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, but it is still fun to watch. The garden will be open for the National Gardens Scheme next June (I will try to remind you nearer the time).As the ground is so wet, we have the luxury of not having to worry too much about water supply as it just gushes out

this is to be ground breaking. I also liked The Garden that Time Forgot by Catherine Charles and Victor Moreaud (dripping water, twisted metal and balloons), The Frog's Dream by Remi Salles (boxing rings,goldfish and Edith Piaf) and Amelie Leroy's Family Tree. I

for garden use in the 1970s. Liquid nicotine is extremely dangerous to all living creatures and was used widely as an insecticide for many, many years. It was either mixed with water as a spray or else vaporised in lamps - in which case the gardener lit

looking like dog-eared lace doilies. Hostas seem to be the snack of choice for all molluscs.This problem is pretty much universal - except, it seems, at Hever Castle in Kent, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Hever Castle has a magnificent rose garden

One of the best looking plants in my garden this week is the Pokeweed or Phytolacca americana. It is always interesting when plants that are noxious weeds in some parts of the world are regarded as something interesting and unusual in others

. Cats regard gardener with a supercilious look as if they were Duchesses and you, the de facto owner of the garden, just the lowliest drip on the nose of a tramp.So how to deal with it? Everybody seems to have a theory. Some say filled bottles of water

The world of gardening overflows with obsessions, such as giant vegetables, lawns, compost, cacti and many others.One of the most extreme gardening obsessions is the art of bonsai. I was always a bit dismissive of this particular obsession until I

Does it matter what one wears for gardening? Obviously most people look for warmth in winter, cool in summer and comfort all year; elegance is not really much of a consideration. My father-in-law, for example, has a waxed jacket which is more hole

and water to taste• Lie back and ignore the weedingAlthough they're generally unwelcome, there are two really good ornamental elders that deserve a place in most gardens. The first is Sambucus racemosa 'Plumosa Aurea', which is the glorious golden

. So many dilemmas.I toyed with the idea of buying a living tree, with roots, but I didn't want it in the garden. If we had put it out of sight then it would have remained un-watered and would have died a miserable and lonely death. However