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I don't like to brag but, wow my colchicums are gorgeous. Yet again, despite the fact that they live on a very steep, very on the edge spot, they are stunning. I planted them shortly after we moved here, some ten or more years ago and each

have to admit that it looks better mown.)Large-leaved plants - by this time last year many larger-leaved plants were looking as if they had just spent a week pursuing the Foreign Legion across a particularly tricky bit of the sahara. This year

, the occasional rose clings on, the Sedum has sprawled and the seed catalogues thud onto the doormat (postal strikes permitting).It is the most relaxed time in the garden not just because the plants are semi-comatose but also because there is not a lot to do

the strength of the onion bulb. I know a bit about varieties and have had excellent results planting autumn onion sets such as 'Shakespeare'.So, although I have more to learn, you might think I'd grasped the basics. But no! I recently discovered a gaping hole

providing the lushness and softer colours we prefer.However, as with so many plants, I just had to buy one fatsia and find a home for it, so it's rather crammed into an 'oddments' corner alongside Sophora 'Sun King', Choisya 'Aztec Pearl' and Photinia

of colour, so rose hips come as a welcome lift.Some plants have naturally perfect skeletons - grasses like Calmagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster', herbaceous plants like Echinacea purpurea and shrubs like Ceratostigma willmottianum. Others are more

't have to worry about the attentions of cabbage white caterpillars. I still had to protect them from pigeons, though. It's a bit of a happy accident that I ended up growing red cabbages. I bought a few plants towards the end of last summer for no better

terracotta pot for about six years now. Like any permanent planting I used John Innes No.3 loam-based potting compost, as trees need compost with real guts. Even so you'll need to feed them - my acer gets a weekly liquid feed through summer along with all

, tomatoes, beans and peas. Ornamental plants, especially roses and delphiniums, are also affected. This abnormal growth has been attributed to a weedkiller, which is widely used by farmers on grassland to kill broad-leafed weeds, such as chickweeed, fat hen

, as with comfrey, is as a plant food. If you soak the crushed nettles in water for about a month, you'll end up with a liquid feed that should be diluted by one part in ten before application. If sprayed on plants it can also prevent fungal disease. Nettles also