From tomatoes to courgettes, fruiting veg bring colour, abundance and that “I grew this!” excitement to any garden. These guides cover everything from sowing to pollination to bumper harvests.

Aubergine

A delicious Mediterranean vegetable, Aubergine can be used in dishes such as parmigiana, fritters, curries and baba ganoush. also great grilled, roasted or stuffed. From the same family as tomatoes, peppers and chillies,Auberginescan be easy to grow if you give them the right conditions. They need a good, rich, moisture-retentive soil, plenty of sun and warm conditions. A sunny greenhouse or windowsill is perfect for them, they thrive when the temperature is a steady 20 degrees

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Chillis

Imagine a world brimming with vibrant colors, tantalizing shapes, and a spectrum of heat levels that range from pleasantly mild to mind-blowingly fiery. Welcome to the universe of chillis, where each variety offers its own unique charm and flavor profile. Some chillis surprise with a zesty hint of lemon, while others delight with fruity undertones that dance on your palate.

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Courgette

Common amongst gardeners is the plight of what to do each summer with all their Courgettes! They will usually fruit for many months, from early summer, sometimes through to the first frost. Pick the courgettes when they’re young and tasty, 10–12.5cm long. Regular harvesting, when the fruits are small, will encourage more to form.

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Cucumber

Fresh and zingy, Cucumbers are the taste of summer! Cucumbers are tender climbing or scrambling plants, for growing in a greenhouse or a warm sunny site outdoors, either up supports or trailing on the ground. With enough warmth and plenty of moisture, they’ll produce lots of tasty, crunchy, refreshing cucumbers from mid-summer onwards. When trained up supports, they take up little ground space, so can be grown successfully in compact gardens, patio containers or small greenhouses.

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Squash

Squashes come in a huge range of shapes and sizes, from massive pumpkins to tiny patty pans, some you can harvest in summer, others in Autumn for storing. They can grow snaking along the ground or up on a trellis, or other sturdy support. A tender crop, wait until at least April to begin sowing these.

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Sweet Pepper

The range of Sweet Peppers you can buy may have increased in recent years, but the choice you get from growing your own is far wider. You don't need a greenhouse to grow sweet peppers – as long as you have a warm, sheltered and sunny site, you should get a decent crop. Sweet peppers are attractive plants (especially when in fruit) so are ideal for growing on a south-facing patio or window sill.

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Tomatoes

Growing Tomatoes is fun and rewarding, resulting in masses of fresh, nutritious fruits that taste better than anything you can buy in the shops. The main bonus of growing your own tomatoes is the many different varieties you can grow, including cherry, plum and beefsteak, each with its own distinctive flavour, shape and culinary use.

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Fruiting veg to grow from seed

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