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reading the paper - becomes more important than making decisions about where to plant bulbs. Silly really, but there you go.Fortunately, all is not lost. A good healthy tulip (by which I mean a bulb that is about the size of an egg and is firm of flesh

. On the contrary it is job that can be done very easily wearing quite inappropriate footwear and clutching a glass of something.Go out and look at your bulbs.Not just in a spirit of admiration but also to note which ones have done well, which have failed and where

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

I do love the garden in October - especially in the sunshine. In the early Spring it is all about hope and waiting: all that mulch and neatly tidied brown border. A month or so later and there is green stuff and bulbs all over the place. Then we

to inject a note of optimism the second picture, below, is of the same area in May - so all is not lost).Now is the time start the big chop back in readiness for the spring. Over the next few weeks I will be cutting back pretty much everything, pruning roses

closes, if you look closely then spring is visible everywhere. We have buds fattening as quickly as a troupe of bun-loving chubbies and the pointy shoots of bulbs push themselves through the cold soil. These are stark reminders that soon things will need

March is not really prime garden visiting time: a few gardens with specialist collections are open for the wonderful National Gardens Scheme, but most of them are keeping their powder dry in readiness for spring and summer.However, gardeners still

February is a blessedly short month. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you this, but 28 days of cold wet yukkiness is hardly conducive to horticultural excitement. However, we have to get through it in order to edge our way closer to spring, so

and everything will look distinctly brown and soggy. This will be the time to clear the decks, cutting back the borders and adding the discarded stems to the bulging compost heap.I always enjoy this time very much as it means that spring is on the way. As last

.Nectaroscordum grows from a bulb, and is part of the allium (or onion) family. In fact it used to be called Allium bulgaricum until the nomenclaturists stepped in a few years ago. While I'm always smitten by the spherical flowers of most alliums (for example the tennis