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What a spring we're having. Provisional Met Office reports suggest April was the warmest on record. It was also the 11th driest, based on average rainfall across the UK. Scotland's rainfall has been 110% above normal levels, while the South-East has

What wonderful creatures composting worms are. I first set up my wormery compost container about 15 years ago, and it has been converting kitchen waste into compost ever since. Unlike traditional compost bins where you simply pile in and mix-up your

for garden use in the 1970s. Liquid nicotine is extremely dangerous to all living creatures and was used widely as an insecticide for many, many years. It was either mixed with water as a spray or else vaporised in lamps - in which case the gardener lit

to weed nicely contained beds where the soil is lovely and light, and I barely even get muddy.Laying carpet at the far end was a big mistake. I initially laid it over the soil to suppress weed growth, with the view to digging the area over later on

It's January. The weather outside is pretty ghastly. There is not an enormous amount in the garden worth looking at so we must be more imaginative when seeking out our horticultural pleasures.Often the mundane can be very beautiful if you look hard

into the recycling bin (hopefully your local authority does collect and recycle a good range of materials), but I'm sure there are still a few gardeners out there who could benefit from doing more.For instance, all cardboard rolls, tubes or egg boxes make great

To spray, or not to spray? That is indeed the question.A couple of decades ago it was not really a question worth asking: pretty much every gardener killed stuff indiscriminately. Aphids? Aaarghh ... squirt. Mildew? Gothcha … squirt. Worm casts

easy when I was a child. I always had a list of things without which life would be unbearable. One particular Christmas (around 1966), I remember the choice was between a Johnny Seven or a Secret Sam. Both were complicated weapons systems that fired

What a glorious Sunday in the garden yesterday, and driving my daughter to school at 7.30 this morning the temperature was already 23°C and rising. It probably didn't fall much below that all night, and though a bit restless for me the greenhouse

pretty garden and home-grown veg.Starting indoors, there's a propagator, containing seedlings of basil and garlic chives, which are in dire need of transplanting. I also need to pot on the sunflowers I'm growing as part of the Gardeners' World sunflower