Search - Articles

Protect you plants from the cold weather and wrap half-hardy bananas, palms, cannas and ginger lilies in fleece and straw if they grow in sheltered positions. Alternatively lift the plants, pot or crate them up and bring into a frost-free greenhouse

!These herbs are all perennials, so they'll last for years. Feed them weekly with seaweed extract when in growth and cut back after flowering. Be sure to pick all the evergreen herbs from the top, rather than the side, to promote new growth. May

Phormiums survive well in most conditions and there are some wonderful dwarf varieties that are perfect for growing in pots. For a cheaper, but equally colourful alternative to phormiums, you could use cordylines. By the end of summer the fragrant lime-green tobacco plants will b...

The cup and saucer vine, Cobaea scandens, grows 3m or more in a single summer. It is wonderfully dynamic, with winged buds and flowers that are cream when they first open, turning to dusky purple bells as they mature. The curling, tongue-like stamens and claret-tinted stems are c...

browning leaves or spent blooms.More hanging basket inspirationCreate a subtle hanging basket display of pelargonium and suteraPot up a hanging basket with geraniums and verbenaCreate a cottage garden look with a display of begonia, marguerite, plectranthus

that shade ripening tomatoes. Pick parsley leaves when young for the best flavour.More inspiration for edible container featuresLearn how to grow your own display of edible herbs.Start growing fruit with a strawberry hanging basket.Plant a lavender garden

Although, in some areas, dahlia tubers have survived the recent mild winters outside, it's well worth lifting and storing them. Discover how you can ensure a bumper crop of dahlias for next summer, whatever the weather.SecateursGarden fork

. Dahlia plantSticks or canesStringJune - August15 minutesJuly - SeptemberCheck dahlias each week; if they're starting to flop tie the main stem to a supporting cane or stick with garden string. Don't tie the string too loosely, but allow a little room

to your garden.

in the dissolved nutrients with the water.Recycle the nutrients that you apply to your garden by composting leafy prunings, dead flowers, vegetables peelings and any other suitable material.AdamFor best results apply fertilisers when the soil is moist.Apply high