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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

We have newtpoles. Or rather we have newtlets, since they have already lost their external gills and grown legs. The first was just hanging from the water surface, but disappeared down into the gloom with vigorous wiggling of its tail. Since

I always have the best of intentions post-Christmas. After the blow-out session that is the traditional festive season, I approach new year with the firm belief that I will treat my body like a temple, drink plenty of water and only touch wine

A heron was morosely inspecting the murky green water of Peckham Rye pond. It stood slightly away from the path, so ignored the passing dogs and my children throwing breadcrumbs to the ducks. I wondered what it could possibly be fishing for in what

On Sunday I spotted the first frogspawn of the year in the stream running through Peckham Rye Park. I say stream, it's more of a municipal water feature, with narrow stretches of running water between a series of small pondlets and gentle water

, using railway sleepers, three high (about 50 cm), to make a raised water body. Triangular in shape, 2 metres long, with a deep corner dug down a further 50 cm and a shallow corner for marginal plants. Three species of damselfly, two species of dragonfly

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

growth - exactly what is needed for use in the kitchen.The leaves have a wonderful lemon sherbet scent and flavour, with a rough texture. For this reason they're best either chopped up very finely or used to make an infusion in oil, vinegar or water

Where have all the flowers gone? Why did it have to happen now? Just as I had been lulled in to a false sense of security the heavens opened again. There's been enough rain to fill all of my water butts several times over and the ground is now a

them well watered in dry weather.Clean straw or synthetic mulch fabricProtective nettingSeep hose (optional)April - June 20 minutesharvest from June to JulyWeed around your strawberry plants and remove any dead or dying leaves. Lift the foliage