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hedges and shrubs unseen, and when they touch the ground they cleverly root to produce new plants, staking their claim to new found territory. These need to be dug out by hand, but it's one devil of a battle actually reaching them. And when you do

'll do yourself some damage, and that's what we're trying to avoid.Large-flowered dahlias and chrysanthemums often need something even stronger. I normally hammer thick wooden stakes into the ground around clumps, then join them with twine to hold growth

of reinforced concrete, fashioned into a tunnel with the help of some sturdy stakes. The owner of the plot was a builder needless to say. And the bicycle wheel? Ah that's my friend David's trick. He uses a bicycle wheel at the top to gather a larger than average

, as the best sort of stake for impaling them is made of hawthorn wood. The tree is so powerful that the felling of a tree at the wrong time of year is said to have caused the failure of the De Lorean Motor Company. I may be an old cynic, but that is perhaps

standard, in a large terracotta pot. I trained the main by tying it to a strong wooden stake, bending shoots round and weaving them together to create a domed head - rather like an umbrella on top of the main stem.Pruning has simply involved shortening

want to enjoy sumptuous flowers and not unsightly stakes this summer.

are quite big and heavy some sort of staking would be advisable. Keep deadheading through the flowering season and dig up and store the tubers immediately after the first frost. By store I mean put them in a box of dry compost in a shed

sweet peas that ended up in the border, but they're no giants.I've succeeded in my personal mission to beat Adam Pasco in the height stakes, as did our our colleague Ross, who managed to grow his sunflowers to a respectable 2m. Others weren't so lucky

by slugs and snails, and I spent many hours watching blackbirds foraging among the debris.In spring I tackled the garden in one go, removing leaves spiked on emerging bulbs, clearing spent stems and staking perennials. Only the still-sleeping frogs

. Persicaria officinalis (or orientalis) is about 2m high with sturdy stems that don't need staking and heavenly hanging pink flowers. In America it goes by the name of Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate, which is another big selling point.I'm sure there are lots