News - Page 107

Canny vegetable gardeners start thinking about what to grow next winter as soon as the last one is finished. Take time out from the spring rush to think about what you'll grow in the coldest months of the year and you'll reap the rewards in fat cabbages, nutty Brussels sprouts and kale when there's little else around to pick.

The range of veg you can enjoy in winter is extraordinary, and from late spring onwards you'll...

Thin out spring-sown seedlings to give them plenty of room to spread out and grow tall and strong. Whether it's annual flower seeds sown in your border, or carrots, beetroot and lettuce in the veg garden, however sparingly you sprinkle it's likely a few too many seedlings will come up, and the rows get a little crowded.

That's mostly a good thing, as it allows for a few casualties to slugs or poor germination. But there comes a time when they start competing...

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show celebrates its 100th birthday this week with a more-than-usually dazzling display of perfect blooms and breathtakingly beautiful show gardens.

Highlights of the show this year include a public vote to choose the Plant of the Centenary, the best plant to emerge from the last 100 years. It's a tough choice: among the finalists are spectacularly colourful Russell lupins, 'yak' rhododendrons and the ever-popular 'Iceberg' rose. Once yo...

Coppice eucalyptus trees to keep them at a manageable size, turning them from trees into willowy, graceful shrubs that sit beautifully among other plants.

There are dozens of varieties of eucalyptus, some with multicoloured or peeling bark, others with silvery evergreen and fragrant foliage. You'll find a good selection in your favourite garden centre. However if left to their own devices most make sizeable trees, far too big for all but the largest gardens.<...

Look out for lily beetles as they can be a real menace at this time of year. They attack not only oriental and asiatic lilies, but also members of the same family including fritillaries and the spectacular Cardiocrinum, which grows to a massive 2m in height and is a real head-turner in the late summer garden.

The adult beetles are very pretty, in brilliant scarlet with a jet-black head and legs. But their grubs are among the ugliest in the garden: found in th...

Lift and divide daffodil clumps just after they've finished flowering, to prevent them getting too overcrowded. Left to themselves, bulbs multiply to the point where they've no longer got the room or resources to flower, resulting in 'blind' clumps which fail to flower, so keep an eye on your daffs and if any are showing signs of feeble or non-existent flowering it's time to sort them out.

Using a garden fork to avoid damaging the bulbs, lift the whole clump...