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long. Then I'll sow grass seed in the dead patches. I'm also cultivating a small wildflower meadow among the long grass, so I'll transplant some self-sown field poppies here and remove some ragwort I accidentally transplanted the other week.If it rains

.More lawn care adviceImproving your lawn, with advice from Monty DonChris Beardshaw on maintaining a healthy lawnMowing your lawnSowing a lawn from seedBrowse a selection of grass varietiesView plants by soil type

Toby Buckland makes a soil sieve (or riddle) for sifting out large lumps from soil, leaf-mould and compost, to leave you with a fine material suitable for seed sowing and potting mixes.You should aim to make your soil sieve slightly bigger than your

on growing summer displaysSowing sunflower seeds, demonstrated by Monty DonSarah Raven gives advice on taking dahlia cuttingsPlants for late-summer colourCreating a daisy window box

, aerate the turf by making holes in it with a fork, then top dress with gritty compost to assist surface drainage. In shaded areas, sow grass seed or lay turf that is appropriate for such conditions.In spring or early autumn, use a proprietary product

cope with this weather - a thermal vest and a good pair of hiking socks does the trick - but my poor little broad bean plants have just gone in the ground and look a bit horrified. Most of thebean seeds sowed directly outside last year failed

into life - including the weeds. My last couple of sessions on the plot have involved a never-ending cycle of weeding and sowing seeds. It's so important to keep on top of weeding at this time of year. If left, they can smother young plants, competing

looks interesting. I'll also save some of the larger ones as seed to sow next year - If I've learned anything from this batch it's that they're good croppers, and who knows, they may even possess a mysterious resistance to blackfly.

't suffer the same fate, I seem to have gone overboard sowing brassicas in modules. I think we'll be in for a feast (rather than the famine of last year) as every seed seems to have germinated. I started them off under my watchful eye as they're so prone

, and analyse what went wrong.Top failure prize this year has to go to parsnips - I only have about half a dozen. I know what went wrong, though: I sowed old seed that was past its sell-by-date. I've learnt my lesson, and it won't happen again.Second prize goes