ASK any budding gardener which crops he would try to grow first and I guarantee that tomatoes would be among the top answers.

They not only look and taste infinitely better than shopbought ones, but there are so many varieties from which to choose that even if you only have a hanging basket you can plant a cascading type which will give you dozens of sweet, cherry tomatoes.

However, many beginners can end up disappointed, as their tomatoes either suffer blossom end rot, or are decimated by blight, where the stem and the fruits end up with brown blotches and become inedible, particularly in wet, windy summers.

Kevin Smith, commissioning editor of Gardeners’ World magazine, which is launching a Grow Your Own Week campaign from March 29, says: “Few crops are more rewarding than tomatoes, and they’re easy to grow in any space, even a tiny urban balcony.

“Don’t be put off by the recent cold weather, even if it persists for a few more weeks, as you can delay sowing tomato seeds until April, or even buy pot-grown plants as late as May. Producing a delicious tomato crop is easy.”

He offers the following tips to help you produce healthy, delicious tomatoes:

● Water the soil or compost daily to ensure it never dries out. Pay special attention to plants grown in containers, as irregular watering causes nutritional imbalance, leading to low calcium take-up, which causes blossom end rot.

● Keep your plants well fed.

For tomatoes grown in pots and bags, watering by itself won’t be enough to ensure healthy growth. Feed tomatoes weekly with a highpotash fertiliser, increasing the frequency as the plants grow larger or if leaves show signs of discolouring.

● Train tomatoes to canes or supports. Different types will require different training. For example bush tomatoes will need little, if any, training.

However, most other tomatoes are trained as single stems, or cordons, and the main shoot needs to be tied upright to a cane or support.

● Pinch out tips. Outdoor cordon tomatoes will usually form three or four trusses of fruits during the season.

Pinch off the tip of the main shoot a leaf or two above the fourth flower truss. You can leave greenhouse plants to grow on.

● Combat blight disease.

Warm, humid weather provides the perfect conditions for blight disease which attacks tomatoes and potatoes.

This fungus disease spreads rapidly via airborne spores when conditions are right.

Keep an eye on the weather and, if these conditions occur, use a preventive fungicide spray, such as Sitahen 945, straight away to stop the blight spores infecting your plants.

The greenhouse is the obvious place to grow tomatoes as you can give them a longer season and are likely to get bigger crops than if you grow them outdoors.

Indoor tomatoes can be sown in March in a heated propagator set to a minimum of 15C, but preferably a little higher.

Outdoor tomatoes should be started off indoors eight or nine weeks before it’s safe to plant outdoors in your area.

In colder areas, wait until April.

Two years ago, during the wet summer (which is the sort of weather tomatoes hate) the magazine held a trial of container- grown tomatoes to discover which performed best. The overall top choice was Apero F1, a rich, red cherry tomato with a slightly elongated shape, followed by Tomatoberry F1, which produced an abundance of delicious, strawberry-shaped fruits on trailing trusses.

Good enough to eat – Catch crops

IF YOU always seem to have space between rows of veg on your veg plot, catch crops – which are small and fast-growing – are ideal when used as temporary space-fillers. Crops including beetroot, carrots, lettuces, salad onions, radishes (right) and spinach, can be picked immature and used to enhance the productivity of an area.

Plant quick crops of radishes, or short-rooted carrots, between slow root crops such as parsnips, which take months to fill their allotted space. Lettuces and turnips can fill the space left between large brassicas such as Brussels sprouts and autumn cauliflower, which take a long time to fill their space. If you are growing runner beans, you'll not be planting them out until late May or early June, so use the space to grow a quick crop of peas or spinach before the beans begin to cover the supports.

Catch crops, such as hardy broad beans, can be grown among sweetcorn plants. By the time the beans have been harvested, the sweetcorn should be well on its way.

Best of the Bunch: Mahoniah

These evergreen shrubs are valued for their honey-scented flowers in late winter and early spring, as well as their spiky foliage which comes in different shades. Most types have either rounded clusters or starburst spikes of yellow flowers which last for many weeks in the winter, followed by purple or black berries.

Most are upright, but some are lower growing and make good ground cover. Larger varieties, such as M x media Charity, which grows to five metres (15ft) tall, are ideal at the back of a border or as a specimen plant. They make good partners for other early interest plants, such as Viburnum x bodnantense.

Mahonias like fertile soil with added organic matter and do best in full or partial shade, where the soil is moist all the time. Prune after flowering, lightly cutting back shoots which spoil the shape. If you're after contrasting foliage, go for the low-growing M.

aquifolium Apollo, whose leaves turn a rich purple hue in autumn.

What to do this week

● Sow celery under heated glass.

● Check the ties of trees and shrubs as they come into growth and if they are too tight, loosen them.

● Take chrysanthemum cuttings.

● Prune tender climbers and wall shrubs which show strong growth.

● Remove winter protection from containers and top-dress or replant overgrown or pot-bound plants, adding a slow-release fertiliser.

● Sow dahlia seeds to germinate in gentle heat and prick out seedlings when large enough to handle.

● Continue to sow tender bedding plants in a heated propagator, or in trays on a warm windowsill.

● Plant out bulbs grown for indoor use which have finished flowering.

● Cut down the dead remains of marginal plants in your pond.

● If the weather is fine, spring clean your patio, but be careful when using a pressure washer that the powerful jet of water doesn't blast out the cement between slabs.

● Use copper ring barriers to protect tender new shoots from slug attacks.

● Scarify your lawn using a spring-tine rake to remove moss and thatch.

● Plant onion sets.

● Lift and divide clumps of chives with a fork, and replant in soil which has been revitalised with organic matter.

● Continue to prepare seedbeds in the kitchen garden, breaking down clods, removing stones and weeds from the soil and raking it to a fine tilth.

THREE WAYS TO...prepare the greenhouse for spring

1 Remove debris and weeds growing between panes with a plant label or stick.

2 Check and replace sealing strips on doors and vents to prevent draughts and stop heat escaping.

3 Give the greenhouse a spring clean with hot water and garden disinfectant and clean the glass, inside and out, for optimum light transmission.