Gardening forum

Then you have to decide how to clear the ground (if you’re terracing the area the bulldozer will do a lot of the clearing). If you do it chemically you will need several applications of glyphosate. If you want to do it without any chemicals you may have to do it bit by bit. Cordon off an area and clean it of weeds completely before covering it with weed-suppressing membrane or thick polythene (used agricultural fertilizer sacks are good although unsightly) and moving onto the next area.

Then you have to decide what style garden you want. Is your garden in a town or village? in which case you may want it to be flowery and similar to neighbouring gardens. Or is it in the middle of the countryside? in which case you may want it to have a more rural, “natural” feel. This is all highly subjective and you need to be very clear about what you want before you start. Get hold of the Yellow Book and any other local gardens guides and visit as many as possible taking pictures and notes. Wherever possible ask advice from the owners of the gardens you like.

Then, when the weather closes in, you can start sketching out the design and planting plans. If this seems beyond you, then get the help of the local garden designer through the Yellow Pages or The Society of Garden Designers (Katepwa House, Ashfield Park Avenue, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, HR9 5AX. Tel: 01989 566695 Fax: 01989 567676). Please let me know how you get on.

I planted a mimosa four years ago and not only does it not flower but it seems to die every winter. All the leaves shrivel up and fall off. What is wrong with it? Name and address withheld

This is a frost tender plant. In a few areas, like subtropical parts of the south west and inner city London, it can survive outside. Otherwise it needs to be grown under glass. It sounds as if your plant is bravely trying to make a comeback every year but can never gather enough strength to flower. It needs shelter and warmth.

I have a bay tree in a container that is looking a bit straggly on top. How and when is the correct way to get it back to the ball shape it had a year ago when purchased? Geoff Powell, Hampton Hill

Ideally it should be clipped a couple of times over the summer but it should be OK if you have a go now. Simply clip it back into shape using sharp secateurs.

What advice can you offer on pruning overgrown rhododendron (sp?!) and what time of the year? As they are only attractive for four weeks of the year, how can I persuade my wife to replace them with something more interesting! Name and address withheld

Assuming yours are evergreen they should be cut back and tidied up after flowering. I never like to get involved in inter-marital warfare but, if your wife insists on keeping the beast (I am not keen on the things to be honest), how about growing a few climbers up it or, if that is deemed too messy, how about draping the thing in fairy lights? Silk flowers...?

I’ve just moved into a house which has very clay soil. What are the best shrubs and plants for this type of soil? Craig Anderson, Dunfermline

Crocosmia, asters, helenium, golden rod, weigela, Jacob’s Ladder, viburnum, rudbeckia, camassia, box, Japanese anemones, polygonum, spirea, forsythia, eupatorium, foxgloves, daffs, ribes, hawthorn and acanthus will give you a good start.

Do you have any suggestions as to how I can keep my neighbours cats from using my garden as a toilet. I do not have any cats, and clearing it up is a thoroughly disagreeable job. I realise you cannot stop cats roaming and do not want to fall out with any neighbours - I just need a deterrent. Name and address withheld

Cats are creatures of habit. Break their toilet habit and they will go elsewhere. Push lots of rose, bramble or any other thorny plant cuttings into the ground horizontally, where the cats make their mess. If you don’t push them into the ground the cats will push them aside and continue to use the area as a toilet. Check the thorny bits regularly to make sure they stay in place. Also, keep a water pistol on hand and squirt the cats if they try coming in your garden. It needs a concerted effort on your part for about ten days. A more expensive approach is to buy an ultrasonic deterrent - there are lots of sources including this one. I have not used them. Another commercial deterrent is a strongly-scented chemical which comes in various forms including jelly-crystals . They work but they look odd.

I grow dahlias in pots. But they seem to start flowering very late each year - only just before the frosts. They seem to leaf up well enough (though I usually get early slug damage, which I suppose might set them back). Do I just have a dud variety (it has huge cactus flowers of red and yellow but I can’t remember the name) or do I need to feed it something special? I use Growmore. Jeannie Cruickshank, Wembley

I would have thought they simply need to be moved to a sunnier spot. Do you lift them each year? If not, try that, then re-pot them and keep them inside until there is no danger of frost and until the first shoots have appeared.

Some people like bamboo and the bottom of our Victorian garden is a bamboo forest. We have tried digging it up, spraying it with Ivy Killer and Roundup to no avail. We have three greyhounds who have the freedom of the garden so we must be careful as to what we use. Can you help, please? Name and address withheld

Persistence is the only weapon against bamboo which will keep on coming back for years. Keep digging it out and be vigilant. As soon as a new bamboo shoot puts its head above the soil, dig it out again. There is no short cut.

I have a Williams pear tree which has lots of blossom in the spring but produces very little fruit. The fruit itself is often shrivelled up and diseased. Could you please tell me what I should do to revive this tree ? Many thanks and I look forward to reading your reply. George Daniell, Croydon

I wonder if this is Pear Midge? If most of the fruits develop black scabs and then drop off this is probably the culprit. Spray the tree with bifenthrin just before the flowers open next spring and, if any fruits appear diseases, strip them off and destroy them.

We have recently moved to a house with a small garden. The previous owner had put in an outdoor pool which takes up 95 per cent of the garden space. We have three little boys and while in July the pool was great for the other 11 months of the year the children are without anywhere to play. We are trying to come up with a solution which allows us to keep the pool but also gives the boys a hard surface on which to play in the winter. I have contacted some companies to ask if there is a hard cover we can lay over the pool and then lay astro turf on top of that, but I have had no joy. I also contacted some landscapers but they couldn’t help either. We also wondered about laying a deck over the pool which could be lifted off in the summertime, but the quote for that was astronomical. Is there anywhere you could suggest we look? Cliona Sherwin, London

How much does it cost to buy some decking, i.e. the planks of wood, ridged and treated to make it less slippery than normal wood? Not a lot I’d imagine. Can’t you simply buy enough wood to cover the pool and fix it securely over the pool until next season?