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!Raise the cutting height of your lawn mowerWash out and top up bird baths regularlyStretch netting over ponds and water features Around the gardenBuy tulips now while they're fresh in garden centresPlant daffodils and crocus in potsLift and pot up tender perennials

Watering canLiquid plant foodJune - August15 minutesJune - September Water pots daily, particularly bedding plants, and twice daily in the heat of summer - morning and evening. Water with half-strength feed twice a week to ensure plants have all the nutrients

’s quite surprising how different bulbs' flowering times are. For example, one catalogue showed how to plan for 100 days of flowers from daffodils alone. Tulips are equally versatile, but add in crocus, hyacinth, fritillaries, snowdrops, anemone and others

those instead.Marchspring30 minutesCarex comans, bronze-leaves x1Purple aubretia, 7cm pot x2Narcissus 'Minnow', 9cm pot x230cm terracotta pot x1Peat-free multi-purpose compostPlace pieces of terracotta over holes in the pot's base to allow water to drain

While the large flower shows are pretty mind-blowing, it's the local flower shows that get me excited about growing plants and vegetables. Many towns and villages have horticultural societies or gardening clubs, which hold at least one flower show a

of late bulb and corm planting - crocus, daffodils and tulips. I'm incapable of resisting a 'reduced-for-clearance' bargain bulb.Months after the theoretical planting date I was out, small daughter at my elbow, cramming crocus and other favourites

you can use iris bulbs; if you wait until spring, simply buy pots of iris. October - November or January - FebruaryFebruary30 minutesIris 'Pauline' bulbs x12 or iris plants x3Hart's tongue fern, e.g. Asplenium scolopendrium 'Angustifolia' x3Bird's foot

strip of land we use as a cutting patch. For years we had a few daffodils, tulips, snowdrops and gladioli growing in it, but this year a whole sack of daffs was added. They were a birthday present in February, so were planted quite late. The result? A

stop to our normal November gardening routine. I would usually be spending jolly weekends doing a bit of light tidying, collecting the last of the autumn leaves and planting the last of the tulip bulbs. Instead we have been shoveling snow out

friend who has a plot in the heart of the city centre.Like lots of allotmenteers, she lives in a flat with no garden, so her plot is always a riot of colour, with spring plantings of tulips, daffodils and wallflowers, followed by cottage garden