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attentive to plants, especially those in pots, baskets and growing bags. If compost is allowed to dry out plants soon suffer, and then the damage is done.Working gardeners away from home all day need to adopt growing plans that take the strain out

garden to look good, and for neighbouring plants to complement one another.Walking through my garden this week I was struck by its freshness following a shower. Doesn't rain transform the colour and vigour of plants in a way simply watering by hand never

frosts.My garden in East London hasn't seen rain since before Christmas. We've had snow, of course, and the promise of rain - dark clouds, even a thunder storm, but no water (we did have a two minute shower last Friday but it by the time I recognised

the loss of water vapour from the plant itself. But, when plants are bombarded by strong gusts of wind, these pockets of moisture are blown away. This in turn causes further moisture loss from the stomata. A vicious circle…I have been watering plants

Has the snow been a good or bad thing for our gardens? Well, probably a bit of both, but I do live in hope that the cold weather has helped kill off a few garden pests. We've all had our fair share of snow over the past couple of weeks, with varying

failed again).The temperature has been so high during the day that I’ve had to remove the lids from two propagators, to prevent them from ‘boiling’ the seedlings. I keep a couple of watering cans close by, as the plants are guzzling water

the ground, so water run-off of any hard surfaces will be reduced.And if you have inherited a large expanse of paving stones and don't know what to do with it, why not take them up and plant a garden?

planting out, watering in plants naturally.However, I did put cloches to good use to provide extra protection from battering rain until some delicate seedlings were established. The main plants that suffered were sweetcorn, with every seedling being bent

in the sun. Everything was wrapped in a frozen overcoat. Will the plants survive? Most will, but like every adventurous gardener I push the boundaries of my gardening and grow a range of plants you would describe as having 'borderline hardiness'. Only time

with all the nutrients they need, and as the waste breaks down they'll get a fair amount of water too (saving me a job).My garden is far too small to grow pumpkins really, but I won't let that deter me. I'll drape the long, winding stems up and over