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am sad to see the back of summer (what summer?!!). But there is something else I am pleased about, in a perverse, time-saving sort of a way.Snails - not the small ones or the medium sized ones, just the large vegetable and ornamental plant

It's January. The weather outside is pretty ghastly. There is not an enormous amount in the garden worth looking at so we must be more imaginative when seeking out our horticultural pleasures.Often the mundane can be very beautiful if you look hard

, which is causing me some concern as we do not have a cold store here to hold them back. Our floral displays are exactly how they would be in the garden, except that each plant will have been minutely prepared before leaving the farm.Woad, Isatis

There's not much happening in my garden this week. I think we're scaring everything away. And I can't just blame the cats stalking their quarry; Saturday's bouncy castle and baker's dozen of squawking three- and four-year-olds hasn't added much

the garden. It was very low, only just clearing the apple tree. This may have had something to do with the large pigeon it was clutching in its talons. It flew, rather laboriously I thought, down over the gardens to the short row of tall trees that bound

by leek moth. More and more gardeners have been asking about this small but potentially devastating pest at recordings of Gardeners’ Question Time, and at talks I have given.The caterpillars of the moth cause horrible, discoloured patches on the leek

stones, though. In areas with no plants I’ll sprinkle a small amount of salt, which will help to keep surfaces clear.I know I shouldn’t have left the furniture out over winter, but I’ll tackle it with a scrubbing brush in a few weeks. As for the climbing

At last, we've had rain, but I'm starting to wonder if I have rain-inducing powers. Like many gardeners, I try to avoid watering the garden, but recently I had to resort to the hose. It was so dry even the nettles were wilting! But of course, after

. Remove a generous bunch with secateurs.Squash the berries onto a sheet of kitchen towel and clean away the skin and flesh to expose the bare seeds. Alternatively, clean away the flesh by running them under the cold tap in a sieve.Fill a small pot

Do you have an autumn clear-up in your garden? Do you cut down all your herbaceous stuff so that everything is tidy for the winter or do you leave everything until the new year? Most people nowadays leave it until later to give food for small birds