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weeding easier. Kept adequately moist, the seeds will soon germinate, and, after thinning, the plants grow like billy-o. Hardy annuals tend to be more drought tolerant than more highly priced bedding plants, and are pretty resilient. They make for a

We’ve finished clearing out all the summer containers and started replanting them with winter bedding. I really love potting up plants, especially in late-autumn and winter when any dash of colour is welcome in the garden.A trip to our local market

risk I'm less used to.I spent most of last week running around the vegetable patch trying to protect my crops from the scorching sun. To create a little shade I made newspaper tents, pinned twigs and paper to the tops of net-covered raised bed frames

on a bed of brown rice.All of these thoughts prompt me to engage in some therapeutic seed sowing. Sowing seeds is almost as comforting as eating the final result. After a few hours in the greenhouse sowing yet more peppers and chillies, including some

pots and flower beds, keep an eye out for slug and snail eggs, plus leatherjackets (the larvae of crane flies, pictured, left), chafer grubs and vine weevil larvae. Removing these pests now will save you time (and your crops) later, and the birds

I was producing a crop of water chestnuts).I'm also intending to start a small asparagus bed. Asparagus is a fascinating vegetable. Until a couple of years ago I heartily disliked it, but now I've fallen for its charms I'm going to attempt to grow

.Luckily many of my vegetable plants are still snugly tucked away in fleece-covered tunnels, and some of the tinier ones in a fine-mesh-covered raised bed. I've always thought these things were far more wind resistant than some claim, now I'm sure

they invade flower borders or veg beds, and for some they're a menace in lawns. But I don't have a lawn, just grass with dandelions growing in it, and a tiny clump of daisies too.Last year and the year before I hardly saw any dandelions. But this year I

cropping well, and although I never got round to netting the strawberry bed, we’ve been enjoying vast quantities of delicious fruits for weeks. Only now are the yields beginning to fall.We haven’t been the only ones to enjoy the strawberries; the blackbirds

tomatoes now feel icy to the touch when picked, but the plants are soldiering on. In previous years I have laid down my remaining outdoor tomato plants on a bed of straw, and covered them with a long cloche or a few layers of fleece. I like to ensure