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Compost your kitchen and garden wasteTop up the water level in garden ponds when it starts getting low in summer Push canes in around tall plants like gladioli and lilies and tie them to the stems for supportPlace eye protectors on the tops of all

levels in garden pondsFeed bedding plants with high-potash fertiliser to keep them bloomingWeed flower beds, pulling them up by hand or hoeing bare areas on a hot dayScoop floating weed from ponds with a net

Pick off leaves infected by rose blackspot or rose rust, and dispose of them in your dustbin and not on the compost heapSet up an automatic watering system with a drip nozzle for potted plants if you're going on holidayTop up water levels in ponds

Shaping topiary is a fun and inexpensive way to create year-round interest in the garden. These plant sculptures contrast dramatically with flowers in summer, and bring structure, style and form to winter gardens.If you haven't tried topiary before

the bark.Leave the stems to develop shoots and form bushy new plants.Once the stem sections are well rooted, pot each one up in a small container. Water and feed regularly. When the plants are root-bound, pot up several plants of different heights into a

materials - dry, wet, soft and woody - otherwise they become slimy. Don't add nettle roots, unless your heap is very hot.Nettles on the compost heapMore about using garden weedsMake a nettle feed in a containerHow to feed your plantsMake a comfrey feed

and the larvae feed on the plants for about three weeks before entering the soil to pupate. Two weeks later the adults emerge and continue munching through the leaves and laying their eggs.Holes in leaves and tiny elongated eggs left by 8mm-long green beetles

, sugary substance (called honeydew) which encourages the growth of a fungus called sooty mould. Early summer is the best time to tackle the problem, when the newly hatched insects are crawling around looking for a place to feed and settle.Plants

.Apply a systemic weedkiller to the foliage of daisies in paving or flowerbeds. On lawns, use a selective lawn weedkiller or a lawn feed and weed product.established flowerbeds, cultivated ground, cracks in paving, garden walls, lawnsspring, summer, autumn

Save seedsPerennial plants are often very generous in the amount of seed which they produce. Plants such as verbascum can produce thousands of seeds each year, and you can sow them to grow more plants for your garden or share them with friends