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. That dream is a long way off - looking out this morning I spotted three unopened snowdrops and a grubby looking hellebore. Perhaps I could make a posy using blueberry stems, some clematis leaves and the sad, token blooms. It's the thought that counts, after

stage, bringing a hot, summery feel to the show.Will you be visiting Chelsea? What will you make a beeline for?View our Chelsea 2011 image gallery.View our Chelsea exhibitors image gallery.

.In the meantime, hungry birds will make short work of seedheads and do a much better job of finding slug and snail eggs than I ever could. The frogs will bed down in their hibernaculum and among leaf piles, and the mouse, worms, slugs and beetles will stay warm

the way they make baby plants is quite clever (and she learned a new word: viviparous); Daniel hates ceanothus; Lucy can't stand the flamingo tree (Salix integra 'Hakuro Nishiki'); David thinks forsythia is "grim"; Emma from Marketing dislikes the smell

’s little difference in cropping time between those sown in February and April. I’ll be trying out my new heated propagator though, so that could make a difference. The trick is providing seedlings with enough light, which there isn’t much of at this time

lifted, sorted and freecycled, I reminded myself of the end goal: a beautiful garden where my foxglove could flower, set seed and make baby foxgloves. I imagined a sea of digitalis in years to come, alive with the sound of unseen bumblebees delving deep

for a while, but they're relatively new to the amateur veg grower. I don't really understand the science beyond my basic grasp of grafting, but a grafted aubergine is simply an aubergine plant grafted onto some sort of turbo rootstock, which makes

wooden box filled with stems of sunflower, teasel and bamboo to make a solitary bee hotel.But that's no guarantee - wildlife can choose the most unpredictable places to live. This summer I visited some buff-tailed bumblebees nesting in a concrete path

, Epiphyllum anguliger, or rickrack cactus, which produces large yellow-white blooms at night, to attract bats. He describes the scent as a cross between lemon and bleach. He doesn't mind the smell, but his partner makes him put it outside whenever it flowers

trellises so it doesn't clutter up the patio. It has a thick flesh though, making it more suited to sauces than salads, so I'll need to grow a salad type, too. 'Ailsa Craig' and 'Inca' were also given the thumbs up, while good old, reliable 'Gardener