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are relatively simple to make and many people have their own twist to the classic recipe. This one for cordial is my wife's adaptation:• Pick 25 flower heads (they should always be picked while they are in full sun for the best taste)• Boil 2 litres of water

and the weeds will grow through regardless!So, if I'm ever asked for a gardening tip for a new gardener it would have to be mulch, mulch, mulch. Home-made compost costs you nothing, so make as much as you can from kitchen and garden waste as well as leaves

then you can assume that I've made a ghastly mistake and am trying to hide the outcome. If nothing else, the prunings make good compost.If you want to see what my garden looked like a month ago then tune in to Gardeners' World on BBC2 this Friday (1 August

, but then she also grew a lot of other things universally regarded as supremely tasteful and fashionable. Dianthus make a very charming edging plant with lots of colour (provided you like pink) and most of them are fabulously scented. If you don't like pink

curtains (bear with me, this sort of makes sense). Midsummer borders would be all brocade and swags and ferluffles, while late-summer curtains would be a lot simpler and probably with a few spiders' webs along the edges.I think, perhaps, it's time

'glove question'. My reflections are prompted by having such cold fingers that I've had to dig out my fingerless Scrooge gloves in order to make typing easier.On one side of the glove debate is the very sensible Rachel de Thame argument that if doing

). Mostly because I'm a bit short of space for any more plants but also because of laziness. I am beginning to see the error of my ways ... I want more. Not so much the petunias or busy Lizzies (even though white ones are a very effective way of making a

woodland in Yorkshire. Acidic soil makes for much brighter autumn colours.Lytes Cary, Somerset: one of the smaller, more intimate National Trust properties. There are lots of autumn activities including wildlife trails around the gardens and estate