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This year I'm determined to only grow one variety of tomato. This is because my garden was overrun with tomato plants last year and I couldn't get onto my patio for growing bags and poorly staked cordons. So 2011 will see a more streamlined effort

many varieties and types to choose from, and, with patience, you can even develop your own from seed.Every visit to a garden centre or spring flower show usually results in the purchase of an auricula (or six). We were once lucky enough to be given a

A few months ago I wrote about vine weevil, which I had inadvertently brought into my garden in a pot of hellebores. I was worried they'd kill my orange tree (which pretty much always has something wrong with it) and my 'nursery' of seedlings. I

Two years, I felt the need to grow a local, native plant in my garden. I gathered rosehips from a field rose at the edge of a nearby canal, soaked them in water and sowed the seed in coarse compost.The pots sat in a corner of my patio, doing nothing

and thrushes, as well as filling the feeders with seeds and peanuts. However, once again, only the pigeons are gobbling them up.The pigeons are so at home in my garden that they've started coming up to the patio door if they're hungry. I don't mind, I've plenty

I don’t think my garden could look any worse. The borders I left to rot into themselves have tumbled all over the lawn, the patio is covered in pigeon poo, and there’s now a temporary cardboard compost bin outside my back door because the real bin

flowers. Some of those flowers must have been monarda.It's curious how plants – particularly scented ones – can trigger memories. I have an almost encyclopedic memory of everything that grew in the garden of my early years, even if I can't name it all. I

Like many gardeners up and down the country, I'll be indulging in a spot of gardening this bank holiday weekend. And the next, and the one after that. The truth is, I'm really far behind and if I don't catch up soon, I'll miss this year's boat to a

this frustration got me thinking about bedding.I admit to not being a huge fan of annual bedding plants, but I can see their attraction. For the gardener, they provide instant results - quick-fix solutions to gaps in borders, a tired corner, a dreary patio

the patio looking for worms, doesn't eat them all). I think I'll grow one plant in the bucket sludge. Moist and rich, it's bound to produce me a winner.More sunflowers will be grown against the south-facing wall in the border in regular garden soil, with a