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Garin' is a good choice for smaller gardens. Blackcurrants grow on new wood. When I harvest the currants I also prune at the same time, cutting out a third of the plant each year.This tangy, mouth-watering recipe for blackcurrant cream is not only

of the offsets so that you have a few leaves and a bit of root at the bottom. You can either pot this on till you are ready to plant out, or, put it where it will live permanently.  At this stage plants can be a bit vulnerable, so they need watering well

a good purple dahlia, 'Orfeo' is another cactus type which goes well with 'Karma Lagoon', a water lily variety with striking violet petals. I like mixing different shapes of the same colour so I don't have to worry if they all go together.This year

the garden centre, ready to plant.Plant them 10cm apart (15cm if you want bigger onions) and keep them well watered in dry weather. Onions don't like growing in recently manured ground, but they do like fairly rich soil, so if you have any home-made compost

, which I'll pass on to you now.In a nutshell, people who garden by the phases of the moon believe that its gravitational pull on the earth's water (i.e. tides), has a bearing on plant growth. They never plant anything when the moon is waning in the last

:FOR THE FILLING:10-15 plums, halved1 tablespoon of water1 tablespoon of sugarCinnamonMixed spice1 thumb-length of fresh gingerPreheat oven to 180°C . Cook the plums over a low heat with the water and sugar. When almost cooked, turn off the heat, allow to cool a

shoots 10cm high, apply sulphate of potash at 100g per square metre.March: Continue weeding and hoeing but take care not to damage bulbs. Planting may continue though bulbs will be smaller.April: Keep up regular watering in dry weather. Use a fungicide

, nitrogen-rich ingredients sandwiched between brown, carbon-based ingredients with a very light sprinkling of water now and then). I also mentioned some optional extras that will help turbo-charge a pile like shop-bought compost accelerator, nettles, comfrey

, the measurements given here are imperial.i) 1 pint waterii) 6oz sugariii) Pared rind of 2 lemons, plus extra juice from 1 lemon (no rind)iv) 3-4 handfuls blackcurrant leavesv) (1 drop of green colouring, which I think is optional)Heat water and sugar together

and place it tip down into the ground. Give it a little water if the weather is very dry.By the end of the summer you will find that you can dig up the end, which will have rooted, and sever it from the mother plant, ready for re-planting. You can also place