What gardener doesn’t like value for money? We have nurtured and cared for our bedding plants, tubs and baskets over the last few months and now with just a little effort we can manage to enjoy them for a little longer. Even if you used a slow release fertilizer this will have been used up by now so give your plants a high potash feed. Regular watering and dead-heading are still important but get rid of any plants are finished or show signs of disease. Even while trying to get the most out of our summer plants we need to be preparing the winter containers. To save time, effort and money just remove the top layer of old compost from large pots and replace this with fresh to a depth of 6-10cm.

Do you love roses? Why not try increasing your stock? It’s really quite simple. Start by taking a hardwood cutting from a healthy stem of this season’s growth, trim just below a leaf joint at the bottom and then strip off any lower leaves. The next step is to cut away the soft tip to just above a leaf, leaving you with a cutting about 30cm long. Find a suitable spot in your garden and make a narrow trench and fill this with either sharp sand or grit. Slide the cutting in to about two-thirds of its length. All you have to do now is leave it alone for about a year when it should have a good root system and be ready to be transplanted into its new home.