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At this time of year hedgerows bristle with elderflowers. Elder (Sambucus nigra) is a native tree with white flowers in midsummer and bunches of small black berries in autumn. It is a bit of a weed but, like many weeds, it has both a purpose

into nightmare country. Other plants that I think are dreadful include Rosa Masquerade (rather like an eruption in a fruit salad factory), almost all ruffled Iris, Heuchera Caramel (repellent flaccid toffee coloured leaves), variegated ground elder (a con

to trace, although the little leaves are vicious stingers.The Grandes Dames of the weed world in my garden, however, are bindweed and couch grass (I thank all divine beings that we have no ground elder in this garden). The former, in addition to its

it comes to vegetables I am on far less stable ground. It is my wife who holds sway over the kitchen garden and who dictates what, why and when: I just do what I am told. But I have been reading quite a lot recently about forest gardens and it is here

to cut everything to the ground and apply a generous mulch to feed the soil. Not being desperate to make extra work for myself (and being of an age when my back can be temperamental - unsurprising if you consider the amount of abuse it had to undergo when