Q&A

This Christmas we’ll be eating: Cliff Kidney potatoes from the garden, turkey stuffed with homegrown herbs, mushrooms and pine nuts, and my mother’s wartime recipe for sago plum pud.

I decorate the Christmas table with: Holly from the garden and cones from the university’s fir trees next door. On Boxing Day: We play croquet and tennis, swim, eat leftovers, drink and relax.

Most-used tool: An old-fashioned two-pronged hoe from my father-in-law.

The thing I’ve learned about gardening: Get rid of diseased plants early.

Julia Burbury