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every day. All they need is some extra warmth to encourage them to burst into flower.Until that finally happens, I’m putting some of the empty summer patio pots to good use by packing them with primulas.And what a choice there is. Of course

I'm on my way through the old city of Strasbourg, and gardens here are vanishingly small. The occasional secret courtyard houses a giant ginkgo or has its walls swathed in lobelia and Virginia creeper. The breakfast patio at the Hotel du Dragon has

I'm always looking for ways to make wildlife in my garden feel more welcome and at home. After all, it has just as much right to be there as I do. Of course I question the big things (can I justify having a lawn and patio, or would creatures prefer

.It's far more relaxing, and you can do it in the comfort of your own home. What exclusive new varieties will I discover for patio pots, what will tempt my appetite in the kitchen garden, and which plants will steal the show next summer?Well, I'll just

maintained a certain decorum - ties, waistcoats and (for the head gardener) a black hat and heavy fob watch. Not for them a pair of holey jeans and a sweater grimy with compost and dusted with spilled rooting powder.Nowadays anything goes. I have laid a patio

It was getting dark, the cat was skulking after something in the shadows around the hutch and the guinea pig was squealing its head off. Something sinister on the patio? No, just another stag beetle.I often say how privileged I feel to have

like it before; the closest comparison I can make is with celosia, but 'Joey' is much more delicate in both form and colour.It looks and feels soft to the touch, and would be stunning planted in a block in patio pots. I've found it listed by Plants

themselves are very tough. I was astonished to find the specimen pictured above in an East Dulwich garden. It was lying on the patio waving its legs in the air. At first sight I thought it was something new, a pale-bodied weevil, rather than the usual dark

in the same bed.Lastly, we are finishing the changes by extending the patio, which actually gives us enough room to sit comfortably without being on top of each other.As the new season begins, I'm looking forward to putting my energies into the allotment

is provided in a bird bath and large terracotta saucers on the patio, and I don't use any pesticides around my garden at all.But to be organic you do still need to control pests to prevent damage to both edible crops and ornamental plants. So when, in the last