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the date when the first frost arrived last year - but I’m not, so I have absolutely no idea. Sorry. Anyway, things to do now the frost has finally arrived…First, this is the time to dig up dahlia tubers and bring them in for the winter. The foliage will now

In the words of Benny Hill: "I'll never know how a rose can smell so sweet and pure, And hold its head up high when it's standing in manure!".Old Benny cannot have been much of a gardener (a statement borne out by the fact that he lived all his life

. Garden twine where, if you open the cellophane package the wrong way then the loose end becomes strangely elusive. All of these things are certain to put me in a very bad mood.Not so tangles of weeds; I rather enjoy the gradual teasing and tickling

The world of gardening overflows with obsessions, such as giant vegetables, lawns, compost, cacti and many others.One of the most extreme gardening obsessions is the art of bonsai. I was always a bit dismissive of this particular obsession until I

You might remember my blog a few months back, in which I described the appearance of a mole in my garden. The garden is situated in an old farmyard, surrounded on all four sides by buildings. The offending mole is now racing all over the place

wins.Before the introduction of the potato to Europe in 1536, the parsnip was a much more mainstream vegetable than it is now. Parsnips are pretty easy to grow by sowing directly into the ground around March and April - dig the ground well as lumps

that need doing, before those little green shoots in the border suddenly crack on and need attention. It is amazing how forgiving a garden can be: if you dig foundations and make a mess now, the grass will recover and the plants will bounce back by summer

I am more often asked how to keep cats off gardens. The scenario is this: Neighbouring cats slouch through fence and leave interesting surprises just below soil level. The innocent gardener comes into close contact with said deposit and swears loudly

. A mother’s idea of a cool T-shirt was always, always completely wrong.Nowadays I have grown out of most toys (unless you count snazzy gadgets) and my tastes are far more practical. I take refuge in those garden essentials that are really boring but without

strong indication that the time has come for a bit of division. (Although this sort of behavior doesn't help!)To divide a plant, dig it up and discard the centre, as it is only fit for the compost heap. The healthy bits can then be split and replanted