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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

cutting back this herb - it shoots off old wood, and is tolerant of hard pruning.I then moved on to the bay trees. I have two standard bay trees, both more than 20 years old. They each take a day and a half to have a full haircut. I know it removes

're supplying with plants, only for my own display, so I'll redesign accordingly.French lavender, Lavandula stoechas, is also starting to flower. These flowers can be 'stripped' (cut) off, leaving the tight new buds. We'll continue the 'stripping' for the next

We're home after a wonderful 10 days at the Chelsea Flower Show. It was even better than I expected. The herbs performed magnificently and they looked wonderful all week, which was especially good for those who visited our stand on Saturday. I

This week at the Chelsea Flower Show there are thousands of gardeners admiring out of season daffodil blooms in the show gardens and floral exhibits.In order to get their daffodils blooming at this time of year, growers force the bulbs to grow using

.Serious potting has started on the farm. This is two weeks earlier than last year as the light has been so good that our wintered cuttings are already putting on new growth.Once the plants are potted they are then covered with horticultural fleece. This protects

, your safest bet is the white double Dianthus 'Mrs Sinkins' which smells like the wrists of wood nymphs. It's one of the old garden pinks (great scent, short flowering season, most of them about 30cm high) and was originally bred in 1868 by John Sinkins

, but the reward is instant - a neat, tidy display revealing the full beauty of the blooms without the distraction of dead flowers.Now I'm contemplating propagation, so need to delve down to try and find some healthy non-flowering shoots to use as cuttings

I love the delicate flowers of prunus, although I'm not so keen on the blowsier, pink varieties I sometimes see in other gardens. The smaller, more delicate spring blossom hits the spot for me.Like most gardeners, I also have a nose for a bargain

and dissolve 1.3kg sugar in it• Take off the heat and add the flower heads• Slice 2-3 lemons into a bowl (at this point you can add citric acid to prolong shelf life)• Pour the liquid over the lemons, cover and leave for 24hrs• Strain into a bottle• Add ice