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Sown now in the greenhouse, dahlia seeds will produce young plants ready to plant outdoors in late May to flower this year. Seed companies sell a range of quick-growing bedding strains that are suitable for growing this way. You can also use

are our best crop and the children especially like picking them. So when I first spotted all the flowers I knew we were in for a bumper yield this year.But two weeks later when I called in to see what was on offer I was met with bare stalks. Not one berry

to the serenity of the place.So I was very pleased to see a pair of goldfinches this morning. I'm not a birdwatcher, but even I know the unmistakable red face, white sideburns and yellow wing flash of these pretty creatures. They were not in my 'wildlife haven

It's always exciting when we move the stock outside from the polytunnels to 'harden off' and 'grow on', so that they're just perfect for the Chelsea Flower Show. I guess it's rather like farmers letting cows out onto the grass after a long winter

produced bright red, slim, succulent and tasty stems. But I've just discovered three flower stalks have grown in my rhubarb patch. If left to bloom, they can weaken or even kill the crowns, although I've never had the nerve to let this happen. I removed

It's now May, and we're just 12 days away from building our display at the Chelsea Flower Show. We've had a few bouts of sunshine in the last week, during which I could literally feel the plants growing.The new Nasturtium, Tropaeolum majus 'Black

-spring, covered in white flowers which, come the autumn, turn into deep red berries, or haws. They also make spectacular trees that reach about 5m in 10 years - although if left alone they can reach 18m. They're fantastically gnarly and twisted and every wild

- Parrotia persica (Persian ironwood). Its flowers are always a surprise; tiny, deep red threads that seem to slowly push out their buds like hermit crabs squeezing from their shells. Parrotia is part of the witchazel family and makes a very spectacular small

loosens his plait.Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Rosea' - these persicarias also come in red and white.If you need more ideas then there is a great book called Late Summer Flowers by Marina Christopher (her nursery, Phoenix Perennial Plants is near Alton

again within a couple of weeks) and stands there as upright as a guardsman all summer, before turning a gorgeous blonde at this time of year.Thirdly, Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal'. A much shorter grass (reaching about 1.2m), it has a fantastic blueish