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Plant herbs in decorative pots, and keep close to the house so you can reach them easilyPull up soil around the developing shoots of early potatoesStart sowing salad crops at regular 3-4 week intervals to ensure a regular supply for pickingTrim leggy rosemary bushes to promote bu...

Sow seeds of beans, marrows courgettes and squashes, two per pot, and thin out the weakest seedling to leave the strongest plantSpray peaches and nectarines with fungicide to prevent an attack of peach leaf curl Pick rhubarb stems as they develop, and water clumps with a generous...

Hang pheromone traps in fruit trees to control moth pests, such as codling moth larvae, which eat applesThin out congested fruit crops on peaches and nectarines, spacing fruits about 10cm apartWatch out for signs of powdery mildew or disease on fruit trees and bushes, and treat w...

Sow seeds of herbs in pots to grow on your kitchen windowsill, such as coriander, parsley and basilLook out for woolly aphid on fruit trees, and spray any with soapy waterThin out seedlings from earlier sowings to their final spacingsCover strawberries with netting to keep birds ...

Lift and store carrots Pot up chives and other herbs to bring under cover for winter useSow green manure crops over bare areas of soilSow broad beans for early pickings next May or JunePrune out fruited blackberry canes and tie in new shoots to replace themCover productive areas ...

Prune gooseberry bushesFork over vacant beds, mixing in compost or well-rotted manurePlant fruit trees trained as cordons, fans or espaliers to make use of limited spaceTie in raspberry and blackberry canes to support wiresLift and divide congested clumps of rhubarbTake hardwood ...

Cover soil with cloches to warm it for early sowingsFinish winter pruning fruit trees and soft fruitsCut stems of autumn-fruiting raspberries to soil levelChit seed potatoes, standing them in trays in a light but frost-free positionPlant Jerusalem artichokes as a windbreak on exp...

Plant shallots outside into well-prepared soilSow mustard and cress in a pot on the kitchen windowsill for a quick cropUse netting and bird scarers to protect fruit bushes from hungry birds, which can strip off swelling budsPrune side shoots on trained forms of gooseberry back to...

Cover rhubarb with an old bucket to exclude light and encourage early pickings of long tender stalksPrune gooseberry bushes to open up the centre of the bush to improve air circulationChit seed potatoes in trays in a bright, frost-free positionPlant bare-root fruit trees before t...

I was on a shoot at Pippa's yesterday for the magazine, getting pictures for her vegetable trial series 'Veg with Pippa' and seeing how all her veg is coming along. It was a beautiful day but it's been a bit of a difficult year for gardeners thanks