Pommes d’amour Posted on August 13, 2026

You could say that my sister is keen on tomatoes – though ‘obsessed with’ is closer to the fact. They’ve had perfect growing conditions this month. Jack’s beanstalk gives the idea. I suggest pinching out some axial shoots and discouraging growth above the garden wall. “Hands off’, she tells me. ‘Don’t touch them’.

An Italian visitor turns up. ‘Your tomatoes are out of control’ he says and pinches out precisely what I was banned from pinching. A prophet is not without honour…..

Hugh’s Gardening Books

Sitting in the Shade

This is the third anthology of Trad’s Diary, cherry-picking the past ten years. The previous two covered the years 1975…

Hugh’s Wine Books

Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book

I wrote my first Pocket Wine Book in 1977, was quite surprised to be asked to revise it in 1978,…

Friends of Trad

The Garden Museum