I've been putting my Master Composter knowledge to good use recently with a visit to Sir John Leman High School in Beccles, Suffolk - where I extolled the virtues of composting in schools to 15 interested (at least I think they were interested!) teachers.

My visit was all part of an out-of-school-hours initiative set up by Alison Findlay of the RHS and part organised by Allison Copeman, the Enterprise Manager at Sir John Leman High School. The meetings are designed to help teachers who share an interest in gardening and wish to establish a productive garden or patch at their own school and this particular shin-dig was held in the very impressive school garden at John Leman.

Explained Allison; "It is really good to have these twilight sessions to meet staff from other schools who share my interest and passion for getting a garden set up in schools. Often, it gives us a chance to share ideas/problems/good practice etc."

As well as explaining how a school is likely to have an almost unlimited supply of both green (grass clippings from the grounds, fruit and vegetable waste from the kitchens for starters) and brown (paper, cardboard, pencil shavings etc) material, I explained the financial benefits to the school of producing their own compost (school purse strings are normally pulled tight anyway, but an especially pertinent point in the current economic climate) and the problems faced with lack of available landfill sites and the effect on the environment of methane - produced when organic matter is buried.

A very popular section of my talk was the 'Virtual Compost Bin', developed by Garden Organic and used in the Master Composter course. Participants have to categorize different materials which may - or shouldn't - end up in a compost heap and it's a great way of demonstrating the vast selection of ingredients suitable for composting.

So it's thanks to both the Al(l)ison's - Findlay and Copeman - and David Hawkyard (the Norfolk Master Composter Scheme Coordinator)for their help, and hopefully a few school gardens on the Norfolk/Sugffolk border will be compost self-sufficient in the very near future, and we'll all be another step closer to closing the recycling loop!

If you'd like further information on the Master Composter scheme, the 'twilight' sessions held for schools in the north Suffolk area or would like me to visit a school and give a talk, just give me a shout -martin@harrod.uk.com

Who would of thought that a delivery of contaminated manure to an allotment site in Wakefield would hit the national headlines?

That's the case at Green Lane Allotments, following the introduction of a batch of manure which appears to have traces of weedkiller present. We recently featured the furore in West Yorkshire, but as Green Lane Allotment Association Chairperson Sue Garrett explained, the story is going countrywide; "It is now basically hitting national headlines as in the Observer this Sunday. Some people visiting my web site have said that they are convinced the contamination is also affected compost and bagged dry manure type of products too. Some sources have complained that they have even bought the stuff from organic farms."

It's quite clear that gardeners around the country need to be fully aware of where any manure they beg, steal or borrow for use in their own gardens or, like Green Lane, on allotment sites and we'll keep you updated with any further developments in this intriguing story!

With the soaring popularity in growing your own vegetables and gardening in general, it's hardly suprising that manure is a most sought after commodity!

That's not something you'll hear every day but with more and more people picking up the gardening bug and realising how essential good soil is, coupled with the raised bed growing explosion - where you need to start from stratch - manure is top of a lot of gardener's shopping lists.

However, as our friends at Green Lane Allotments have found to their cost, even the simple task of buying manure can be fraught with difficulties! They've received a batch of contaminated muck and asked us to tell fellow gardeners to be careful when ordering their manure - which of course we're only too glad to do!

If you've any horror stories regarding problems with bought-in compost or organic matter, do let me know by contacting me at martin@harrod.uk.com and I'll tell the world!

The county of Kent - for so long regarded as the 'Garden of England' - is the site for a huge new 'vegetable factory', designed to rival greenhouses already established in Europe.

But how well will this monster greenhouse sit with the UK's gardeners? A quick flick through the comments at the bottom of this Guardian report will give you the answer...

The Consumer Council for Water has produced a checklist of water saving ideas following predictions of another long, hot - and dry - summer.

The water industry watchdog enlisted the help of UK Non-Governmental Organisation and water efficiency experts Waterwise to compile ways of cutting water wastage in the home, in schools and also in the garden.

According to a report on the national website of Wales, the best way to keep your garden green this summer and save water is to invest in a water butt, and other tips include mulching to retain moisture and avoiding planting up thirsty hanging baskets - large containers or pots will require less watering.

We're certainly doing our part in the Kitchen Garden to save water as we've installed ground level micro-irrigation systems and soaker hoses, widely regarded as the most efficient way to get water straight to where it's needed - the soil. We've also used water-retaining liners for our potted companion plants, which should cut down the frequency of watering by 7-10 days.

Full details of the Consumer Council for Water advisory notes can be found on their website, and for further water saving ideas and products for both the garden and greenhouse - including water butts, irrigation kits and ultra-efficient automated systems are readily available from Harrod Horticultural.

Can you remember those early days of vegetable growing when you couldn't tell a spade from a shovel, a cucumber from a courgette and thought a propagator was a kind of crocodile?

Although you can look back and chuckle at your early attempts at gardening, there are hundreds of novice veg growers in exactly the same boat right now, seeking some guidance on how to produce perfect scarlet tomatoes and unblemished lettuces.

So where do you start? Some will reach for the keyboard and fire off an e-mail to a company like ours (and many do); surfing the world wide web is a must; asking green-fingered friends and relatives will be high up on the list; as will speaking to garden-loving neighbours and allotmenteers; and there's certainly no shortage of gardening based TV programmes to advise you what to do.

But what about reference books? A trusty right hand man who can accompany you up the garden and stand by in the potting shed until needed sounds ideal. And we've got a very informative literary garden aid to help you - John Harrison's Vegetable Growing Month by Month.

John's got over 30 years of organic gardening experience to fall back on and his 256 page tome certainly belongs ritght at hand in the potting shed. You'll find chapters on Where to Grow and Preparing to Grow, Planning the Gardening Year and Getting the Most from Your Land, right through to Tools, Compost and Manures and Watering; not forgetting Pests, Problems and Protection.

But don't take my word for it; multi-Gold medal winner at Chelsea, and arguably the country's most successful vegetable grower, Medwyn Williams MBE, has this to say about John's work; 'Having just received John Harrisons book On Vegetable Growing Month by Month, I have to say that it’s definitely going to be a well thumbed volume, particularly by those who want to grow vegetables for the first time.

Everyone will benefit from this book and I found the glossary at the back, which explains gardening terminology in a way that everyone will understand, to be extremely useful. It will certainly have a place on my extensive gardening book shelf.’

John's also penning a series of monthly gardening tips for us; these, coupled with our Kitchen Garden Monthly Updates and Ask the Expert section, should give you all the gardening help you need!

Remember last month I brought you some updates of what we've been up to in our own Harrod Horticultural Kitchen Garden?

Well, our gardener Sharon's been busy once again - this time she's pulled on her woolly hat, dug out her secateurs and taken a crash course in the winter pruning of tree fruit!

Here's what she had to say...

There is a very steep learning curve when taking on a new garden, it takes a while to ‘find your feet’ in fresh surroundings and some tasks can be a little daunting.

On I go, with plenty to do at this busy time of year in the kitchen garden.

It's always good to find out what the nation's gardeners are up to, and although not quite on the scale of a Gardener's World roadshow, I do occasionally get an insight into what plans others are drawing up.

One such lady is Eileen Jackson, who contacted me recently for advice on keeping rabbits away (humanely, of course) from her proposed raised bed development. Eileen, from Northumberland, is planning to construct 4 square raised beds made of larch. She explains; "The beds are to occupy a strip of land which forms part of a walled-side garden that slopes gently down towards the main garden."

Eileen continues; "I would have much preferred for the beds to have been laid out in the middle of the side garden but unfortunately my husband wouldn’t give up his lawn! I guess I am right in thinking that I will have to level out some of the strip in order to avoid water run-off and to give equal light to the plants in the beds. As it is not feasible to flatten out the whole strip I am considering creating a sort of stepped effect with the beds."

I'm sure you'll agree that the project sounds very interesting, and you can see the response I gave for the potential rabbit problems in full in our Ask the Expert section of the website.

I was keen to know more about the use of larch for constructing the beds, and Eileen had some answers for me. "The lady who recommended the idea to me, Anna Corbitt, suggested the untreated wood slats might last 4-5 years, though if I line the inner edge with a barrier material they should last a lot longer," reports Eileen. "Anna was the inspirational instructor on a day course I attended at Kirkley Hall, Northumberland College, in December 2006 called ‘Planning your Vegetable Garden.’"

Eileen's also been reading up on how to manage her beds once she gets round to constructing them. "Pauline Pears book ‘Growing Fruit & Vegetables on a Bed System’ (HDRA, 2004) has helped me layout my beds and work out some rotations so that the right plants get their nitrogen fix and so forth," she says.

Hopefully I'll hear more on how the job is progressing and I'll post any information I receive; and with the evenings getting longer and spring knocking on the door, maybe it's time you thought about a garden project of your own...