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Graham Porter’s gardening: new weekly series on what to plant and when

HERE is the first of a new weekly piece that will allow us to look at sowing and planting of fruit and vegetables – now the nation’s number one occupation, after drinking tea!!Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: the beauty of chives

IF YOU have been out in the garden over the last few days, you might have noticed that the clump of chives (Allium schoenoprasum) that you thought might have died in the cold winter has finally woken up.Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: Beware cutting back some plants too soon

Latest gardening tips from Graham.Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: diary events

Practical Gardening Handbook – is this your first year of proper gardening?Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: Jobs to do this week

Face to face in the spring sun can pay garden dividends.Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: plant of week, Crocuses

DESPITE the lateness of their flowers this year, with virtually ever decent sized piece of public grass in Huddersfield now covered in crocuses, our spring is set to be a bright and colourful one.Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: Clematis clipping and garden ground preparations

1 Clematis clipping – if you have any late flowering clematis in your garden, now is the time to give them their annual haircut. This applies to any clematis that normally flowers from mid-August onwards and includes clematis jackmannii hybrids. Cut all of last summer’s growth back to around 45-60 cm (18-24”) from the ground or to newly emerging shoots if they are a little lower or higher. At the same time you can add a general spring fertiliser and a mulch of well-rotted garden compost or similar.Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: poisonous garden plants

IT is a sad fact of life that some of our beautiful garden plants have a nasty side to them that can cause serious problems for us humans if we do not respect them.Read

Graham Porter’s gardening; diary

` Be Plantwise – this is the new title for a campaign by the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to help stop the rapid spread of a number of invasive aquatic weeds that have entered Britain through a variety of means, including plant imports. The plants of concern are floating pennywort (Hydrocotyle ranunculoides), parrot’s feather (Myriophyllum spp), New Zealand pigmyweed (Crassula helmsii) water primrose (Ludwigia spp.) and water fern (Azolla filiculoides). The eradication of these and other land-based foreign weeds such as Japanese knotweed is currently costing the tax-payer around £2.7 billion a year. Visit www.beplantwise.direct.gov.uk for more information.Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: Diary dates

Latest garden dates and points of interest.Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: Back British fruit and vegetables

MY wife and I have recently spent a few days in Paris and we visited two or three of the very popular local street markets on our wanderings.Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: Jobs of the week

SPOT some wildlife – while we still have the remnants of the prolonged cold spell, our wildlife is just as likely to remain in hibernation but, if you keep an eagle eye open on any warmer days that we get, you may be lucky enough to spot the first bumble bees searching out a quick fix from a late winter shrub that is in full flower despite the cold – look out for shrubs such as Lonicera x purpusii, mahonias, Sarcococca, Chimonanthus praecox, Cornus mas or Viburnum x bodnantense from your local garden centre or nursery.Read

Graham Porter’s gardening: The sun seldom shines when it’s raining

EVERY cloud has a silver lining. It is a well known fact that when it is raining the sun seldom shines.Read

Gardening: Mowing season approaches

ROUGH up your lawn – now that the next mowing season is about to get underway, you might consider giving your lawn a good scarification with springbok rake or a mechanical scarifier.Read

Gardening: Flower show dates

Flower Show dates for 2010 – just in case you missed them a few weeks ago, here are the main Flower Show dates for 2010.Read

Gardening: Curly Kale is a vitamin packed treat

WHAT, you want me to eat cattle fodder?Read

Gardening: How to avoid those pesky garden thugs

Thugs and vandals in the garden, again! Flaming Phygelius – Mr and Mrs Archer from Kirkheaton are at their wits end.Read

Garden: Job of the week

PUT up a bird box, or two – if you haven’t already done so, now is a good time to get those new bird boxes positioned before the adults start their annual search for a suitable place to lay their eggs and bring up their youngsters. Read

Graham Porter's Gardening: Valentine violets

THE Language of Flowers listings suggest words such as ‘faithfulness and modesty’ and, specifically for blue violets, they mean ‘I’ll always be true’.Read

Graham Porter's Gardening: Primula Vulgaris

PRIM and proper despite its vulgar name.Read