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Living on a hillside, I’m fortunately not in danger of being flooded, but it doesn’t mean I’m not feeling the effects of the recent heavy rains. It’s difficult to walk around my sloping garden without slipping over, and the grassed areas have turned

I recently undertook a spot of tidying in one of my flowerbeds. Generally I avoid clearing up too early in winter, and I don’t remove too much old growth, as retaining it can limit plant damage during late-winter cold snaps.Usually, after spending

-munching sort - are disappearing. They have started to slow down and go off for their winter hibernation (presumably so that they can save energy ready to attack my plants again next spring with an increased fervour!).Now I may be a fool, but not fool enough

In early spring, there were a lot of discussions in the garden media over whether the harsh winter would have reduced numbers of garden pests.The slugs and snails were slow to appear after the cold, dry April. But most other critters, good and bad

the greenhouse at this time of year, composting or binning any winter plant casualties. Somehow after Christmas I always feel mentally tougher and better able to throw out plants I should have binned long since.Seed packets that are way past their sell-by date

There is something special about one-offs, whether you are in an art gallery, shopping for shoes or in the garden. Something that does its own thing always has extra appeal.So it was with great delight that we watched as this little daffodil edged

I've never been much of a lawn buff. Mine is definitely more of a patch of grass than a lawn, but even I am worried by the state of it at the moment. The wet summer and autumn and cold, wet winter have caused a lot of damage. And our heavy clay soil

stones, though. In areas with no plants I’ll sprinkle a small amount of salt, which will help to keep surfaces clear.I know I shouldn’t have left the furniture out over winter, but I’ll tackle it with a scrubbing brush in a few weeks. As for the climbing

It hasn’t been a vintage year in my garden. The growing season started off well with the warm spring – good for garlic and onions - but the weather deteriorated soon after that. So, I’m actually quite relieved now that autumn is here. I can forget

, stopping them from munching my winter lettuce.