The Garden Encyclopedia from Focus Multimedia contains enough green-fingered information to keep any budding horticulturalist happy for hours.

This excellent digital reference work is crammed full of top-notch gardening information and even has a section to help you plan the weekly chores.

The encyclopedia contains data on more than 1,000 annuals, perennials, bulbs, vegetables and ground cover plants.

It offers more good ideas than the whole of Charlie's garden army.

Personalised plant lists help you to keep track of the things growing in your patch while the plant identification feature allows you to check a mushroom's provenance before you take a bite.

The best bit was the pest and disease control section. I now know a greenfly from an aphid and can spray my tomatoes with exactly the right mixture of pesticide and fertiliser to get a bumper crop.

A section on taking and rooting cuttings will save you a fortune in the garden centre and could even encourage you to invest in a cold frame.

Even an armchair gardener will get plenty of entertainment and pleasure.

Price: £9.99.

Contact: 01889 570156.

Feel good factor: 9 out of 10.