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The Victorians knew their plants, and the gorgeous hot water plant, achimene, was one of their favourites. Who can resist the charms of this little beauty, a relative of the African violet and Cape primrose. I'm a great fan of the gesneriad family

of watering plants. To start with, try and rationalise the number of plants growing in pots and baskets, and if you do always use the largest pots you can. Small pots hold less compost, and less moisture, so bigger is always better. Terracotta pots can

The danger of frozen water pipes is on my mind during this freezing weather, but I'm also concerned that garden birds are suffering, too.Water in my bird bath quickly turns into a solid sheet of ice on cold nights, and hasn't been thawing out during

for work last week, there was one quick mercy mission I needed to make before making my cup of tea. The bird bath! These past freezing nights have completely frozen the water in my bird bath, and I know how important water is to garden birds. Throwing out

and take down my home-made box. Then it's an easy job - simply remove all the nesting debris and thoroughly sterilise the inside of the box with boiling water. After leaving it to dry out, put it back in position.When buying or making a nest box, make sure

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

changing from pink to blue...a clear illustration of the affect of pH on plants.My garden soil must have got more alkaline, possibly through watering with 'hard' tap water during hot weather last summer, hence the pink flowers this year. I'll need to change

in winter. When water trapped inside freezes it expands and cracks them. I mistakenly thought in the past that metal ones would be robust enough to withstand the cold, only to find them completely split open by ice! Bring all irrigation equipment under cover

early maturing, extra tender variety with a high sugar content." They claim you can eat it raw, although I don't quite know why you'd want to!Despite relishing hot, sunny conditions I still believe sweetcorn mustn't go short of water, so this year I

out with a kettle of boiling water to melt the snow and give birds some fresh water to drink. Peanut and seed feeders have been replenished, too, so food and water are available to all my regular feathered friends.Cold weather tests the hardiness