Action Stations!

Plant gladioli, tigridias, galtonias and other summer-flowering bulbs to three times their depth in fertile, free-draining soil.

Reinvigorate potted patio shrubs by removing 10-15cm (4-6in) of root-matted compost Replace it with my favourite growing mix: John Innes loam-based No. 3. Use an ericaceous brand for lime haters.

Feed roses with Bayer Garden Toprose whose magnesium content toughens leaves and improves their lustre.

Control ground elder, couch grass, bindweed, docks and other pernicious invaders by dosing them with Roundup, a systemic weedkiller that doesn’t contaminate the soil.

Help spring cabbage heart up by sprinkling a teaspoonful of sulphate of ammonia around each plant and watering it in.

Lawns: Mow weekly, alternating the direction of cut to ensure a pleasing finish.

Plant of the week

Ornamental pear

 Greeting spring with a neat and accommodating pyramid of pure white blooms, Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’ has much to offer. Ascending to around 18ft, it’s sculpturally fetching all year round. It also makes a fascinating focal point. In autumn its leaves develop rich red or maroon tints that fire the garden.

A highly prized American import, it won the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit in 2002.

Fancy one? Encourage it to thrive by siting it in full sun, in free-draining and organically rich soil.

It’s a a rarity, but enterprising Forest Lodge tell me that they should be able to order it for you.

Must grow!

Meet that dashing leadwort, Ceratostigma ‘Desert Skies’.  Famed for its bright yellow leaves that contrast stunningly with an explosion of cobalt-blue flowers from late summer to autumn, it has great presence.

We’ve positioned it next to a Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’, a bluish-green-leaved beauty whose thrusting pale lilac lily-like flowers make summer special.

Larger garden centres stock it.

Another gem I’d like you to grow is Thompson & Morgan’s Calendula ‘Chrysantha’. A tall and stately marigold bearing sumptuous double citron-yellow blooms of long, wide and drooping chrysanthemum-like petals, it was introduced by the company over 70 years ago. It then disappeared.

Pleasingly, it was recently rediscovered in the Czech Republic.  Bushy and free flowering and growing to 60-70cm (24-28in) it makes a great cut flower.

True or false?

A winter hardy petunia? It’s a fact, declares Gardening Direct who have just sent me some which I am trialling with a degree of scepticism. 

Dubbed ‘Wintunia’, its very pretty snowflake-shaped flowers come in white, pink and burgundy. I shall be watching it intently when summer’s balmy temperatures are followed by autumn and winters’ icy nights.