<t>They like acid soil that is constantly damp and relatively low in nutrients. There is a really good note on how to grow blueberries here (well we use it and it works). If you soil is not right use an acid compost (the stuff you can get for heathers or azaleas works well.<br/> <br/> The single mos...

Sorry - forgot - Spider plants will grow anywhere and you can give lots to your friends as they tend to multiply.....

We have a prunus sub autumnalis in flower in July. Last year it started in November. Anyone else got odd flowering times?

Sounds like woolly aphids. Go to your local garden store and ask for spraying oil. Apply three times at weekly intervals and they will go to another place....

Aspidistra - bombproof and grows in the dark. Or maidenhair fern in the bathroom.

Pyracantha, Yew, Privet, Beech (not evergreen but carries leaves all year), Box if the fence is low. Or climbing evergreens such as lonicera henryii or cleamtis armandii.

Sorry - am I missing the point - aren't concrete and plastics modern materials? And I have seen glass used a lot in Med gardens as well

Plant them where they get plenty of light (they hate being under trees). Dig good, well rotted organic matter into the soil. Buy them bare root from a respectable grower. Plant them in winter. Water them well until they are established. You will get flowers

Just make a compost heap out of pallets. Whenever you need more room, two more pallets will add another bay with approx 1 cm metre capacity.

You can grow potatoes in a pot. But I would choose cut and come again salad leaves - you can harvest these every week if they are growing well. And try strawberries in a strawberry tower.

Don't bother with seed - they often do not come true. Just get a few roots and plant those. You will have plenty soon enough

Stack the manure and leave it for 12 months before you spread it. It stops smelling very quickly and smells of nothing when you use it a year later.

Don't use detergents and run the wastepipes from your bath and basin to barrels in the garden.

If you cut your grass, throw the clippings on to the beds straight away - they keep the moisture in.

Weed more - weeds take moisture out of the ground

Risk is if you take the other leaves that you damage the ones that form the heart. The leaves are also part of the plants growth cycle. Take off the bigger ones (on the outside) and the heart will form more slowly and probably run to seed before it is large.

You don't need poison. Do a google search for Phytosieulus persimilis which is a parasite on red spider mite. So much more fun watching the pest being eaten....:wah:

Plant lots of nesting cover. Birds like dense , bushy stuff - hedgerow plants such as beech or hawthorn and evergreens like privet and holly.