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Create your own 'cutting patch' with Sarah Raven's video guide. Learn how, by growing cut-and-come-again annuals and biennials in a separate bed, you can prevent your borders from looking bare. springMore advice on growing flowersGrowing lupins

Carol demonstrates how to create a mini-rock garden in a trough, recommending plant varieties and sharing tips on compost, drainage and top-dressing.springMore on growing alpinesMaking an alpine path and gravel bedPlanting up alpines video project

Sarah Raven plants four varieties of tomato in a bed in the Berryfields greenhouse, explaining how to stake and pinch out sideshoots from plants.Sarah goes on to demonstrate how to plant tomatoes in grow bags, using ring culture pots to ensure

Plant strawberry runners in hanging baskets, which you can grow in the greenhouse to produce an early summer crop Order seedlings and bedding plants from mail-order suppliersSow dwarf French beans in a large pot for an early crop in JunePlant lily

Grow early-maturing potatoes in a bag of compostFork compost into beds to prepare soil for plantingChit potatoes by standing them in trays in a warm bright position until they develop small shootsDig out problem weeds and emerging annual weeds

Plant canna lilies in pots, and leave in a warm positionSow strawberry seeds, including alpine varietiesVisit garden centres to buy young bedding plants that can be grown on to a larger size under glassCut off dead hippeastrum flowers, but allow

roses to prevent hellebore leaf spot spreadingPick off developing seed heads on daffodils and spring bulbsSprinkle fertiliser over flower beds and around shrubs and roses

eatenSow seeds of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other greenhouse crops in a heated propagatorPot up begonias individually once new leaves have developedTake cuttings from houseplants including African violetsContinue sowing seeds of summer bedding

Plant up hanging baskets, and leave them in a sheltered spot before hanging fully outsidePlant out potted alliums in groups to add interest to flower bedsPrune spring-flowering shrubs immediately after flowering, such as forsythia, ribes

Plant tagetes with your tomatoes, to act as companion flowers which deter pests Scoop out floating pond weed and algae from poolsHoe bare soil and hand weed beds weekly to prevent weeds from establishing and setting seedPut soft tops on the tips