Monty Don says there's one vegetable that's 'easiest of all plants to grow'

Monty Don shared nearly 20 tasks that gardeners should be tackling in April in his blog - several of which are suggestions. The gardening expert stated that lettuce is "one of the easiest of all plants to grow" and freshly harvested, home-grown lettuce "always tastes wonderful".

He pointed out that lettuces thrive best in mild, moist conditions so a hot, dry summer can be as problematic as a cold winter. However, many lettuces are content in some shade as this will keep them cooler. Monty advised: "To avoid a glut or, worse, your lettuce all running to seed at once in very hot , the secret is to have good succession - which essentially means maintaining a small but constant supply of plants rather than one big harvest.

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"To do this sow some new seed every three or four weeks and as one batch goes over another will be ready to eat with a third growing on as young seedlings."

He clarified that most lettuce takes about six to eight weeks to grow large enough to eat and will remain good for another month or so if kept watered and cool.

A few seeds sown thinly will "provide healthier, leafier lettuces" rather than a mass of thick seedlings. As they appear, Monty suggests gardeners weed and thin carefully to a final spacing of at least four inches.

For those with a greenhouse, Monty advises sowing into plugs and planting out the seedlings when they are growing strongly to protect them from slugs.

When it comes to lettuce varieties, Monty suggests gardeners "experiment with different varieties until they find the ones that they like", but also recommends growing three or four different types throughout the year.

His personal favourite is a good Cos lettuce, specifically Little Gem, which he says "will do well from an early sowing and certainly is always worth finding room for in the garden".

The gardening expert also grows red and green oak-leaf or salad bowl varieties, stating: "Red Salad Bowl tastes great and looks fantastic.

"Red lettuce grows slower than green ones and tends to be a little bitter - which I like. They are also less likely to be eaten by slugs than green leaves."

Monty also recommends planting new potatoes now, saying: "The sooner you can plant seed for first earlies the sooner you can enjoy that delicious harvest that always tastes so much better than any that you can buy."

To plant, make a v-shaped trench six to nine inches deep and place the seed potatoes about 12 inches apart along the bottom of it, reports .

Fill the trench back in, creating a mound of soil along its length. Ensure you leave a good three feet between rows for earthing up – that's piling more soil over the sprouting leaves to shield them from unexpected late frosts.

Monty Don shared his own method: "I also grow them in a raised bed simply pushing each seed potato in a six-inch deep hole made with a dibber with each plant about 18 inches apart in a grid."

But no matter your planting technique, Monty insists on one crucial step: "always enrich the soil for potatoes with plenty of well-rotted manure or compost".