Helping you get your best-ever fruit and veg

Prepare a free-draining, sunny and weed-free bed to grow broad beans. Rake in blood, fish and bonemeal fertiliser to give the plants a boost. Plant the seedlings in a row, 15-20cm apart. Dig a hole an

Spread a bulky mulch on top of the soil surface around the base of young apple trees to condition the soil, hold in moisture and suppress weeds. This will all help the tree to establish well. Use well

Give flowering house plants a general house-plant feed every two weeks throughout spring, then switch to a weekly high-potash house-plant food as flower buds develop. Orchids don’t like heavy doses of

Work your way through your borders, removing dandelion flowerheads before they get the chance to set seed. Flowers of dandelions are a useful source of early nectar for pollinators but if they are abl

As winter eases and spring beckons, longer days bring the garden to life – and your growing year starts here…