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Easter always reminds me of my childhood. I attended a village school in Somerset and we used to pick bunches of primroses (Primula vulgaris), tie them up with coloured wool, place them in baskets and decorate the church.It is sad to think

in place when I'd originally intended to grow summer varieties, are still there, so I think I'll probably tie the fleece onto the top wire, pull it down over the crop and anchor the other end into the ground. Lucky the wires are there, otherwise I don

(felt pen tends to run). The cress hair should appear within a week.For the grass heads, use old tights, cut in to 20cm lengths. Tie each one in a knot at one end and add a teaspoonful of grass seed. Then cram the tights full with sawdust, so the tights

-arrivals at the ball are beginning to lose their energy - their ties are loosened and they sit smiling in the corner (slightly cross eyed) rather than strutting their stuff centre stage. The grasses have reached their full - if rather understated - magnificence

straining bolts attached to vine eyes, which is all very nautical and satisfying. Maintenance is easy - a quick haircut twice a year and tying the shoots into the straining wires with string. A relatively simple way to turn a bit of an ugly duckling into a

was tied to a chair and whipped with an electric flex).I could go on but may come over as unnecessarily curmudgeonly. To conclude: any daffodil with pink in it should be burnt and wishy washy variegated phormiums should be recycled prior to germination

carefully slip split canes down the sides of the pot and tie in the thick fleshy stems with soft green string.Then come the flowers; I usually bring a pot indoors to brighten the kitchen window sill while I'm doing the washing up - it's good to have a

, the downpours and hail storms damage the plants and split them apart, so we have to tie up the soft growth on each plant before placing it outside. French tarragon, Artemisia dracunculus, is a case in point. I love stories associated with tarragon. Dracunculus

, for insurance, take a few photographs. It's then taken down and we tidy each selected plant. With some plants we have to tie up loose branches so that they are not damaged in transit. We also make sure that each plant is well watered before packing.This year I

and frolicsome fairies (incidentally, if you feel that you need protection from fairies then you should carry twigs of hawthorn, ash and oak tied together with red thread).Among other interesting stories: hawthorn used to be called 'bread and cheese' because