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spiralling growth habit, has fleshy white roots that reach out in every direction and can go many feet into the ground. All the topsoil in my garden (formerly a concrete covered farmyard) was imported so a little bit must have come in with it and has spread

made it impossible to sow seeds directly outside in the garden. The ground was just too wet, making it difficult to prepare the surface soil to sow into. Any small seeds I did endeavour to sow got washed away, wasting time, effort and money

by flooding. It’s hard to imagine anything worse happening to your home.Putting up with a wet garden could appear rather trivial in the context of major weather events, but the past few years have highlighted how variable and extreme our weather has become

in a newly prepared and tempting looking piece of ground. Into that hole place an inflated balloon which you then cover with a loose covering of soil. The offending cat comes along and performs and then begins the burying process. The claws of the cat

I don’t think my garden could look any worse. The borders I left to rot into themselves have tumbled all over the lawn, the patio is covered in pigeon poo, and there’s now a temporary cardboard compost bin outside my back door because the real bin

dove and other ground feeders below.5. Top up the bird bathA fresh water supply is vital for garden birds, so I keep my bird bath and other large saucers topped up with water. These become frozen on cold nights, so I pop out with the boiling water left

-May or early June and keep on a window sill, in a cold frame or cover with a cloche. Germination should take place within a few days. Keep the compost moist and remove the weaker seedling after two weeks.If growing in the ground, dig a hole 30cm² and 20cm deep

whipped up. So I’ve been battling the elements again, trying to re-fix my cloches and pop-up covers to the ground. But the soil is so wet that the usually efficient pegs just don’t work. I’ve also had to tie in a large wild rose, whose flailing stems had

to cover fences, and are used to divide areas of the garden. I have a greenhouse where I can squeeze in about eight tomato plants, a couple of cucumbers, plus pots of aubergine, sweet peppers and chillies. And pots of strawberries too, as grown outside

soil as possible and store the energy-packed tubers in a dry, frost-free place until spring. I have decided to try a bit of an experiment this year and am going to leave some of my dahlia tubers in the ground. Instead of digging them up, I will cover