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quantities per m³ of estimated water volume. Since the park was revamped a year or so ago it is a delightful place to wander, but the pond was always the low point. There are now recently installed baskets of water plants (more needed I think), and wire

is triggered by warm, wet weather, and if the spores are present in the air or the ground you can pretty much guarantee problems. So it's with a good deal of trepidation that I look at the rather unhappy looking foliage on my maincrop potato plants. We

It's all go at the moment, there's so much to do. The recent hot weather has had quite an impact on the plot - plants have doubled in size, flowers are abundant, the onions are trying to bolt and I've got a spring in my step.When there's so much

are struggling to keep their heads above water. Usually I find a spring dose of nematodes sorts out the worst of the problem and keeps the little blighters at bay while my plants get established. But this year it's not just the little blighters that are wreaking

of the house. The wall faced north, so they didn't receive any direct sun at all.Survivors are valuable garden plants, and always worth recommending to others, so when I come across sites with similar challenges, then Anemone japonica (which we now need to call

for a pot, but not rampant enough for an obelisk. I tried black-eyed Susan (thunbergia) last year, but flowers were sparse.Then there's the cup-and-saucer vine, Cobaea scandens, described in the RHS A-Z of Garden Plants as a "woody, evergreen

, let alone a tree - I know of herbaceous plants that achieve that height in a season. It's difficult to choose a tree that is guaranteed not to get any bigger than the height of a short giraffe, but here is a small selection that roughly fits the bill

and reuse in our gardens.For example you may discover a single plant that excites you, or an interesting and novel combination of two or three plants growing together - everybody has room for that. It may even be something as mundane as a piece of paving

and an interesting story.The elder has always been considered a magic plant, supposed to ward off evil and provide useful protection from witches - in some parts of the world cutting down an elder may bring the wrath of some evil sprite upon you. If that is the case

My garden - like yours - is looking fantastic at the moment. Plants that were just poking from cold ground a couple of months ago are now enormous and luxuriant. Bees buzz, roses overflow and lawns are lush.Rather than just brag, I thought I