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After a good few years of vegetable growing I would go so far as to say that I know a thing or two about onions and their cultivation. For instance I know that onions are prone to a nasty fungal disease called 'white rot' and I know exactly what

and it is one of my great pleasures. The dark green leaves go perfectly with the aged brick, in the spring it is covered with frothy white flowers and come the autumn the branches are laden with red berries. When the hard frosts come we then have a wonderful

for the past month or so, is to chop them down with a pair of shears. It works as it stops them flowering and seeding everywhere, which would really upset Ron, but it does mean they regrow. I normally get started with a good hoe in August but we haven't really

, laying lawn edging and root pruning cordon fruit trees (while, apparently wearing a pair of white cricket trousers and a double-breasted blazer!). The best tip is for a slug trap: "take an old photographic negative and a piece of tin. Solidified

strong, powerful, fragrance that fills the surrounding air. It's also nice having pure white flowers at this time of year to ring the changes from an abundance of yellow.Standing by my choisya and savouring its scent I'm struck by how much I'm enjoying it

plants, but Euonymus alatus was probably the first. Hailing from China and Japan, it is slow-growing, and deciduous. The greenish-white flowers appear in spring and, for much of the year, it is a green, innocuous-looking shrub.However, in autumn

available.2. Snowdrops: The first sign of life. Best not planted as bulbs, though. They should be planted in about March ‘in the green’. This means that they are dug up after flowering and planted then.3. Iris reticulata: really, really special. A gorgeous

: it is about 3m high and has gloriously scented tubular white flowers in Autumn, lush Autumn colour and bright red berries. Or Gentiana farreri, a trailing evergreen delight with flowers like sky blue fanfares? These are just two of the plants that Reginald

major disaster has come to light. Due to a mix up in the bulb warehouse, a batch of tulips that should have been pure white Tulipa 'Purissima' turned out to be unidentified huge-flowered red things, which do not agree at all with the neighbouring pink

to October, rather than just June and July. Berries are small, but tasty.Strawberry 'Mara des Bois'Differing from redcurrants only in colour, this very reliable white version has pleasantly sweet, clear juice. It makes a vigorous, upright bush, and is a heavy