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Protect tender plants for winterThe trend for growing exotic looking plants in our gardens means that some of them may need protection from the worst of the winter cold and wet. Wrap half hardy bananas, palms and tree ferns with fleece, straw

the fungus before the leaves emerge from the buds. peach, nectarine, apricot and almond treesall year roundMore advice on growing fruitTraining a nectarine tree videoRemoving pear leaf blister miteKeeping apple sawfly at bayMonty's favourite fruit varieties

Parts of my garden have resembled something of a battleground this year. Why is it that all my favourite plants and crops have their very own pest to contend with? Grow lilies and you'll be hard pressed not to find lily beetle munching them. My

the weather here in London.The garden is still looking remarkably green, even after we cut down the now wilting and blackened dahlias. In fact we already have a perfect bird-feeder growing out there - the apple tree. And the bird that best takes advantage

Characterised by apple-green, lobed leaves and flat heads of cream-white flowers in summer, ground elder spreads rapidly. What makes it even more difficult to eradicate is it can creep between cultivated plants. It creates large clumps of foliage

It may have been a lousy summer for growing many crops but the wet weather bodes well for my compost.It's always 'alright' rather than 'wonderful', unlike the stuff I make at work, which is always lovely: friable, richly dark and full of worms, just

It's been lovely to have some proper summer weather so early in the season. Everything seems to have started growing apace, both indoors and out. Weeds and wanted plants alike have been spurting upwards and outwards.It's a job to know where to start

to the sweet pea.The best I can find is a cowboy song that was a hit in 1966 "Sweet pea / Apple of my eye /  Don't know when and I don't know why". Nice but not exactly horticulturally relevant.*Anyway, sweet peas are flowering now. Lathyrus odoratus

Good morning and happy 'Grow Your Own' Week to you all.There are, I have to admit, many other gardeners who are hotter on vegetable growing than me. Give me herbaceous borders and I can muddle through and make them look pretty good, but when

I might move house this year. It’s very early days, but the possibility of having a bigger garden is sending my plant-collecting gene into overdrive. I currently grow plants in my small, shady courtyard garden. But after four years of this, I long