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perennials such as couch grass or ground elder.Cover your bin with carpet to keep it warm and to help speed up the composting process.Improving the quality of your soilVideo guide on making compost, with Chris BeardshawImproving your soil with green manure

use this technique to grow flowering perennials and biennials as well as hardy annuals to brighten up you beds and borders. Sow into weed-free soil that has been dug, forked and raked to create a fine surface structure or 'tilth'. SeedsArea of prepared

looks it's pretty hardy, and tolerates shade well, too. This shrub is an ideal choice to form the permanent framework for an exotic garden, something I know many people now try to develop. My own garden is more traditional, with lots of perennials

special care since.Like all hardy perennials they'll come back year after year, but some need lifting and dividing to keep their displays fresh and vibrant. Not so with astrantia, which produces delightful starburst blooms in June, that last all season

it is. These bold golden bells have an exotic feel, developing in tight clumps close to shoot tips, and flowering for 4-6 weeks through the second half of April into May.S. 'Sun King' is a reasonably hardy evergreen shrub, and mine has reached about 3m

30cm (12in) or more.This aquatic perennial should be divided annually to maintain the striking green and white horizontal variegation of its foliage. When dividing only replant the most vigorous sections. Plant with 5cm (2in) of water above the crown

for most seeds.Of course, it’s different for hardy annuals, which look best planted in a natural, pretty effect drifting through borders among other plants. I've been filling in the gaps among my emerging perennials with what I hope will be a sea of blue

It's strange how some wonderful plants just pass you by. I've only just discovered a lovely low-growing perennial called Verbena rigida. As is the way, I was buying paint at B&Q and just happened to walk through the plant area when I came across

, and eventually grew too large.Let's be fair. All plants grow, and many trees, shrubs, perennials and climbers can grow too tall or wide for their site, so this isn't just a 'problem' with conifers.As always when choosing plants, do your homework, get advice from

will be taken over for as long as is necessary and I will be oblivious to any complaints.First off are hardy annuals, such as Eryngium leavenworthii, which can be sown from February onwards under cover. I’ll also sow a few tomato seeds, though I find there