Cold weather tips : GARDENING : CUTTINGS

"I don't think it is nearly as cold here as the account you give of Perthshire (Independent, 14 January)" writes Pippa Lane of Hexham in Northumberland. "However, we have been making a garden here since moving from Sussex seven years ago and there are one or two things we have discovered that might help the Smiths.

"We put up a Robinson's greenhouse and line it with bubble insulation film from LBS at Colne. This is much thicker than the packing bubble film the Smiths have. We leave this all summer on the northern wall of the greenhouse to conserve heat and it does not affect the light. We grow `Gardener's Delight' and `Marmande' tomatoes from seed. They develop into plants up to 4ft with at least five trusses of fruit. The soil is a light sandy loam, heavily spiked with well rotted manure and masses of Seagold seaweed manure.

"French beans we grow in a small poly tunnel and we pick them for about two months. We tried green peppers which grew very well, not very large, beautiful to look at and very boring to eat. Now I don't waste space on them, but grow parsley and basil instead.