A. That depends. Evergreen hedges should be tacked in mid-late spring whereas deciduous ones, ones that shed their leaves in winter, need to be dealt with in winter. Try to stick to these times,
00:00 Tue 03rd Jul 2001A. Apart from just wanting to have something pleasant to look at as you pass through the gate to the front door, there are good practical reasons. By choosing the right plants you ensure privacy from
00:00 Tue 03rd Jul 2001A. They've come a long way since that pre-Alan Titmarsh hardy perennial of a TV gardener Percy Thrower first offered tours of Westcountry gardens from the Imperial Hotel in Torquay. Themed
00:00 Tue 26th Jun 2001 A. Just about. July is one of the best months in the garden, plenty of colour, good weather (touch wood) and all that earlier hard work paying dividends. However, July is also the month to
00:00 Tue 26th Jun 2001A. Although we are still lagging quite a way behind our European counterparts, solar heating is on the rise here, partly driven by government and EU funding. Homes account for about a third of our
00:00 Tue 26th Jun 2001A. By no means. Chelsea is held in May which, if you think about it, is very early for the majority of plants, both common and rare. Chelsea is as much about garden design and high society as it is
00:00 Tue 19th Jun 2001A. Fly sprays are generally pretty lethal, but the pungent chemical aroma, plus the fact that many contain organo-phosphates, which have been linked to health problems, make them increasingly
00:00 Tue 19th Jun 2001A. NCCPG stands for the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens. Q. How long has it been going and what does it do A. The NCCPG was set up in 1978 with the expressed
00:00 Tue 19th Jun 2001A. Yes, perfectly possible. There are three kinds of gardener; the ones that don't have the time to raise things from seed and buy the plants ready germinated from the garden centre, the enthusiasts
00:00 Tue 12th Jun 2001A. There are basically three types of climbers; self supporting, climbers and twiners and those that have no natural means of support at all and need to be trained. The latter two need quite a lot
00:00 Tue 12th Jun 2001A. Basically because of cost. Installing a fully integrated air conditioning system into a home or office will set you back around 20,000. Let's face it, in this country we may moan and groan when
00:00 Tue 12th Jun 2001A. To some extent, but not completely. All being well, it should be one of the most rewarding times in the garden. With most of the donkey work over it's about tweaking and fine tuning to help get
00:00 Tue 05th Jun 2001A. The first and cheapest option is to find a friend or neighbour who you can trust to look after your precious containerised plants while you're away. Failing that, you can make life easier before
00:00 Tue 05th Jun 2001A. Yes, with a vengeance. Like quarry tiles, brass taps and enamelled baths before them, stained glass in the home became victims of the drive for modernity during the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. It
00:00 Tue 05th Jun 2001A. The concept of the outside room may be fairly new-fangled but we Brits have really been going patio mad since the late sixties. Patio is a Spanish word for outside seating area and the concept
00:00 Wed 30th May 2001A. Trompe l'oeil translates from the French as 'tricking the eye'. Basically it is the art of decorating interiors with murals of landscapes and views, animals or even household items that look
00:00 Wed 30th May 2001A. It is basically another way of attracting pollen spreaders, and not just insects. Colour is the usual vehicle to draw these agents, but where that is lacking the plant uses smell and that is why
00:00 Wed 30th May 2001A. Many old style boundary walls are basically banks of earth clad with stones, so if plants can get established between the stone they can root in the soil. The same applies to paving slabs that
00:00 Tue 22nd May 2001 A. You can get chemical treatments for ants, but many of us are reluctant to use them, especially if we have pets or young children. A time-honoured method of controlling ants is to pour boiling
00:00 Tue 22nd May 2001A. The very first show in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, was held in 1912 and organised by Sir Harry Veitch, whose world famous nursery was situated at the World's End on the nearby
00:00 Tue 22nd May 2001
