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As spring finally springs and the soil warms up, we should address a very common hosta problem. You may not, I suppose, be aware that there is any sort of problem, but that may be because you are either very lucky, or that you have never grown them

. If you have light, free-draining soil, you can start planting potatoes outside. I have very heavy clay soil in my garden, which is still a bit too wet for potatoes, so I’m putting it off for a little longer.I’ll sow some hardy annual flower seeds outside

by a few weeks to give you a regular supply of blooms.A sunny positionWell cultivated soilTrowelWatering canSecateursMarch - May30 minutesJuly - SeptemberIf you have raised cut flowers from seed, by late May, they should be ready to go outside

are tricky to mow. Instead, keep your lawn to a usable size with a simple, defined shape.Give your lawn shapeLawns in small gardens are prone to soil compaction. Waterlogging occurs in wet weather as the rain can’t soak in – and in dry weather the rain runs

for an indulgent autumn, provided I can keep birds and wasps away.Just one more job for the week ahead: sprinkle sulphate of potash fertiliser over the soil around my fruit trees and bushes. Potash is the nutrient plants need to encourage good flowering

in the wings, ready to cause devastation among seedlings.The various fungi responsible are generally soil borne, and thrive in damp compost. They find the very fragile young roots and stems of seedlings an easy conquest.But how does the fungi get