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Spring is here, although nobody seems to have told the weather department yet. This week's biting easterly wind felt more like standing at a Siberian bus stop than April in an English country garden.However, the evidence of spring is out

' worth of detritus sitting in an open shed. Now, some of you may have seen pictures of my garden before and will have realised that there are lots of plants crammed in here. As a result there is a small mountain of stuff that I need to shred.This brings

on the internet. Might I recommend this as an alternative?The catkin is the male part of the plant. Its job is to fertilise the female part (which are little red tufts) of the plant and therefore create hazelnuts. All very straightforward, but there is a small

January already: Christmas neatly tucked away and another year of fabulous gardening stretching away ahead of us. The beginning of the year is the time for fresh starts and change but, rather than pestering you with annoying resolutions which few

, cleaning them off and spraying some oil around. There are certain tools without which I cannot cope and others which I hardly ever use. Among my favourites are:1. My small border fork and spade, which are perfect for planting and diddling around.2. A steel

, is surrounded by a thick belt of trees that some far-sighted and very sensible forebear planted. This gives the gardens enough shelter from the Atlantic gales to allow all sorts of interesting things to thrive. So far, so good. However, one of the problems

.Native Americans used to place small fish in planting holes and you can get the same effect by burying fish scraps in trenches before planting.Pigeon manure is among the richest of manures and was particularly popular in Persia where they kept pigeon houses

One of the most important jobs at this time of year does not involve anything particularly energetic or creative. It does not require you to rush to the garden centre, lug large bags of anything, get even slightly dirty or even break a sweat

of Isatis leaves will produce about 2 grams of dye so in order to colour more that a small handkerchief you need to grow a fair few plants. It is a gorgeous colour though.Jekka also told me that, traditionally, there was a fair bit of urine involved