some of the rarer varieties as some are in short supply. One of the biggest problems with growing potatoes is blight, work is on going to find blight resistant varieties as Colin Randall, or spud, from Thompson and Morgan told Ken Crowther.

It’s a really important time in the potato world, as you need to get in early if you want to grow some of the rarer varieties as some are in short supply. One of the biggest problems with growing potatoes is blight, work is on going to find blight resistant varieties as Colin Randall, or spud, from Thompson and Morgan told Ken Crowther.

It’s a really important time in the potato world, as you need to get in early if you want to grow some of the rarer varieties as some are in short supply. One of the biggest problems with growing potatoes is blight, work is on going to find blight resistant varieties as Colin Randall, or spud, from Thompson and Morgan told Ken Crowther.

If you can get out into your garden in the winter, it will help with spring and summer preparation and make the rest of the gardening year a joy.  Lucy Chamberlain gardens at East Donyland Hall in Fingeringhoe, Essex she spoke to Ken Crowther about some of the jobs they are getting on with at the Hall.