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We've not long to go now before Christmas Day, and front doors up and down the land will now be decorated with magnificent garlands capturing the spirit of the festive season. They do look fun to make, though I'll admit I've never done it myself, a

Growing new potatoes for Christmas dinner is easier than you might think - you just need to plant them a little later. Some of the best new potatoes are grown from early and second early varieties, usually harvested in June and July. So, when

of the chicken yard and doing star-jumps in order to restore circulation.As a result I will take this opportunity to give you a bit of a pre-Christmas run down. I know that plants (apart from the ubiquitous poinsettia) do not figure much on Christmas lists

A Christmas without holly berries is barely a Christmas at all. It's a bit like apple crumble without ice cream - sadly lacking! Fortunately we've had a fantastic show of berries this year, even some of the hollies that have never shown any berries

Christmas is fast approaching, and perfume houses will soon be tempting us to buy fragrances for our nearest and dearest. No doubt they'll do a roaring trade, but to my mind natural perfume can't be beaten. Fragrant plants and flowers add another

My first job when I moved into my flat last August was to remove the paving stones in the back yard. Now, after five months of having a building site for a garden, I have bought myself some Christmas topsoil, and I'm itching to get seed sowing

, ranging from the Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, to the stinking hellebore, Helleborus foetidus. Hellebores provide a great source of colour in the winter months - some flower as early as December - and will tolerate full sun to almost full shade. They

.AdamAfter planting, keep the hyacinth bulbs moist during the growing season and they should reward you with flowers over a long period of time.When buying bulbs to plant outdoors, avoid those that have been specially treated to flower indoors at Christmas.More bulb

to flower.But last spring, thanks to the vigilance of our newly-acquired cat, the tulip bulbs did actually flower. The display was gorgeous. Old habits die hard, though, and this year I placed plastic trays over two low-level planters that were planted

are formed of segments (e.g. prickly pears, Christmas cacti), always remove whole segments as cuttings – don’t split segments in half.Succulents that form clumps, such as aloes, haworthias and agaves, should be divided by simply taking the plant out of its