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Q – Which cardinal rules of gardening can be broken?

Bunny – Lots of free draining material at the bottom of the pot was the initial thought but now it’s known to be better to put the material throughout the pot. I also take cuttings whenever I see something I like.

Matt – Herbaceous plants can be moved at any time of year if you’re careful and water them well.

Anne – Forgetting to clean the greenhouse roof – the dirt and algae turns into shading.

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Q – Do you throw away tulip bulbs after they have flowered in pots or do you save them for next year?

Anne – I don’t keep them in the pot as they won’t flower reliably the year after. Take them out and put them straight into the ground or dry them off and put them into the ground in the autumn. Line them out in the kitchen garden and take them as cut flowers.

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Q – I was given a wisteria twenty years ago and it had been in a pot for ten years. It is now in the earth on a southeast facing wall but it has never flowered. What can I do?

Bunny – I think a plant that has been in one pot for ten years will have roots that spiral round inside. Normally they won’t flower if they are not a named cultivar. Pruning twice a year is important too.

Matt – There is a danger that a congested pot of roots won’t be able to take in water properly. Try feeding with a high potash fertilizer in the spring and July. It’s also worth buying a new one.

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Q – How can I organically kill off a leaf miner bug that is damaging our lovage plants?Ìý

Matt – Sounds like it could be a celery leaf miner which disfigures the leaves. The easiest way is to remove the infected leaves.

Bunny – I would cover it with fine gauze and do it early, that’s the best way to cover a commercial amount of Lovage. I think they’re recycling around so you need to break the cycle. I would also add a layer of mulch – the plant loves moist soil.

Anne – I think a pheromone trap would work because most organic sprays are contact sprays - they’ve got to touch the insect. Put a pheromone trap up around April/May, put a capsule in there that gives off hormones of a female moth. The male moths are attracted to it and they get stuck inside the trap. This takes a lot of the male moths out of the equation. Netting is best I think.

Matt – If it has been established in the garden then you need the ground-level barrier of the mulch as well.

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Q – Given the challenging conditions, what exciting, child-friendly planting would thrive in a playground tyre planter?Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý ÌýÌý

Anne – I would have a group of Sarracenias (carnivorous) – they are very easy to grow and produce pitchers. At the end of the season you can split the pitcher and see all of the leftover insects eaten by the plant – great educational value. You need very acidic soil and special composts.

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Matt - CarexÌýComansÌý'BronzeÌýForm', I would plant a load of them in quite a high stack of tyres and it looks like hair. Then you could stick some eyes and a nose and a smiley face underneath.

Bunny – There are hundreds of different beans you could grow – baked beans, haricot beans. You could grow different coloured beans in other pots and make them into tepees – they would work well in tractor tyres.

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Q – I have half an acre that I would like to turn into a wildflower meadow. What’s the best way to cut the meadow without endangering wildlife?

Bunny – It’s very important that you don’t cut it all at once. I would divide it into ten blocks and do it one section at a time. Start at the end of July and selectively cut the bits that have gone over and do the rest another day. You can cut plants later when their seeds have ‘set’.

I recommend an Austrian scythe – it is lightweight with a very sharp blade.

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Q – What is the best way to plant potatoes?

Matt – I used to plant and then ‘earth up’ which can maximise the volume of crop. Now I’m growing more of them in bags as I mostly grow new potatoes. Put three in the base with about 5-10cm (2-4inches) of compost then earth them up and put two on the top. I also use the traditional method of planting them individually with a trowel in a bed then earthing up as you go along, rather than trenches.

Bunny – I use a trowel and drop them in. I don’t need to earth up because I use smaller seed potatoes which don’t need as much cover.

Anne – If the soil is really good then I use the trowel method. If I want to use the potatoes to cultivate a new area of soil then I’ll remove the weeds and dig out a trench, put some compost in the bottom of the trench, fork it in then I’ll put the potatoes on top and use the infill soil over the top so they are buried by 4-5inches (10-12cm). Then I will earth up to smother the weeds.

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Q –For years I have displayed self-seeded aquilegias and geraniums, but two years ago all of the aquilegias disappeared. I added new seeds and they still didn’t grow. Why have they disappeared and how can I make them grow back?Ìý

Bunny – If they have grown there for too long, they may have taken what they need from that section of soil. Sometimes it works in a longer cycle.

Anne – It could be climatic.

Matt – If there are too many plants then there are not a lot of opportunities for seedlings to grow. The gaps between the plants could have been filled so the opportunity for self-seeding is not so great. It may be worth putting trays of compost amongst your Aquilegias so that the seed falls on that.

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