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are no longer brown, but covered with the tufts of emerging bluebell leaves.In the garden the mulch (about which I wrote the other day) is no longer a quiet brown duvet over everything but is now pierced by alliums, anthriscus, aconites and loads of other plants

with the stuff, every shrub and fruit bush mulched with a thick layer, and still the overflowing buckets continued to come!I'm a keen home composter - who isn't these days - but I do still resort to buying in mushroom compost from time to time. If I lived near a

According to the papers it's been the coldest start to December for 30 years - an average of only 1.7° C.The cold weather has hopefully killed a lot of pests, but I've not been able to get on with many of my jobs on the plot. I've not been able

as possible, and applied mulches. I provided them with temporary shade using some leftover pea sticks.In addition to early-evening watering I also did a fair amount of emergency midday watering, too. When my gorgeous potted osteospermum started to wilt, I

served their purpose (neatness, rather than anything else), but the subterranean portions have started rotting away to mulch. Armed with some heftier-than-normal pallet planks donated by a neighbour, I started digging.As usual, there were plenty

wherever and whenever I can. Also, I’ve enriched my heavy soil with moisture retentive manure and compost, and applied a mulch. My thirstier crops are situated in slight dips, to increase their chances of receiving whatever surface water is available. But I

take a couple of years for them to establish, your patience will be rewarded with an abundance of flowers. April - MayJuly - September20 minutes to plant the bulbsAgapanthus bulbs x2Large, square terracotta potCrocksMulti-purpose compostCover the bottom

fruits of the Skimmia japonica subsp. reevesiana add a splash of colour that will last for months. September - NovemberNovember - February20 minutes1 dogwood, Cornus 'Winter Beauty'1 fern1 skimmia, Skimmia japonica subsp. reevesianaLarge, tall pot

In this pot design, the graceful astelia and black ophiopogon add structure, while a small-flowered blue pansy or viola unites the blue pot and the plants.September - NovemberOctober - March30 minutesOphiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' x2Astelia

are dramatically set off when the fibrous tips are backlit by the sun.any time of yearall year round20 minutesPalm, e.g. Dasylirion acrotrichumLarge metal potCrocksFree-draining succulent or cactus compostPut a layer of crocks in the bottom of the container