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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 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?

garden without life? There are already too many public spaces filled with hanging baskets 'planted' with fake flowers. I stand at train stations and lament the sight of bees and hoverflies wasting energy working out that their search for food is in vain

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

I am not to have any plants yet in my garden. While a thick layer of snow can insulate plants from extremely low temperatures, its weight can cause branches to break. Then frozen ground prevents roots from taking up water, and plants can die from

discovered cacti at university. It wasn't long before I had a flat full of plants and an allotment of my own to play with.I couldn't live without gardening - it makes me feel whole. If I'm tired, stressed, unhappy, I garden to feel better. I get up early

, leading to flooding. If every building had a green roof - be it an office block or garden bin store - much of this water would be absorbed before it even hit the ground.My shed has a tiny, steep roof, so we needed to make sure any soil that was added

and scabious, against a backdrop of a green-roofed garden office and serene water pools.I also liked the SKYShades Garden, designed by Marney Hall. Her garden depicted a range of wildlife habitats, including hedgerow and woodland planting schemes

.I'd decided to leave all the seedlings emerging in the borders to see what they'd turn into. Trees, mostly. So I'll be removing them, along with some plants I'm donating to some friends, and adding nicer ones I recently dug up and divided from my mum's garden