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many causes of this, and sometimes the answer lies in damage to roots by factors such as water-logging, ill-advised heavy pruning at the wrong season and harm to the root zone by construction work nearby.Sometimes it is apparent that there is fungal

called 'Morello Crown' on Gisela 5 dwarfing rootstock. It's smaller than the 'Colt' rootstock, so the tree should reach around six to eight feet after 10 years. The 'Crown' variety is a slightly larger strain than the usual morello cherry, it's the one

satisfying week.Today I sorted out the autumn raspberries: pruning, clearing and feeding the bed. Autumn-fruiting raspberries produce fruit on new canes, so they should be cut to the ground in February to encourage them to produce this season's canes

Last summer I discovered a twining, tender climber called Lophospermum, or lofos. I bought two varieties, 'Burgundy Falls' and 'Summer Cream' (both pictured left), as plug plants from a mail-order seed company. I grew my lofos under cover, in 7.5-10

paid to any remaining mealybugs.I moved house five times over the next 18 months, so the half-dead orange lived at my partner's mum's, then my mum's, where it picked up a fresh mealybug infestation before I finally brought it home to a flat full of vine

the top layer of soil, replace it with fresh, home-made compost and give all the plants a good water. Any vine weevil grubs will be dispatched to the blackbird, and the thyme replaced with some garlic chives, which I'm ready to plant out. I'll prune out

Libra: flowerScorpio: leafSagittarius: fruitCapricorn: rootAquarius: flowerPisces: leafSo, calculating from Friday 12 June, 2010, which is a new moon, I can mark my calendar thus:12-19 June: period one (plant leafy crops)19-26 June: period two (plant fruit crops

.Some plants need moving, some need supporting, some need feeding, some need pruning. Many just need sowing.I need to cut the lawn (we don't have a mower so we do this on our hands and knees with shears.) Luckily it's full of dead patches so it shouldn't take

't need pruning, this old favourite is covered in billowing deep-blue flowers from early July to the end of September.Ceanothus 'Autumnal Blue'The most reliable of bedding plants for containers, these will bloom right through to the very end of summer