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Why not try growing pulses indoors when the weather puts you off venturing outside? Mung beans and lentils are easy to sprout in jars and can be bought in most supermarkets and health shops.Mung beans, lentils or another type of sprouting bean

to make chilli powder and paprika. A plentiful seed to swap with friends or to store for the following year at the bottom of the fridge.ChilliesSow one or two beans where you want plants to grow, in open ground or containers, from mid-May to early August

garden needn't have fewer plants or less variety than a large garden, but it's important to avoid growing large plants and shrubs, which can exclude light from the garden and compete with smaller plants for water and nutrients. Here, Monty Don and James

Jekka McVicar's 10 companion plantsJekka McVicar's organic herb garden achieved a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show 2009. We caught up with her at the show to discover her top 10 herbs for growing as companion plants.Companion planting

.Runner beansVarieties such as ‘lollo rossa’ and ‘Salad Bowl’ can be picked a few leaves at a time as they are needed, leaving the rest of the plant to keep growing. This lettuce is good for tubs or a small salad patch, also as edible edging for a potager

, and - in extreme situations - lead to erosion. In the wild, plants quickly colonise exposed earth, protecting its structure and absorbing the nutrients that would otherwise be washed away. A green manure does the same thing; you just have control over what grows

is lost, as none of it will produce a single flower the following summer.Late-flowering clematis are ideal in a border, either trained up a wigwam made of bean sticks or growing through an earlier-flowering shrub, such as weigela or lilac. An annual prune

at the back of my south-facing border, close to the wall where they'll be kept warm at night. As an experiment, one is planted in a bucket of semi-rotted compost, like a portable bean trench. All are staked with tall, strong bamboo canes. (They're only about 2

year when I got really obsessed trying to grow the very best sweet peas – just like the show growers. To produce flowers with really long straight stems you need to grow plants as single stemmed cordons. Each plant is only allowed to produce one shoot

, according to Chief Horticultural Advisor Guy Barter. The growing season is getting longer, and plants are simply taking advantage.I don't know if my spring-flowering cherry is blooming late, or early. But not only is it in flower, it's also produced a second