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We've had some new arrivals in our neighbourhood recently.The Rat Family arrived next door, taking up residence in their new development, under the decking, before moving on to the high-rise raised beds when they found their entrance inconveniently

(Patron Saint of Gardeners) never impulse shopped in nurseries. I had not seen the plant before, all I knew was that it was quite large and had been planted in the middle of my carefully planned flower bed. Hmmmm...some designers would have thrown a bit

it looks like. (We've had it where I work - very nasty - have to avoid growing onions and all alliums for years!I know that onion beds need to be kept weeded in summer or the onions become stressed and bolt, producing a flower spike that saps all

in the way of a lot of large people wearing clumpy boots. The same has happened to an entire bed that should look like this but instead looks like this.This weekend I shall cut everything down and consign it to the compost heap. So what to do? Depressingly

reason than they looked nice and I hadn't grown any before. I planted the cabbages in the brassica bed along with a few pak choi, some summer cabbages and the purple sprouting broccoli and covered the lot with netting to protect them from the hungry

the pots of bedding.I've a second pot-grown acer as a companion, this time a finely split-leafed Japanese maple with a lovely green leaf. Both plants can suffer from leaf scorch during bright midday sun.So, for tiny gardens think tiny trees in pots

from slugs and snails) and planted them out when they had a good clump of leaves. I always grow lettuces in a well-drained (and less slug-prone) bed close to my shed, so I can keep an eye on them.I tend to try a few new lettuce varieties each year

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

growing strawberries in pots. If I had more space outside, I'd build a 'berry bed' with a proper net-clad frame over it to keep birds away from ripening fruits. Blackbirds in particular have a nose for strawberries. They're not very good at sharing, so

sized bed of 'Charlotte', my favourite second early, which is a fabulous new potato that's perfect for summer barbecues and salad suppers. I'm also planting two main crop varieties, 'Cara' and 'Picasso', which should both store well.All the seed spuds