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Q – I used sheep fleece under my runner beans this year.Ìý Is there anything else I can use it for?

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Bunny – I put it under my brassicas to help keep slugs off.Ìý

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Matt – Liners for hanging baskets. Insulation for Dahlias.

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Matthew – It’s a good soil improver for thin, fast-draining soil.Ìý

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Eric – Weed suppressant

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Q – I’ve tried growing a chilli called ‘Friar’s Hat’ this year and the instructions say I should overwinter it.Ìý How should I do it?

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Matt – Cut the laterals back by a third and then keep it in a cool, bright place

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Bunny – I’m growing Padron Pepper this year – the ‘Tapas Chilli’

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Q – What are your top three ‘must dos’ for beginner allotmenteers? It is currently covered with bindweed

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Bunny – Get rid of the bindweed.Ìý Get lots of green waste on it.Ìý Then make raised or fixed beds.

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Matthew – Cover the bindweed with a thick layer of cardboard and then a thick layer of organic matter and leave it for a year

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Matt – Sow as you clear

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Q – I live on the riverbank of the Taff.Ìý I have just about managed the Japanese Knotweed but not yet the Himalayan Balsam.Ìý On the bank there is an old bathtub – what can I grow in it in spring/summer?

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Matthew – Himalayan Balsam is quite pernicious. It has explosive seed pods that spread the seed across a wide distance.Ìý I’d recommend putting in Saponeria officinalis (the Soapwort).Ìý Some of the Alstroemerias. ÌýVinca minor.Ìý

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Eric – ‘Rambling Rector’

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Bunny – Honeysuckles.Ìý Dog roses.Ìý Rugosas.Ìý Honeysuckle tellmanniana. Hedera ivy.Ìý Cristata.Ìý

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Matt – Salix.Ìý Dogwoods.Ìý

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Q – We bought and planted a Mock Orange two years ago; will I ever see it grow into a tree?

Matthew – This is a Philadelphus.Ìý It is quite fast growing so you should be fine.Ìý The trick is to get your pruning right – they flower on wood produced the previous season.Ìý So don’t prune them early in the year, prune them after flowering.Ìý Give it plenty of light too.

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Q – My husband has converted a small swimming pool into a sunken garden.Ìý It gets very little sunlight.Ìý What could he grow in it? Should he get artificial light put in?

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Matthew – Ferns.Ìý The Regal Fern (Osmunda regalis).Ìý The Shuttlecock Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris).Ìý Japanese Painted Lady Fern (Athyrium niponicum).Ìý Pictum.Ìý

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Bunny – Exotics would be good, and the odd Tree Fern.Ìý Zantedeschia aethiopica ‘Crowborough’. ÌýÌýNative Iris (Iris foetidissima).Ìý Gunnera.Ìý

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Matt – Rhododendron praecox. Rhododendron yakushimanum.Ìý Hostas like ‘Sum and Substance’. Aspidistras.Ìý Fatsia japonica.Ìý Hardy Orchids.Ìý Garden Cymbidiums.

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Q – I have a climbing Hydrangea which, due to strong winds and a competing Wisteria, has come away from the wall.Ìý What should I do?

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Eric – Hydrangea petiolaris

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Bunny – Cut it right back after flowering

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Matthew – I would be wary of cutting it back

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Q – Are there any fruits or vegetables that are good for pollinators?

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Matthew – Everything that fruits.Ìý Apples and crab-apples are great.Ìý Wild fruiting plants like Sloe too.Ìý

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Bunny – Almond.Ìý The variety ‘Robijn’ which is peach leaf curl resistant.Ìý Plums and peaches.Ìý Alliums.Ìý Wild carrot.Ìý

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Matt – Grow apples or pears as espaliers across a fence to save space.Ìý Broad beans, runner beans, asparagus peas

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Q – We have a twenty-year old Camellia that has apple seed pouches on it.Ìý Should I germinate them?

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Bunny – I think it’s quite easy to do.Ìý

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Matt – Take the seed out and then chill it over winter in a moist peat-substitute. Sow in the spring.Ìý

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Q – My wife is from Yorkshire.Ìý What plants can we grow in south Wales to remind her from home?

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Matthew – White rose – I’d recommend ‘Winchester Cathedral’.Ìý

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Bunny – Yorkshire fog.Ìý Liquorice plant.Ìý

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