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Green manures are the perfect organic fertiliser. They improve soil structure, suppress weeds and return nutrients to the soil.You never see bare earth in the wild for a reason: autumn rains in particular can leach nutrients, damage soil structure

garden is tiny and my soil shallow, so I'm growing dwarf French beans and spinach in pots.As well as being small, with shallow soil, my garden is shady, but it gets two hours of strong sun in the afternoon, which I hope will be enough for French beans

and snowberry, but what about the Mexican snowball, Echeveria elegans? It needs a sunny spot in well-drained soil and should be kept dry in winter. And it doesn't like very low temperatures. Hmm ... does anyone have one that's still alive?I now realise how lucky

compost in the bin to feed all the hungry plants. And wait for that horrible business of 'winter' to be over with.PSTo grow pumpkins you need a sheltered, sunny position and rich, moisture-retentive soil. Sow two seeds 2.5cm deep in a 5cm pot in late

is there to give it a go in the first place.I was always going to "work with the soil", according to my mum. Unlike my sister, I spent my early days mucking around in the garden, making mud pies (to throw at my sister), playing with worms and ants and helping my

, leading to flooding. If every building had a green roof - be it an office block or garden bin store - much of this water would be absorbed before it even hit the ground.My shed has a tiny, steep roof, so we needed to make sure any soil that was added

looked rather impressive, but now it's an eyesore. The hedge draws out moisture and nutrients from the soil and deprives neighbouring gardens of light.The Leyland cypress, or leylandii, is an obvious choice for homeowners wanting to avoid being overlooked

, only for the autumn winds to blow its head off two days after it flowered (I'll need to work on avoiding that this year).So how does one set about growing a record-breaking sunflower? Well, sow the seeds for a start. You can sow direct in the soil

hoped the clover would fix nitrogen in the soil, which would directly feed the chillies and encourage new leaves to grow. This seemed to work, and before long the plants were in full leaf and flower and attracting lots of hoverflies.I did get some

of wildlife. They're also much better adapted at dealing with our soils and climate, being able to withstand long periods of dry weather, and will grow in difficult areas of the garden.I've just lifted the concrete slabs of my back yard, in a bid to transform