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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

-cum-quay, the size of a single bed has been so enthusiastically decorated with plant containers that the table and chair are lost in herbage.Several hoverflies and bumblebees are visiting the flowers. Chaffinches and sparrows flit noisily through the climbers

.In the meantime, hungry birds will make short work of seedheads and do a much better job of finding slug and snail eggs than I ever could. The frogs will bed down in their hibernaculum and among leaf piles, and the mouse, worms, slugs and beetles will stay warm

only slept in a jungle once and was kept awake by noises and insects, so I lay there enjoying the sound of rain. The connected problem of very wet socks and damp bedding was less appealing. I have to say that I was quite pleased to get out of there

flower beds, traffic islands and even motorway service stations. Some came to Hackney and planted up concrete troughs around the corner from where I live.In spring, the tulips will provide a dash of unexpected colour, as a cheerful surprise to passers

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

is perfect for a smart, city front door and you can easily replace the seasonal bedding plants to ring the changes for summer.Put safety first: be sure to buy lights that are safe for outdoor use, which usually means they'll have a transformer between

Sown now in the greenhouse, dahlia seeds will produce young plants ready to plant outdoors in late May to flower this year. Seed companies sell a range of quick-growing bedding strains that are suitable for growing this way. You can also use

cm by 170cm. This gives room for your happy (and possibly mildly squiffy) guests to push their chairs back without toppling into a flower bed. Whatever the size of your table, be sure to leave plenty of space around it.As a gardener, you will spend

Sugar snap peas score top marks for taste and texture. As with so many crops, home-grown sugar snaps are much sweeter and juicier than anything you can buy in a shop. You can grow them in large containers as well as in beds, as long as they're kept