Look after your containers

Keeping plants healthy need not cost the earth, said Ruth

Top Ten Berberis

With colourful foliage and prolific flowers, there's a berberis that will suit almost any garden situation

The great escape

They've been running rings around him for years, but Toby's bunny chums have now moved on to pastures new

Helping a hoya

Masterclass on: caring for wax flowers

Green manures

Steve and Val Bradley outline the benefits and challenges of using green manures

Create a butterfly garden

Nurturing these delicate winged insects will benefit the environment as well as bringing the garden to life

The town dweller's guide to Cottage gardens

A cottage garden without the cottage? Why not, says Martyn Cox, especially as many of the plants and techniques will work just as well in an urban setting

Understanding peat-free

What is peat-free compost and how should we use it? Victoria Wright, of Melcourt Industries, looks at the introduction of peat-free compost and its various components

Lungs of the earth

Trees help sustain so much life on our planet

Mite fever...

Bob explains how you can protect your greenhouse crops in hot weather if they fall prey to red spider mites

How to pot up seedlings

Knowing when they are ready is important

It's a busy bank holiday

IT is the final bank holiday until August and our gardens are in their growing prime, so let’s get out there and make the most of it!

Be inspired and Plant a winner!

Chelsea’s Plant of the Year competition recognises reliability as well as innovation, and provides some of the best options for our gardens

Ups and downs

Erratic weather has its good and bad points

Botanical bumbershoots

For a natural high, every garden should feature living parasols, says Toby, as he praises the humble umbel

Everlasting Dahlias

Graham Rice reveals his selection of pompon dahlias, plus small and miniature ball and cactus dahlias, that easily fit in with other flowers and are particularly long flowering

Managing molluscs

This is an exciting time for crops, and for rampaging slugs and snails. Bob shows you how to keep things in check

Bringing you the sunshine

Colourful sunflowers provide cheery height

Planting out seedlings

They’re hardened off, ready to go and grow

Cut back for more flowers

The Chelsea chop will help some perennials

How to deal with diseases

Nip them in the bud before they spread

It's all go in the greenhouse

Undercover growing is going at full tilt now

Back to nature

Val Garden organically and let nature help you

You are wise to sow Clary

A member of the sage clan with many benefits

'Tis the season for containers

Celebrate baskets of colour and patio pots

High and mighty

Selecting climbers for your garden might feel like a tall order sometimes, but it’s well within your reach

Ask ANNE SWITHINBANK

Masterclass on: repotting container shrubs

Plant mutations

Steve and Val Bradley explain how many of the varieties we regard as ‘normal’, particularly variegated plants, actually started as a mutation or sport

Hardy annuals, biennials and veg

Alan Toogood explains how to raise hardy annuals from seed sown in spring or autumn, hardy biennials that take two years to grow to mature, and easily grown vegetables

Ask JOHN NEGUS

John will reply personally to all your gardening questions