With the start of school holidays summer is officially here, even though the weather has yet to catch up. Everything in the garden is blooming and the veg plot is cropping so how do you go on  holiday and ensure all the plants and veggies survive?

The Sunday Gardener has a number of tips and suggestions on how to look after your plants and enjoy your holiday. The best plan is a friendly neighbour but if not click here for help and  advise

Courgettes are generally problem free, although prone to powdery mildew late in the season as the nights turn colder and especially if it has been a dry summer. Courgettes are also much effected by the weather and dislike cool conditions which can reduce pollination and so yields. Another problem of all of this family, squashes and cucumbers is they can root off at the stem where it meets the soil. This is much more likely to happen in a colder summer where after rain the wet lies in the soil for longer and newly planted courgettes which are not yet established are the most prone. If happy Courgettes fruit prolifically and two./three plants is usually enough for any courgette loving family.

For more about growing courgettes link to colour coded to help

June is a fantastic time in the garden everything is growing so fast its hard to keep up. Finally frosts are over and all the tender plants and veggies can be planted out for the rest of the summer, even Squashes can be outside now. Pity the weather isn't a bit kinder, if its wet and chilly where you are its best to delay planting bedding for another week or so. There is a lot to do in June and the Sunday Gardeners calendar has some helpful tips and advice, click on the link. Ideas for June in general, but its still best to consider local conditions and check the weather. The end of May is the traditional time for planting out, but bedding and veg plants grown under ideal conditions, warm, with just the right amount of water, and no blustering winds, can get a bit of shock if stuck outside on a typical bank holiday and sulk for a couple of weeks. Best to just wait until a better planting day.

June isn't always reliable, here a couple of years ago some bedding going in and yes the white stuff on the lawn is hailstones.

Growing tomatoes is great fun but time consuming as the plants need a lot of attention especially as the growing season goes on, which is why they are colour coded red Tomatoes are vigorous plants and even more so this season and are already mature enought to pot on into a larger container or grow bag for the rest of the season. If you haven't grown Tomatoes before how to tell when they are ready to pot on? The photos on the left are both ready; the single Tomato plant  looks self evidently too big for the pot, and top heavy. The other Tomato plants look bushy and mature and they too are ready.

I plant into a trough filled with the contents of a grow bag or good quality compost rather than direct into the grow bag. There are two advantages, firstly you can get better support for the plants with the greater depth of soil provided by a large container. It is hard to imagine now, looking at these plants, but they will be very tall, 1.5 m plus and heavy with fruit needing a lot of support. Secondly, for watering, often with a grow bag the water can run off the grow bag rather than drain into the plants. If you are using grow bags a good tip is to use wide tape to tape up the bag to make it more round and less flat where tomatoes are growing.

Plants will need attention on an increasing basis from now until the end of the season, nipping out the side shoots and regular watering and feeding. For more tips on growing tomatoes follow the link.