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Are you snowed under with seed catalogues? It seems that even before the summer stutters to an end we have to start thinking about next year.I don't usually grow much in the way of annuals in my garden (apart from dahlias and poppies, of course

, especially during the high-risk hardy annual season.I love sowing seeds and still get a thrill at what can be achieved from just a few packets. Any packet labelled 'hardy annual' (or the abbreviation, 'HA') will do the trick, and there's no need for seed

I can't say it's a surprise - I've been expecting the annual appearance of a whopping great marrow on one of my courgette plants. It happens every year, without fail. I try to be so thorough when I'm picking, delving under the leaves, harvesting

A wooden obelisk at the heart of my formal garden plays host to a variety of annual climbers, but I've grown tired of sweet peas in recent years. Their performance relies on the right weather, but we don't seem to be getting the 'right' weather any

to shove under a leg of lamb on a chilly, wintery Sunday. And the annuals are just as valuable - bunches of fresh coriander for aromatic curries and spicy salsas; lovely delicate dill for herb butters; armfuls of parsley for just about anything

the observations I made of the changes in plants' growth the further north we travelled. A classic example was a laburnum we spotted that was only just coming into bloom. It wasn't just laburnums. The hawthorn trees became less easy to recognise; their annual rate

with them for moisture and nutrients. My plot is certainly far from perfect - it's a constant battle of removing perennial weeds and hoeing annuals in the worst affected areas. I try to weed on a 'little and often' basis; I concentrate on the worst beds

: there seems little point in weeding much (the nights are too cold for most annual weeds to bother with seeding themselves), why bother to tie back a sprawling plant when you are going to cut them all down anyway soon? Even the grass stops growing quite

annuals into flower is to be mean and only feed the plants when changing the pot size; this way the plant won't produce too much foliage.For the Herb Farm we have been sowing French parsley. The trick to get a good germination is to sow the seeds

.It's so rewarding to see the plants all lined up, waiting for their May debut in the best flower show in the world. This week we moved the borage that was sown at the end of December. It's fortunate that borage is a hardy annual, because within a few days