Marginal plants for positioning in shallow water on ledges around the pond edge

• Zantedeschia aethiopica ’Crowborough’ is better known as the Arum lily. Tolerates water up to 30 cm deep. The variety Z. a. ‘Green Goddess’ produces white flowers splashed green. It prefers shallow water less than 20 cm deep.
  
• Iris pseudacorus ‘Variegata’ is commonly called the variegated yellow flag iris. Yellow flowers but grown mainly for its green and yellow leaves.
• Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’ . Red stems with aromatic leaves splashed with cream and red. Prefers shallow water up to 5 cm deep. Spreads rapidly.
  
• Lysichiton camtschatcensis. White skunk cabbage with white spathes and bright green leaves. Shallow water 3 cm deep.Plants for water 30-45 cm deep
  
• Aponogeton distachyos (Water hawthorn). Fragrant white flowers in summer.
  
• Nymphaea varieties (Water lilies).Check the plant labels for required depth. Some prefer 30-45 cm others such as Nymphaea ‘Froebelii’ (deep red flowers) is happy in 15-30 cm.

Oxygenating plants to help keep the water clear

• Hottonia palustrus (Water violet). Light green foliage above and below surface. Lilac flower spikes.
  
• Lagarosiphon major . Masses of tiny leaves. Needs to be thinned every summer

• To ensure dormancy when grown under glass allow for a period of cold in the winter.
  
• On neutral or slightly acid soil apply a dressing of lime to the root area every 3-4 years.
  
• Pollinate the flowers by gently moving pollen from one flower to another. Use a piece of cotton wool.
  
• If you garden in the north of the country grow the peach variety Rochester.
  
• To prevent Peach leaf curl disease protect outside trees from winter rain.
  
• Net the ripening crop of fruit to prevent bird damage.
  
• Prune twice per annum, summer and winter.
  
• Don’t be greedy! When the fruit is the size of a 10 pence coin thin large crops to have large peaches rather than masses of small fruit.
  

• Chop 1 kilo of fully ripe washed but unpeeled quinces. Place in a heavy - bottomed saucepan with 2 litres of water. Bring to the boil and simmer until the pieces of fruit are tender. Pour into a jelly bag or muslin set over a large bowl.

• Allow all the juice to drip through but don’t squeeze the bag as this will cause cloudy jelly.

• Check the quantity of strained juice and place in a large sauce pan. Add 500 grams of preserving sugar to each 600 ml of juice. Bring to the boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

• Boil quickly until it wants to set. Skin the froth off the top and pour into sterilized and pre-heated jars. Allow to cool. Label.

• Every gardener needs a garden shed. It is essential for storing equipment and can double as a potting shed. It is somewhere to refine your gardening skills either with a current magazine or a cup of tea.

• It can become untidy indeed it may be ramshackle needing screened from the house windows and the passing public.

• A sheltered position will allow you to enjoy it throughout the year and if that which is providing the shelter manages to screen the shed so much the better. Tucked behind a border of tall evergreen shrubs or conifers the only clue to its whereabouts will be the path leading to the door.

• A sunny spot will be pleasant in winter but intolerably hot in summer. Under a large mature tree sounds ideal but watch out for autumn leaves clogging gutters and large persistent rain water drips on the roof. The ground under the shed will be bone dry with an adverse effect on tree roots in the area.

• A hedge makes an effective screen.

• Installing services such as electricity and mains water will be expensive if the shed is well away from the house.

• Allow space around the building for outdoor storage of wheelbarrow, bags of compost and spare pots. A close-by compost heap with hard standing for materials such as grit and farmyard manure will form a compact work and storage area.

• Walnut (Juglans regia)
  
  Prune in midsummer to prevent the tree bleeding sap. Young wood has hollow stems with segmented pith and this is a cause of dieback on badly pruned stems. Prune to immediately above a strong side shoot. Where stumps are left they must be removed as soon as possible.
  Walnuts dislike hard pruning so early pruning and shaping to keep the centre open for sunlight is essential. Cut large branches back making sure to leave the collar intact
  

• Hazel (Corylus)

  Prune in winter or early spring to remove dead or diseased branches .Remove crossing branches. C. avellana and C. maxima respond to hard pruning and may be cut back to within 2-3 buds of the base. C. a. ‘Contorta’  has manic, twisted stems but is prone to suckering with the straight shoots of the common hazel rootstock emerging from below the graft. These must be removed as soon as they appear to prevent them taking over the plant.

• Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa)

  Prune in late winter or early spring to remove dead or damaged branches. They are tolerant of hard pruning and are traditionally coppiced for chestnut fencing poles.
  In the U.S.A where chestnut blight is a killer regular pruning protects the tree from the spores that only attack older wood.

• Almond (Prunus dulcis)

  Prune young plants as the leaves are appearing. Mature trees are pruned in summer to reduce the risk of diseases such as silver leaf. Thin the shoots to leave them 15-20 cm apart. Shorten side shoots back to 5-6 leaves. After fruiting is finished shorten these shoots to three leaves. Where they have formed side shoots these are reduced to a single leaf. The unwanted shoots are pruned back to 5-6 leaves to carry fruit the following year.
  Old unproductive branches are pruned out without leaving a stump and a young shoot trained in to the space to replace it.

• Keep tools clean and sharp. Blunt tools cause ragged cuts that are slow to heal allowing disease spores to enter through the wound. Dirty blades spread diseases such as virus from plant to plant.
  
• Deal with the three D’s first. Dead, diseased and damaged branches.
  
• When pruning pause and look at what is happening to the plant. Consider shape.
  
• Cut out old wood at the base. New, vigorous growths will replace the old branches.
  
• Prune immediately above a bud or side shoot. Make a sloping cut away from the bud to run water off.
  
• Prune to a bud pointing in the right direction. The shoot will grow the way that bud is pointing.
  
• Prune cherry and plum trees in summer when spores of silver leaf disease are dormant. Prune apples and pears in winter.