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vegetables, you will get a heavier crop if you grow leeks in a well-lit position, with soil that has been improved by the addition of plenty of organic matter. Leek seedsMulti-purpose compostPots or seed traysGarden forkStringBroom or large dibberWatering can

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

I've been building, not so much a garden pond, as a playground pond. And the first problem with playgrounds is that they are all-over tarmac. The obvious site for Ivydale Primary School's new pond was a sunny, but extremely bleak corner next

Despite summer drought in my part of the East Midlands, my apple crop has been pretty good on most trees, but there’s just one problem. A much larger proportion of fruit than ever before has been pecked on the tree itself, resulting in small holes

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

Dulwich, but that lead seems to be a red herring, and Saprosites natalensis is sometimes found making small chewed burrows under cut logs or pieces of garden timber.When this supposedly South African species was found in West London it took quite a time

, transformed for just a few short weeks, before all trace of the bulbs is mown away.Of course, once established, bulbs will readily multiply. Planting bulbs in my own small lawn somehow isn't the same, though - my garden doesn't have the breathtaking scale

, they will not thrive in sodden soils - decent drainage is essential. As with any other plant, get them off to a good start by incorporating plenty of organic material, such as home-made compost. Oriental poppies will appreciate a small amount of fertiliser, but don