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hiding amongst piles of debris.Try making a slug deterrent by crushing two bulbs of garlic and boiling them in a litre of water for a few minutes. Add a tablespoonful of this to five litres of water and sprinkle on the leaves every couple of weeks

on such small bits of card!Another is a series of fifty garden flowers ranging from delphiniums and water lilies to annuals like bright red salvias and candytuft. Each card has a bit of information and some hints about cultivation written by Richard Sudell - who

. Apricot trees (Prunus ameniaca) grow particularly well there because of the south-western aspect and because, before the invention of the gutter, they got lots of rain - apricots need lots of water to prevent the fruit from splitting.I mention this because

. The stems are at least 3m tall and they bear vast leaves. It needs a fair bit of water so I planted it just by a downpipe on the house so it gets lots of rain.My second star plant is Persicaria polymorpha. It is planted by the door to the chicken shed

them in a bin with some water in the hope that they will drown.In spite of all this sweeping I know that soon there will be baby ash seedlings popping up all over the garden. They are fine if you get them early enough but they don’t half grow fast when

of the brassica family, which is apparent in the flowers. It grows best near water, hence its presence by my ditch.As folklore has it, this plant is sacred to the fairies and is therefore unlucky if brought indoors. I have no idea what terrible revenge the fairies

looked a little alien, so I've decided that this year I really ought to finish it off. Some of the tubes need copper tops and it also needs a focal point, some sort of central bowl from which the water will overflow.I also felt that the time had come

of my favourite plants, one that is very much in evidence at this time of year (there were lots at the Chelsea Flower Show last week): the comparatively humble geum. Most of the garden varieties can trace their pedigrees back to either the Chilean Geum

my previous blog and this is their reply:Dear Mr Alexander-SinclairMany thanks for your enquiry. For some years we have noticed an unusual number of wisteria dying, and indeed have suffered casualties amongst the Wisley wisteria. There are probably